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Chapter 13
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Song of Achilles, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Honor, Pride, and Legacy
Fate, Belief, and Control
Gender, Power, and Agency
Love, Violence, and Redemption
Selfhood and Responsibility
Summary
Analysis
Deidameia leaves Scyros to go into hiding—she’ll be gone until she has the baby and until she can name Achilles as the father. Patroclus and Achilles remain on the island, guilty and furtive. They begin to hear news of the war—the former suitors honored their oath, and the war will unite the Greek kingdoms for the first time. One morning in late winter, Patroclus and Achilles watch the sea for ships; Achilles remarks that he wishes he had Patroclus’s mother’s lyre, which they left in Phthia. Suddenly, they see a smudge on the horizon: an unfamiliar ship, likely bearing news from a Greek king.
Like Patroclus earlier in the novel, Deidameia is in exile. But Patroclus had killed someone, while Deidameia simply got pregnant. The boy’s feelings of guilt suggest that they sense that hiding from the war—and the oath behind it—is the wrong thing to do. Achilles wish for the lyre can be taken for a wish for a return to childhood innocence—a wish he knows is beyond reach. The ship seems to indicate an end to the boy’s state of waiting.
Themes
Later that day, a man finds Patroclus in his room. When he smiles, easy and practiced, Patroclus almost recognizes him. He introduces himself as one of Agamemnon’s captains and says he’s here to recruit men like Patroclus; the war will be easily won, and there’s honor and riches to gain. As the man speaks, Patroclus notices a scar on his calf and realizes that the man is Odysseus. He’s terrified that Odysseus will recognize him or perhaps that he already has. Patroclus gives his fake name—Chironides—and refuses. Odysseus backs off more quickly than expected. He wonders whether he knows Patroclus, but Patroclus says he’s an exile from the south. Odysseus is surprised—Patroclus’s accent is northern, like those in Phthia. He leaves, asking Patroclus to send any other young men his way.
Odysseus’s pitch for joining the war mirrors Peleus’s earlier: it makes war sound easy, and conflates violence, wealth, and honor. Meanwhile, the fact that this man turns out to be Odysseus—who in the suitor scene with Helen clearly established himself as the smartest leader among the Greeks and now so easily sees through the facts of Patroclus’s lie—hints that he won’t actually let Patroclus off as easily as he seems to be doing here. Odysseus always seems to have plans within plans, which gives him a different sort of control over events.
Themes
Odysseus is at dinner that night, and Lycomedes introduces him to Patroclus by name, which Odysseus forgot to do. Patroclus realizes he should have asked—he didn’t because he already knew Odysseus. Odysseus’s companion, the king of Argos, Diomedes, introduces himself as well, and Patroclus recognizes him as another suitor. As they all eat, Diomedes goads Odysseus into talking about how he met his wife. Odysseus says that when he went to Sparta to meet Helen, he arrived first and spied on the family. Eventually, Penelope caught him, and he realized she was much cleverer than her cousins and equally beautiful. Diomedes scoffs at the story, and Odysseus says he shouldn’t have asked—the two have a tense banter, which makes Lycomedes uncomfortable.
Lycomedes’s introduction is more evidence that Odysseus likely knows more than he lets on about who Patroclus is—in part because Patroclus seems fairly bad at subterfuge. Meanwhile, this passage further establishes Odysseus’s smarts and values. He showed up early to Sparta get the lay of the land before the contest as suitors; and he valued intelligence as much as beauty. The evident dislike between Odysseus and Diomedes seems to hint that the two might have a further unknown history or different motives in coming to Scyros.
Themes
Odysseus then asks to see the foster daughters dance, which Lycomedes has to agree to—refusing would be suspicious. The girls perform, Achilles among them. When Odysseus wonders where Deidameia is, Lycomedes responds that she’s visiting family. After the dance, Odysseus announces that he and Diomedes brought presents for the women and for the king: gems and silver in large trunks. The girls crowd around the trinkets, Achilles among them but in the back, testing perfume and trying earrings.
Odysseus has a knack for poking holes in people’s stories. All of his actions seem to have a deeper motive. Achilles, meanwhile, continues to play at being a woman. The disguise gives him a kind of freedom, which is so different from what the actual women experience in their lives.
Themes
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Patroclus notices Diomedes speaking to a servant; he assumes the conversation isn’t important, because Diomedes looks bored. Achilles holds the earrings up, faking girlishness—it amuses him. Suddenly, a trumpet blasts four times, the signal for disaster. Every girl screams except one. Achilles has a sword and spear in hand before the last blast is finished, and he holds them not like a girl or even a man, but like a warrior. Odysseus and Diomedes smile and tell Achilles they’ve been looking for him. Achilles, mockingly, says he’s honored—his tone will make it harder to humiliate him. He sheds his disguise, and Odysseus asks Lycomedes for a private room. Lycomedes is terrified, obviously thinking of Thetis. Odysseus invites Patroclus to join them, calling him by his real name—they want to talk to him, too.
Now it’s clear that Odysseus and Diomedes engineered this entire scene—asking to see the girls dance, giving the gifts, then having the alarm horns blow—all to flush out Achilles. And, further, that Odysseus always knew who Patroclus was. Odysseus was always in control. Achilles amusement at playacting as a women continues to highlight the difference between him playing this role and the actual women who are living it. Meanwhile, not how Achilles doesn’t just shift from “woman” to “warrior,” but to a “warrior” so obviously powerful that he seems almost inhuman. This suggests that even when Achilles isn’t faking womanhood, he’s at least partially faking manhood—he’s something more than human. This is something Patroclus never likes to think about. Achilles was never embarrassed by his disguise, but he’s now aware of how it could harm his reputation and modulates his response to the men accordingly. Clearly, his honor matters to him even if he’s never had to fight for it before.
Themes
