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Chapter 27
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Song of Achilles, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Honor, Pride, and Legacy
Fate, Belief, and Control
Gender, Power, and Agency
Love, Violence, and Redemption
Selfhood and Responsibility
Summary
Analysis
That night, Phoinix tells them about a duel that happened earlier: Paris offered to fight for Helen in a duel with one person, settling the whole affair at once. Menelaus stepped up to the plate, but just as he was about to kill Paris, Paris disappeared. An arrow hit Menelaus, and though it was just a surface wound, all hell broke loose. No one knows where Paris went. Hector then offered a second duel to set things right, and Ajax was selected from a random draw. The fight ended in a tie. Achilles is excited to hear about these events; he’s beginning to dream of killing Hector. Patroclus feels that something is starting to shatter.
The offered duel raises the question of why a duel wasn’t something the Greeks originally proposed, and again suggests that claiming Helen is not the whole reason the Greeks waged war on Troy. Meanwhile, the magical disappearance of Paris implies that the Gods truly have engaged in the war. As Hector fights to a standstill with the Greeks’ second best warrior—Ajax—the honor to be won by defeating him only grows. Achilles’s excitement about killing Hector now shows just how much more Achilles has come to value his honor over his life.
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The next morning, a new army arrives: the Lycians, who are Troy’s allies and have one of Zeus’s sons among them. The Trojans, led by Hector, begin to make progress in throwing back the Greeks, and the Greeks grow desperate. Achilles knows it’s only a matter of time before Agamemnon caves, and Patroclus tries not to dwell on the smell of burned bodies. He knew every single man who died.
The arrival of the Lycians with Zeus’s son among them makes clear that Zeus is honoring his promise to Thetis.Patroclus is once again able find a way to look past the way that Achilles’s quest for honor leads to misdeeds, even though Achilles is now (indirectly) hurting people that Patroclus knows personally.
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Phoinix, Odysseus, and Ajax come to Achilles’s tent, where Achilles is playing the lyre. They eat dinner, and afterwards, Odysseus begins to list objects they can offer Achilles: horses, armor, Briseis. Then he lists dead men. He reveals that the Trojans are close to the Greek wall and will soon charge, burning the ships. But Achilles says that his honor is worth more and only Agamemnon’s public apology will fix it. Odysseus tells him that, shockingly, Briseis is unharmed; her honor, and Achilles’s, will be easily retrieved if Achilles fights. Achilles retorts that he hasn’t left his honor behind at all, and that it’s up to Agamemnon.
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Suddenly, Odysseus asks why Hector isn’t dead yet. He says that he’s not looking for an answer, just repeating what everyone is already thinking. Patroclus realizes that Odysseus must know about the prophecy. Achilles has evaded fate, Odysseus says, but the gods won’t let him do that forever. Odysseus adds that it would be better to let fate happen on his terms rather than on the gods’. Achilles insists that that’s what he’s doing.
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Phoinix interjects: there’s a story he wants to tell Achilles. Many years ago, the hero Meleager was winning a war. (Patroclus realizes that he’s heard this story before, back in Phthia.) Phoinix continues: Meleager was insulted by his people and refused to fight. He went to his wife, Cleopatra, for comfort. (At these words, Phoinix looks at Patroclus.) Eventually, Cleopatra could no longer endure the deaths of all of her friends, and she begged Meleager to fight. He agreed, but by that point, everyone hated him. Patroclus knows that Phoinix wants him to beg Achilles just as Cleopatra did in the story, but he can’t; his fate is already sealed. Odysseus seems unsurprised that their meeting didn’t succeed, and Patroclus realizes that Achilles’s refusal makes him look insane. Everyone will despise him, just as they despised Meleager.
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Patroclus goes to see Briseis, which is dangerous, because Agamemnon is so furious at Achilles. She hides him in her bed, and he tells her that the Trojans will enter the camp tomorrow, so they need to hide her. She disagrees; if the Trojans take the camp, she’ll surrender to them, since she’s Trojan herself. Agamemnon interrupts to see what’s going on, and she lies and tells him she’s praying. He replies that if Achilles keeps saying no to his offers, he’ll claim her himself. Afterwards, she insists to Patroclus that it’s an empty threat. Agamemnon likes her to be afraid, which horrifies Patroclus.
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Briseis tells Patroclus that the men now blame Achilles for Greek deaths in battle, which Agamemnon has encouraged. She adds that if the Greek camp falls, she’ll claim Patroclus as her husband. This might stop the Trojans from killing him, as long as he doesn’t reveal that Achilles was his lover. She also asks him not to leave Troy without her. He agrees, not mentioning that he’ll never leave Troy. For a moment, he imagines what their life together would have looked like if he’d never met Achilles. She tells him to be careful, calling him the “best of the Myrmidons.”
That night, Patroclus watches Achilles sleep. He looks innocent while sleeping, almost a child again—this is his “truest self,” Patroclus thinks. Patroclus believes that Achilles is in over his head with Agamemnon and Odysseus’s games and political machinations; they’ve “baited” him and confused him. Patroclus wants to free him from all of that, if only Achilles would let him.
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