Achilles’ existential dilemma refers to which way he chose to live his life. The first is to live a glorious but short life as a warrior. The second one is to live a long but inglorious life. Ancient Greeks often believe that the Gods decide everyone’s destiny and fate. Achilles also had a predetermined fate, which is fighting and dying as warrior in the Trojan’s war. However, in reality, Achilles had faced a dilemma before he went on towards his destiny.
At the very beginning, Achilles decided to join the Trojans war for the glory that every Greek man desired. However, in Book one of Iliad, Agamemnon, the son of Atreus who started the war, humiliated Achilles by taking his glories of war away. Since then the dilemma had been created. According to the Iliad, Achilles called his mother, “Since, my mother, you bore me to be a man with a short life, therefore Zeus of the loud thunder on Olympus should grant me honor at least. But now he has given me not even a little.”(IL. 1.352-354) It’s a universal fact that the Ancient Greeks took glory more seriously than life. Therefore, it is not surprising that Achilles called his mother to beg Zeus to bring glory to him. It is his desire for glory that brought him to Troy and led him to live a short life. But Agamemnon dishonored him and took away his glory. Achilles got no reasons to stay and fight if there would be no glory for him until Zeus helped the Trojans in order to grant Achilles the glory that he desired to earn.
Since the situation became worse and worse for the Greeks, Agamemnon who was the leader of the whole army tried to ask Achilles back to fight for them. In Book Nine of Iliad, Achilles was still raged and he warned the visitors sent by Agamemnon that he would rather sail home than fight for nothing. Furthermore, Achilles talked about his destiny. For my mother Thetis the silver feet tells me I carry two sorts of destiny toward the day of my death. Either, if I stay here and fight beside the city of the Trojans, my return home is gone, but my glory shall be everlasting; but if I return home to the beloved land of my fathers, the excellence of my glory is gone, but there will be a long life left for me, and my end in death will not come to me quickly. (IL. 9.410-416) Achilles seemed to change his mind and wanted to live a long life without glory, but what he actually did was to wait for the glory to come to him. Achilles wanted to become the savior of the Achaians and get the extraordinary glory after this war. Achilles was not sure if he could get the glory he deserved after he accepts the offer from Agamemnon because Agamemnon had already taken his honor away. At that ancient time, there was nothing much there for a man to own. Glory was certainly something important for a hero like Achilles. It’s not astonishing that he chose to live a glorious but short life at the beginning of the expedition and he refused to fight any more until he believed that no one could take his glory away any more.