- All's Well That Ends Well
- Antony and Cleopatra
- As You Like It
- The Comedy of Errors
- Coriolanus
- Cymbeline
- Hamlet
- Henry IV, Part 1
- Henry IV, Part 2
- Henry V
- Henry VI, Part 1
- Henry VI, Part 2
- Henry VI, Part 3
- Henry VIII
- Julius Caesar
- King John
- King Lear
- Love's Labor's Lost
- A Lover's Complaint
- Macbeth
- Measure for Measure
- The Merchant of Venice
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Othello
- Pericles
- The Rape of Lucrece
- Richard II
- Richard III
- Romeo and Juliet
- Shakespeare's Sonnets
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Tempest
- Timon of Athens
- Titus Andronicus
- Troilus and Cressida
- Twelfth Night
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- Venus and Adonis
- The Winter's Tale
This passage—a conversation between Odysseus and Patroclus—takes place after Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter, Iphigenia. This incident horrifies Achilles, who has never seen someone die before. Patroclus blames Odysseus for allowing it to happen, but Odysseus thinks that Achilles needs to toughen up if he’s going to fulfill his inevitable, bloody destiny.
In many ways, Odysseus is right: Achilles is destined to be a fighter, and that destiny involves murder. He’s going to kill a lot of people, some as innocent as Iphigenia was. Patroclus wants to rescue Achilles from his fate, but Achilles certainly won’t “rescue” anyone. Odysseus claims…