The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller by Isabelle

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller by Isabelle - October 2020 Scholarship Essay

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is beautifully tragic and unabashedly gay. Miller weaves the tale of Achilles, Patroclus, and the Trojan War with intense prose and focus on the glory and horrors of war. The main characters’ relationship has been a subject of dispute for a long time. For years this story has been translated as strict friendship- and yes, they are best friends- who just so happen to share a bed and have their ashes mixed together when they die. Just bros being bros. Really. Miller is not afraid to face the music, which is what makes this an unparalleled reiteration.

The story is in the point of view of Patroclus, who meets Achilles when they are both children. He has been alone and unloved his whole life, his father’s unwanted and exiled son. Achilles, on the other hand, is godlike from the start. But he is warm and kind and boyish, and looks at Patroclus like he matters. Achilles is the sun, and Patroclus is happily stuck in his orbit. Homosexual relationships were different in ancient Greece. They were harmless when you were young, but everyone always eventually ended up in a heteronormative marriage. As a demigod and future hero, this is expected of Achilles.

Throughout the book there are recurring themes of the consequences of promises and severity of gods. Achilles struggles with his divided immortality and the pressures of becoming a hero. Patroclus is the reflection of his mortality and will do whatever it takes to keep Achilles from becoming a cold and pitiless god. Then war comes, like it always does. It poisons the land, the men, the gods. Sacrifices are made and blood is shed, families are torn apart and women are sold as war prizes. Achilles and Patroclus are at the center of it all for ten years, and it starts to take its toll.

The fall of Achilles is gradual and aching. He goes to war like a good soldier, Patroclus at his side, and eventually succumbs to violence and hubris. When Patroclus inevitably dies in battle, Achilles comes apart at the seams. The golden hero who only wanted a happy ending is ready to follow his love into death. And he does. The way Miller ended the novel was bittersweet, but also gave the main characters peace. The rest of the Greeks suffered on their journey back from Troy and met different, horrible ends. Not so Achilles and Patroclus. They died, but were together for eternity, and I find that oddly satisfying.