Jalen Brooks

Valerio Valeri
CLA 135
December 3, 2015
Psychoanalytic and Structuralism in the Myth of Meleager
The Myth of Melaeager tells the story of Odysseus and his crew, sent by Agamemnon to
persuade Achilles to fight in the war. This myth comes from the Iliad Book 9. In this myth the
psychoanalytic theory and structuralism can best be applied to this myth in order to completely
and sufficiently analyze it. The psychoanalytic theory seems to work best for this analysis and
can be fit into the story better. It is easier to see where the psychoanalysis could be applied than
structuralism which maybe able to be applied in some cases;however, not all of them. This
analysis will apply the logic of reversal and conflicting opposites to the myth and will explain
the reason that Achilles will not fight in the war.
This myth starts with Odysseus, Phoenix, and Ajax coming to Achilles to ask a favor.
They have been sent by Agamemnon to ask Achilles to come to battle because of the oracle who
predicted that the Trojan War could only be won if Achilles joined. Achilles; however, refused to
fight because he was told by his mother, Thetis, that other prophecy that stated that Achilles
would either live a long, peaceful life or have a glorious death while young. Odysseus attempts
to persuade Achilles to join the fight telling him that if he intend[s] at all, even at this late hour,
to save the army from these howling Trojans (Lombardo, 92-93). He then went on to tell him
that he should think of himself and the regret [he] will feel for harm [that will come from
Hector, the enemy] that will prove irreparable telling him that this is the last chance to save
your countrymen (Lombardo, 93-94). Odysseus continues to add more reasons and

justifications for why Achilles should join the war and now starts to talk about Achilles father.
He reminds him that his father told him to control his proud spirit and that having a friendly
heart is far better (Lombardo, 94). He even goes as far as to try and persuade Achilles with the
promise of many gifts that will await him if he joins the war effort. Naming the many gifts that
Agamemnon offers such as, gold bars, prizewinning racehorses, women, and the promise of
marriage to one of his daughters and with it power and many cities. Still, despite all of this
Achilles refuses. Telling Odysseus that in the end, everybody comes out the same. Coward and
hero get the same reward: you die whether you slack off or work (Lombardo, 95-96). Achilles
has been wronged in the past and claims that for all his suffering, he has gained nothing
comparing himself to a bird who feeds her chicksand goes without herself (Lombardo, 96).
Odysseus comes representing Agamemnon offering many gifts for Achilles;however, no matter
what is being offered Achilles refuses.
Phoenix then tells the group of his past and how he helped Achilles to grow up and why
he is disappointed in him now. He then goes on to tell the story of Meleager, a similar story to the
current situation involving Achilles refusal to fight in the war. The story starts talking about
Meleager and the savage boar that was roused by Artemis and sent to destroy the orchard of
Oeneus. The boar uprooted trees and wreaked havoc on the orchard until Meleager rounded up a
party of hunters and hounds to kill the boar. Later, because of a situation between the Curetes and
Aetolians about the boars head, Meleager became angry and nursed his anger at his wife,
Cleopatras, side trying to appease himself. Meleagers mother had cursed him for murdering his
uncle and stirred the Furies causing another problem between that Aetolians and the Curetes.
The Aeolian elders asked Meleager to come and defend the city offering many lands and riches
in exchange for his services. Meleager refused all of the requests from elders, family, friends,

and even his best companions. It was not until the Curestes had come over the city wall and
started to wreak havoc on the city and his wife convinced him that a captured life was a
miserable life to live that he decided to come out of his reclusion and go out to fight in the battle.
Once he had saved the Aetolians he was paid nothing . Phoenix does not want Achilles to end up
like Meleager and to miss out on the opportunity to be great and receive great gifts and riches.
He teaches that things are harder to save once they are already burning and that it is better to
come while there are gifts being offered and there is a gain to get out of saving the people rather
than waiting to act on your own accord and not be offered anything. It is better to be honored, but
if battle is entered without any gifts being offered the honor is less. Still;however, Achilles
refuses the urges to join the war.
Why would Achilles and even Meleager refuse to join the war? All their life they have
trained to be warriors and have already proved themselves to be great ones. They are being
offered many gifts and riches that many people would dream about receiving. So why is it that
even though they are being offered gifts and the opportunity to have their names written down in
history they refuse to take the various offers.This could possibly be a great opportunity in which
they can gain fame and glory. Glory is after all the thing that the Greeks are after and that they
seek most. This myth and the question being asked can be answered through the interpretive
analysis of the psychoanalytic theory. This theory can be explained as involving unconscious
desires that are suppressed by society and the logic of reversal. The refusal of Achilles and
Meleager to fight in the war is actually a representation of their desire to fight in war and receive
many riches to compensate for their work. The view of war in society is that it is bad and violent
and that it results in much worse times than in times of peace. The view of society is also that
wanting to be paid for killing and taking over cities and also the taking of mens wives forcefully

