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The Wrath of Achilles: Two Views of the Same Story
The wrath of Achilles was deadly, no doubt. But the text of Homer's poem and the painting on the Harvard show this wrath in different ways. While we know by reading the text that Achilles did not eat over Hector's body, the artist of the vase painting has re-interpreted Homer's scene by showing the body of Hector under Achilles table. We view him on the vase as a man who lies down eating over the body of the man he killed, while the corpse's father begs at his knees for the body.
In Homer's version of the Iliad Priam came begging for the tortured and murdered body of his son and in remembering his father and taking pity on Priam, Achilles agrees to release the corpse to him. He orders his men to keep the corpse out of Priam's sight because he fears that if the old man weeps too much he may become angry and kill him too. The text shows us that although he takes pity on the old man, Achilles' anger can overcome his pity quickly.
The vase's depiction has to differ from the story to show us Achilles' wrath in one painting. The vase shows Achilles eating over the corpse, while dripping blood carelessly on the man he murdered. Although this did not really happen in the poem, this interpretation shows us Achilles' true anger and the rage that he is known for. If you were to see the painting without reading the poem, you would know that Achilles was an angry and revengeful man.
The vase causes you to see only Achilles' rage, yet by reading the poem you see also that he has pity upon Priam. It is mostly pity brought on by the thought of his own father and close friend that have died, but still it shows something other than anger. If you were to only see the vase and not read the poem you see only his rage and would think him only to be evil.
I would imagine the scene as Priam begging Achilles for the body, and Achilles holdi
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