Fire is one of nature’s most destructive forces. It methodically consumes what is in its path without a hint of pity for what it destroys. The irony of fire is that one of the things that can stop it is having nothing left to burn. So it was with Achilles. After the death of Patroclus, Achilles ceased to be part of the human world and became fiery rage personified. Attaining revenge for Patroclus by killing Hector was the oxygen that kept the fire of Achilles burning. Once Hector was dead, slowly the oxygen for Achilles’ fire depleted and he returned to being a part of humanity. When he returned to humanity, Achilles was persuaded to give Hector back to Priam because of Priam’s courage, Achilles’ grief for his own father, the will of the gods, and Achilles’ heart not being in the overall purpose of the battle from the beginning.

            When Homer’s The Iliad’s poetic verse is analyzed, we see the poet’s intention of showing the audience that Achilles has become like merciless fire. Achilles has just finished killing dozens of Trojans and stolen a chariot when Homer gives us the simile “ Achilles now/ like inhumane fire raging through the mountain gorges/ splinter-dry, setting ablaze big stands of timber, / the wind swirling the huge fireball left and right/ chaos of fire” (20.554-558). This simile is used to reinforce the type of chaotic carnage Achilles has just leveled including the killing of Tros a Trojan who attempted to supplicate him. This simile is apt, since like Achilles, fire would not spare someone who begged for mercy. Later when Priam sees Achilles coming over the plain, the Poet describes Achilles as “blazing like a star” (22.33). Here Achilles is compared to a fire that is above the mortal world. What this shows is that the poet no longer believes Achilles to be part of the normal human civilization. Achilles association with fire is completely cemented by his being slowed from his goal of murdering Hector by the river god.

            Achilles killing of Hector began his return from being brutal fire because the fire’s fuel of revenge was exhausted. But, his return to humanity would not be complete until he began engaging in the customs of his people such as feasting. This is why it is important to note that Achilles has just finished dinner before Priam came to ransom the body of his son. Now that Achilles has eaten and therefore returned to humanity, it will be possible for him to be reasoned with.

            Achilles holds bravery as one of his highest values and is moved by the courageousness that Priam demonstrated: “Poor man, how much you’ve borne-pain to break the spirit! / What daring brought you down to the ships, all alone, / to face the glance of the man who killed your sons, / so many fine brave boys? You have a heart of iron.” (24.565-568). Here Achilles both pities and marvels at Priam’s boldness. The respect that Achilles has for this brave act of Priam coming into the Achaean camps alone is one of the reasons Achilles gives Priam his son’s body back.

            Achilles is further swayed by the appeals that Priam makes while supplicating him to remember his own father: “Those words stirred within Achilles a deep desire / to grieve for his own father” (24.592-593). Achilles not only has sympathy in this situation, he also has empathy because he knows that his death has been foretold to come shortly after the death of Hector. Thus Achilles’ father will never see him alive again. The empathy that this creates in Achilles for Priam causes him to relent and give Hector’s body back to his father.

            The shaming of Agamemnon and Achilles achievement of kleos aphthiton by turning the tides of war and killing Hector was assisted by the his mother Thetis who was the one who foretold Achilles aforementioned death and the will of Zeus. When Thetis comes down to tell Achilles that the will of the gods is that he give back the body of Hector he replies “So be it. / The man who brings the ransom can take away the body, if Olympian Zeus himself insist in all earnest” (24.168-170). Achilles listens to his mother’s message because he respects the will of Zeus and his mother advice since both have helped him so much

            Achilles went to the theater of war to gain kleos for himself. He did not support its original cause. He refers to the war as “this insane voyage” (9.543.) after the Achaeans have sent an embassy to try to get him to return to battle. Achilles has killed Hector and given his friend Patroclus an honorable funeral thus ending what he personally set out to accomplish after his friend Patroclus’ death. . It is true he has no love for Priam, but the aforementioned quote shows on the other hand he has no specific hate against the man. That is why after Achilles returned to humanity, he respected the old man’s wishes.

            Book one of The Iliad is entitled “THE RAGE OF ACHILLES.” Agamemnon’s first inflames Achilles’ fiery rage by slighting him in the form of taking Briseis. Achilles then gets his goddess mother to decimate the Achaean armies thus disgracing Agamemnon and increasing the praise given to him when he returns to battle. When Hector kills his friend Patroclus, it fans the flames of Achilles rage to the point where he is an unstoppable force of nature. After Agamemnon has been shamed, Hector has been killed, and Patroclus given a proper funeral there is nothing left for the fire of Achilles to feed upon.  So the fire burns out. Only then does he return to Humanity where he can be moved by pity, grief, and the will of the gods.