is wrong. However, it can be revealed that the two warriors in the story actually have a desire and
an urge to kill and be compensated with riches and be able to take whatever they want from the
men that they kill whether it be houses, women, or territory. In Greek society, it is a custom for
people to be awarded for their victories and accomplishments as opposed to our current society
where we are more accustomed to not being awarded and taught no to feel that we need to be
compensated for our efforts, but just be content with the fact that we accomplished them. The
opposite is true of greek society. In an ancient greek society one must be given gifts and treasures
in order to show that they have achieved something or else they will not receive any glory.
Agamemnon has denied Achilles his right to gifts and therefore his right to glory. Achilles
refuses to fight for Agamemnon because he has been wronged by him. Achilles true desire
however is to fight in this war and receive many gifts and be compensated and rewarded for his
actions; however, he hides this true desire by refusing to fight in the war for Agamemnon. When
reading this myth it appears on the surface that Achilles has had enough of the war and of
fighting in it. However, we can interpret this differently using the psychoanalytic theory through
the logic of reversal. Using this method of interpretation we can see that though Achilles denies
all of the requests for him to return to the war and denies all of the gifts that are given to him, but
because of the logic of reversal it is his true desire to fight in the war and be successful and
awards heavily for his actions. Once Achilles is awarded for his success in battle he can achieve
the glory through gifts that many Greeks are after.
Structuralism can also be attributed to the mysterious refusal of Achilles an Meleager to
fight in the war and to chase glory. We can apply structuralism with the concept of conflicting
opposites. That warriors desire to fight and that on the other hand they do not desire to fight. This
can be attributed to a binary structure of the human mind between war and peace. There is a

constant struggle inside of men that is a violent side and contains a suppressed urge to fight and
engage in violent activities that comes from the early stages of human development when
humans depended on their bodies for survival. This suppressed urge to fight is also fueled by the
social customs at the time. As mentioned earlier, the Greeks lived in a society where possessions
were valued and required in order to show status, glory, and accomplishment.Without riches to
show you could never be considered successful in the Greek society. The Greek men are fighting
an internal battle in which on one side, they are tired of fighting and want to stop this long ten
year war and go home to their families. On another hand, they want to achieve glory and riches
and this cannot be attained unless you do something to receive this glory. They must fight and
continue fighting in order to win the war, riches, and the glory of their names being written in
history so that they will be talked about for many years to come. There is also a part of the body
fighting this urge and trying to suppress it because it represents barbarianism and a time when
humans were not very complex. This is represented by the fighting in war and the killing. The
killing of others may have been considered a barbaric act and in ancient greek society, they tried
to stay away from barbarism as much as possible, cooking their meat so as to not eat it raw like
savages. These conflicting opposites of war and peace and civilization and barbarism can both be
used to explain the Greeks binary structure of the mind and possible reasons why Achilles
refuses to fight in the war, but really desires to take part in the glory.
These analytical concepts can be used to successfully determine the truth behind the
Myth of Meleager and determine why two warriors, Achilles and Meleager, of this stature and
accomplishment in their respective communities will not be willing to fight in war and possibly
gain riches and fame. Glory is after all the thing that most warriors are after. We can see that
clearly the logic of reversal has something to do with this. Why would soldiers refuses to do

what they do best? This can be interpreted as a secret, suppressed desire of the soldiers to fight in
the war and gain riches to ultimately gain glory to be associated with their name. Structuralism
also gives insight as to why Achilles would refuse to fight. He is torn between fighting a war and
attaining the glory that is so desired or remaining out of the war and living a peaceful and long
life predicted by the oracle, if he can stay out of war. There is an internal fight that takes place
inside humans that causes them to battle between doing what is right as accepted in society and
what is right according to their own thoughts. These thoughts can be suppressed by humans;
however, one must dig deeper and apply interpretations such as the logic of reversal and
structuralism to discover the real meaning behind these suppressed thoughts and also behind
these various myths.

Works Cited
Lombardo, Stanley. "Iliad 9." The Essential Homer: Selections from the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Indianapolis: Hackett, 2000. 92-106. Print.
"Odysseus." Odysseus. Greekmythology.com, 2015. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.
"Greek Life As Depicted in Homer's Epic: The Odyssey." Greek Life As Depicted in Homer's
Epic: The Odyssey. Web. 3 Dec. 2015.