Sunday, February 19, 2012

32. Differences between The ILIAD and RANSOM






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Summary and Analysis
Ransom, the 2009 novel by Australian author David Malouf, retells the story of the Iliad from books 16 to 24. The story starts with Achilles mourning the death of Patroclus, friend and potential lover, Malouf hints. We then see the wrath of Achilles as he slays Hector and drags him behind his chariot day after day. This terrifying side of Achilles is amplified from original Iliad because we can see what Achilles is actually capable of when he finds a good enough reason to fight. Malouf tries to explain the psychology of Achilles, how does the man capable of anything take out his frustration? The narrative then shifts towards Priam. Priam cannot stand the disfiguration of his beloved son. Malouf explores this parallel of loss between Priam and Achilles that Homer in the original Iliad leaves the reader to discover for themselves. After a visit from Iris Priam then explains to Troy that he will make his way to the Greek camp with ransom treasure for Achilles, hoping to stop him from mistreating Hector’s body, to which Hecuba points out is a suicide mission. Priam goes on the journey, despite warnings from his wife. He eventually meets Achilles at his tent where the exchange is made. Priam appeals to Achilles own job as a father in trying to persuade him to allow Hector to return to Troy for a proper burial. The retelling ends with the proper burial of Hector within the walls of his home city.
Differences from the Iliad
It is clear that Malouf has taken several interesting liberties with the near-perfect text that Homer created. The most obvious liberty would be the inclusion of a new character, Somax. Somax is the cart diver who takes Priam to the meeting with Achilles. Somax is the most successfully developed character in the entire narrative. With characters like Priam and Achilles, Malouf takes liberties with their personality that are not entirely in succession with their perfect depictions in the Iliad. However, with Somax, Malouf manages to create a perfect character foil for Priam. Priam has lived in a very safe royal bubble for his entire life and is now forced to exit it to bury his son. Somax, who has by no means lived any life of luxury, unintentionally teaches Priam about the world outside of the palace: he is a personification of the ordinary. He is not the type of person that normally has anything to do with the royal family, but is enthused with the opportunity. It was an unreal experience to talk with Priam, just as it would have been unreal to witness Louis XIV in rural France as he was trying to escape. Although Malouf is not as successful developing Homer’s characters, he is incredibly successful creating his own characters in the world Homer imagined.

There are also a number of small, but interesting changes that Malouf is also successful with. He is trying to fill in the gaps to almost make more sense of the story. One might wonder, in the original Iliad, why Priam was not killed on the way to Achilles tent. Malouf responds by putting Priam in disguise. Another choice Malouf has made is the amount of time allotted to different parts of the book. There are about 50 pages devoted to Priam and Somax’s journey to visit Achilles filled with brilliant descriptions of landscape and interesting insight from Somax, but only about 30 pages devoted to the actual conversation between the Trojan King and the Greek Warrior. Malouf is suggesting that, more like the Odyssey than the Iliad, Ransom is much more about the journey than the end result.

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