Achilles's energetic speech in Book Six of "The Iliad," convinces the reader that his personal honor is more important than the collective honor of the Greek army. However, war has eventually made Achilles tired of achieving honor anymore. Achilles's languages reveal that personal honor is the most important value in his life. When Agamemnon and the embassy present the gifts to Achilles for him to come back on fighting against the Trojans, Achilles refuses their proposal wrathfully. Achilles argues that everybody involved in the war will die in the end whether he has been cowardly in the camp or heroic on the battlefield. What enrages Achilles more is the fact that he receives the same reward as the other Greek soldiers. He claims that he fights endless days and nights and unceasingly puts himself "on the line " (Homer 169) but receives nothing in the end, like "a bird who feeds her chicks whatever she finds, and goes without herself " (Homer 169). Achilles feels unfair that he has put in the most efforts to the war but Agamemnon receives all the credits instead of him. In the end, he gets nothing but has to face the fate of death. Achilles continues on complaining that Agamemnon has taken away Briseis from his hands, the woman he receives as a reward and has loved wholeheartedly. Achilles's reference to Agamemnon as "shameless bastard " (Homer 170) shows that he is so insulted for losing his honor that he cannot be appeased until Agamemnon has paid for all his grief. Moreover, he asks Odysseus to report everything Agamemnon has done to him to all the Greeks so that everybody will be as angry with Agamemnon as he is. .
Achilles's speech also shows that he is a selfish person who disregards the well being of whole Greek army. Unlike Hector who concerns about his fellows and the collective honor of the Trojans, Achilles emphasizes on his own benefit. When he refuses to return to war, he leaves the whole army behind and is indifferent about it.
