Internal motivation is to engage in an activity for its intrinsic satisfaction rather than seeking a separate benefit. When people are intrinsically driven, they are inspired to act by the impacts involved rather than by outside pressures. Achilles’ anger is fueled by his sadness and grief for Patroclus’ death before deciding to seek vengeance. Achilles’ actions are uncouth and crude, most likely due to his lack of discipline in his training. However, when Achilles decides to return Hector’s body to Priam, he is depicted as disciplined and fully aware of his actions.
Achilles’ motivation after Hector’s death seems internal because he is responsible for Hector’s death; therefore, it seems logical for him to decide whether or not Hector will receive a proper burial. The Iliad portrays Achilles as having a bad attitude toward other characters and being easily angered. Before he decides to return Hector’s dead body, Achilles expresses feelings of failure and anger towards Agamemnon (Iliad 24.3-17). Achilles’ arrogance and inability to control himself result from his lack of discipline. Achilles is portrayed as unable to control himself when he attacks Hector’s body after the death of Patroclus.
Additionally, Achilles’ actions were internally motivated because his actions were not done as a result of outside rewards, pressures, or demands. His motivation to return Hector’s body is also internal because he feels guilty for his actions against Hector and does not want to be remembered as the man who defiled Hector’s body. “Then there is my shame, a thing that dogs me even among the shades below” (Iliad 24.10). After the scene in which Priam, Hector’s father, gives Achilles all of Hector’s possessions, Achilles sits down and weeps over Hector’s corpse. In that scene, Achilles describes himself as feeling “wronged by fate” about what happened to his friend (Iliad 24.17). After thinking about the incident for a while, he “felt ashamed of himself,” so he decides to return Hector’s body to Priam at the altar fire on top of Mount Ida.
Although Homer often emphasizes more on the role of the gods in the Iliad, in this case, Achilles is responding to a turning point in his life that occurs independently of divine intervention. This makes Achilles’ change of mind more internal than external. Homer emphasizes the role of the gods in this episode because Achilles’ motivation for ransoming Hector seems singularly personal. This argument does not seem persuasive since Homer does many things besides just emphasizing the gods as causing events in the lives of characters such as Achilles and Hector. The gods do not initiate the action, but their assistance does seem to be a necessary condition for it. Also, although Achilles’ motivation was personal, it is not entirely inexplicable. One could argue that his behavior was warranted—if it may be called justified.
However, Achilles’ motivation in ransoming Hector is at one point external. Earlier in the book, Achilles told “the gods to give him no trouble… he would not… slain a man of Priam’s” (Iliad 24. 15). Achilles ransomed Hector’s body to return it safely to his family for proper burial to prevent further anger from the gods. Additionally, there were “shame and disgrace” (Iliad 24. 10) from the events at Troy and demanded that Achilles face the responsibility of returning Hector’s character. Homer mentions that “this matter did not concern Agamemnon” (Iliad 24.7). Achilles knew that Agamemnon was not responsible for the death of Patroclus. Nevertheless, Priam insisted that he be allowed to speak to Achilles. During their meeting, Priam implores Achilles to “Quit your anger against the Danaan warriors…let my son exchange gifts with you…for your soul will find no joy if you devour Priam’s sons” (Iliad 24.7). On multiple occasions in the Iliad, Priam expresses his desire for peace and willingness to give up his son as a gift to preserve peace that any man may return home safely to his family.
Work Cited
Richardson, Nicholas, and Geoffrey Stephen Kirk. The Iliad: a commentary. Vol. 6. Cambridge University Press, 1993.