Through Priam Malouf dramatises one of the central thematic concerns of the novel;
the destructive effects of the loss of common humanity. Priam is portrayed by Malouf
as a man who has been confined within the tightly regulated ceremonial symbolism
of the role of king, who is effectively a prisoner of this ceremonial function with little
freedom to express himself as an individual man. Priam describes how he has had to
perfect the techniques of stillness to allow the symbolism of royalty to circulate
around his titular self. Like Achilles, Priam is a figure of the divided self. The lengthy
war has also had terrible consequences for Priam; not only in the loss of his sons,
from whom he admits his connection was not that of an ordinary father, but in the
constant reminder of his exalted but purely symbolic status.
Priam’s vision, in which he goes to Achilles to ransom the body of his son Hector, is
described as an expression of a deeply felt need to re-acquire his humanity. Priam
disconnects himself from all aspects of royal protocol to petition Achilles as a father
and a man without any of the distracting symbolism of his title. The audacious
simplicity of this vision, which Priam fears will be incomprehensible to his wife and
family, is presented in the novel as the product of Priam’s traumatised unconscious
as it wrestles with the consequences of the war and his own largely powerless
situation to affect its outcome. His journey to the Greek camp is a steady progression
towards a transformation of the self into human form, into the body of a man not that
of a king. The dislocation Priam has experienced from the ordinary, vernacular world
is shown to be healed by his immersion in the vernacular narratives of a man such
as Somax. Malouf powerfully underscores the importance, indeed necessity, in
ordinary human experience of stories that connect us to a larger conception of
shared identity. This idea is diametrically opposed to the confinement within the
rarefied realm of kingship that had been Priam’s destiny. Priam effectively composes
a new destiny for himself, one that will create new stories of his nobility as a man.
the destructive effects of the loss of common humanity. Priam is portrayed by Malouf
as a man who has been confined within the tightly regulated ceremonial symbolism
of the role of king, who is effectively a prisoner of this ceremonial function with little
freedom to express himself as an individual man. Priam describes how he has had to
perfect the techniques of stillness to allow the symbolism of royalty to circulate
around his titular self. Like Achilles, Priam is a figure of the divided self. The lengthy
war has also had terrible consequences for Priam; not only in the loss of his sons,
from whom he admits his connection was not that of an ordinary father, but in the
constant reminder of his exalted but purely symbolic status.
Priam’s vision, in which he goes to Achilles to ransom the body of his son Hector, is
described as an expression of a deeply felt need to re-acquire his humanity. Priam
disconnects himself from all aspects of royal protocol to petition Achilles as a father
and a man without any of the distracting symbolism of his title. The audacious
simplicity of this vision, which Priam fears will be incomprehensible to his wife and
family, is presented in the novel as the product of Priam’s traumatised unconscious
as it wrestles with the consequences of the war and his own largely powerless
situation to affect its outcome. His journey to the Greek camp is a steady progression
towards a transformation of the self into human form, into the body of a man not that
of a king. The dislocation Priam has experienced from the ordinary, vernacular world
is shown to be healed by his immersion in the vernacular narratives of a man such
as Somax. Malouf powerfully underscores the importance, indeed necessity, in
ordinary human experience of stories that connect us to a larger conception of
shared identity. This idea is diametrically opposed to the confinement within the
rarefied realm of kingship that had been Priam’s destiny. Priam effectively composes
a new destiny for himself, one that will create new stories of his nobility as a man.
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