Tag Archives: ego

Ulysses is brilliant in manipulating Achilles in Act 3 Scene 3. Because of the way he treats Achilles, as well as other characters, we can see that he knows what he needs to say in order to get someone to go in the direction that he wants – whether it’s by fluffing up their ego, capitalizing on their worries, or bringing them down to shame.

If you’re a hero like Achilles, you want yourself to be remembered – you want your name to go down in history. What good is it, then, if no one remembers your deeds and your name is lost in the sands of time? Ulysses knows this, and takes advantage of this fact in order to manipulate Achilles. He tells Achilles, “Perseverance, dear my lord, / Keeps honor bright. To have done, is to hang / Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail / In monumental mock’ry” (lines 150-153). In other words, Achilles must keep fighting in order to preserve his image as a hero and great warrior, but since he isn’t fighting, we will be useless – a remnant of the past, once great, but now rusty, like old armor. Ulysses’ speech is full of military metaphors – something he probably did on purpose since he knows Achilles would relate to them the most.

But Ulysses doesn’t stop at the metaphors: he knows Achilles is in love with a Trojan princess (one of Priam’s daughters), and uses that fact as blackmail against Achilles.

The final tactic that Ulysses uses to manipulate Achilles is telling him that “all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax” (3.3.181). This would clearly manipulate Achilles by making him jealous of Ajax. “Why is everyone worshipping this stupid oaf when I’m the real hero,” is something that comes to mind as what Achilles would think.

In this scene, Ulysses proves his reputation as a masterful tactician and manipulator by using the aforementioned methods to persuade Achilles to fight again.