Achilles and the Search for Immortality
Achilles, as a heroic and mythical figure, is representative of the Western search for immortality and truth in a world of temporality and illusion. The figure of Achilles expresses the desire within all men for a transcendence of the world in the search for truth and permanence through the quest for immortality.
This paper attempts to address the question of myth and immortality through the study of Achilles in the Iliad. The central thesis is that Achilles has a choice between human life and immortality through death. He chooses death and immortality over a mundane comfortable life. This choice makes him a heroic figure as he represents the archetypal desire of humanity to escape the finite and temporal world.
Another aspect that is explored is the realization that total transcendence of the world and Godlike immortality is not humanly possible. This paper attempts to place the Homeric myth in a broader context in terms of understanding the deeper significance of the story of Achilles. A Jungian view of the story and of myth is also explored.
The paper concludes with the view that the myth of Achilles and the search for immortality has a significance that goes beyond the story itself to reveals themes which pertain to the understanding of the human condition.
1. Introduction The meaning of the myth
The myth and legend of Achilles relates to the search for immortality. This is an endemic and pervasive theme in much of the important literature of the Western World. Faced with a world of death and temporality, the Western mind has searched, through art and literature, for images of permanence and transcendence. This is especially ubiquitous with regard to the Greek and Homeric legends and myths.
Karl Jung, the renowned psychologist and theorist, was aware that myth was a special and important genre of literature. Myths were not idle fiction or fantasy but rather indicative of a deeper and archetypal or common structures and layers of the human experience. These deeper layers of meaning are expressed through the images of myth and Jung also noted that world myths have many similarities. He therefore saw myth and legend as a more accurate measure of the...
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