ABSTRACT
Akhilleus’s ideals of justice, honor, and fair play led him to protest and insist that something had to be done to stop Apollo’s retaliatory “silver arrows” that were devastating the Greek ranks. The most telling issue in Akhilleus’ struggle is a narcissistic rage that was mobilized by Agamemnon’s insult in an already narcissistically injured self that seethed and simmered without respite. The young adult Akhilleus’s personality as represented in the poem illustrates some of the issues common to late adolescents and young adults. These are phase specific tasks related to consolidation of the personality with an integration of a cohesive self or an intact identity; the development of a more benign superego and ego ideal; and reworking of the oedipal conflict as well as separation-individuation issues. This chapter explains that oedipal conflicts as well as separation-individuation issues are being reworked in the late adolescent phase and continue on into young adulthood.
