Achilles
Malouf gives us a transformed Achilles in Ransom. The portrait we see is of a deeply
conflicted individual who shares with the other central character in the novel, King
Priam, the terrible burden of a role and larger identity; in the case of Achilles, the
fearsome, invincible warrior whose participation in the war is the decisive factor for
both sides. His withdrawal from the fighting both prolongs the conflict, deferring the
ultimate fate confronting Troy, but ensures that even more of his comrades will be
killed in battle. Malouf stresses the inner conflict that defines the character of
Achilles; that he is born ‘between’ the opposing forces of mortality and immortality,
and the irreconcilable realms of mortal and divine. Achilles is depicted as yearning
for the voice of his mother in the sounds of the sea, for his distinct origins lie in the
more fluid elements that define his elusive, changeable, unpredictable nature. He is
known as Achilles ‘the runner’ whose speed is a sign of this otherworldly nature,
suggesting an almost inhuman nature. Achilles is also presented as a character who
is haunted by the portents of his own death — in the deaths of both Patroclus and
Hector. Both appear before him at the moment of their own deaths as his shadow
selves, his ‘other’ as both die wearing his armour, as versions of the mythic figure of
Achilles, yet fated to die because they are not him. Hector dies clasping Achilles’
hand as he drives the lance into his throat, joined together in a moment of deep
recognition as each sees their own fate mirrored in the other.
With the death of his cousin and childhood soul mate Patroclus, the grief and rage
expressed by Achilles are described in equally primal, elemental terms, as forces
beyond his individual control and eruptions of the most basic forces of the self. His
act of desecration and denial of an honourable burial for Hector, performed with a
primal savagery that shocks all who witness it, suggests the unfathomable horrors in
human nature that can be unleashed in the chaos of war. Achilles remains an
inexplicable figure even to those most sympathetic to him. He resents even such
loyal aides as Automedon who held the dying Patroclus and had the honour of
defending his body from the ravening Trojan soldiers who would presumably have
committed the same acts of defilement that Achilles himself will later commit.
Achilles’ actions can be seen as the result of madness caused by grief, an
explanation that those closest to him reach for as the only possible understanding of
his dedicated refusal to allow Hector an honourable burial. Malouf however chooses
to present these horrific acts as the ultimate expression of the logic of war and the
psychic and emotional dislocation that can create. Achilles appears in Malouf’s
narrative as the ultimate expression of an individual fundamentally disconnected
from any sense of subjective unity or shared community. The final act of compassion
that Achilles achieves is made possible through his reconnection with a vision of the
paternal lineage that joins him to both his father Peleus and his son Neoptolemus —
even though this vision is an instance of inadvertent misrecognition as he sees the
figure of Priam as the image of his own father that he has not seen in nine years.
Though he has committed acts that may be construed as war crimes, according to
the cosmology of the ancient world, the mercy he shows the frail and vulnerable
Priam allows Achilles a brief moment of reconnection with his own humanity.
Malouf gives us a transformed Achilles in Ransom. The portrait we see is of a deeply
conflicted individual who shares with the other central character in the novel, King
Priam, the terrible burden of a role and larger identity; in the case of Achilles, the
fearsome, invincible warrior whose participation in the war is the decisive factor for
both sides. His withdrawal from the fighting both prolongs the conflict, deferring the
ultimate fate confronting Troy, but ensures that even more of his comrades will be
killed in battle. Malouf stresses the inner conflict that defines the character of
Achilles; that he is born ‘between’ the opposing forces of mortality and immortality,
and the irreconcilable realms of mortal and divine. Achilles is depicted as yearning
for the voice of his mother in the sounds of the sea, for his distinct origins lie in the
more fluid elements that define his elusive, changeable, unpredictable nature. He is
known as Achilles ‘the runner’ whose speed is a sign of this otherworldly nature,
suggesting an almost inhuman nature. Achilles is also presented as a character who
is haunted by the portents of his own death — in the deaths of both Patroclus and
Hector. Both appear before him at the moment of their own deaths as his shadow
selves, his ‘other’ as both die wearing his armour, as versions of the mythic figure of
Achilles, yet fated to die because they are not him. Hector dies clasping Achilles’
hand as he drives the lance into his throat, joined together in a moment of deep
recognition as each sees their own fate mirrored in the other.
With the death of his cousin and childhood soul mate Patroclus, the grief and rage
expressed by Achilles are described in equally primal, elemental terms, as forces
beyond his individual control and eruptions of the most basic forces of the self. His
act of desecration and denial of an honourable burial for Hector, performed with a
primal savagery that shocks all who witness it, suggests the unfathomable horrors in
human nature that can be unleashed in the chaos of war. Achilles remains an
inexplicable figure even to those most sympathetic to him. He resents even such
loyal aides as Automedon who held the dying Patroclus and had the honour of
defending his body from the ravening Trojan soldiers who would presumably have
committed the same acts of defilement that Achilles himself will later commit.
Achilles’ actions can be seen as the result of madness caused by grief, an
explanation that those closest to him reach for as the only possible understanding of
his dedicated refusal to allow Hector an honourable burial. Malouf however chooses
to present these horrific acts as the ultimate expression of the logic of war and the
psychic and emotional dislocation that can create. Achilles appears in Malouf’s
narrative as the ultimate expression of an individual fundamentally disconnected
from any sense of subjective unity or shared community. The final act of compassion
that Achilles achieves is made possible through his reconnection with a vision of the
paternal lineage that joins him to both his father Peleus and his son Neoptolemus —
even though this vision is an instance of inadvertent misrecognition as he sees the
figure of Priam as the image of his own father that he has not seen in nine years.
Though he has committed acts that may be construed as war crimes, according to
the cosmology of the ancient world, the mercy he shows the frail and vulnerable
Priam allows Achilles a brief moment of reconnection with his own humanity.
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