23. RANSOM Hecuba

Wife of Priam and mother of Hector, Hecuba gives full voice to the horrors of war. As
she stands on the walls of Troy and watches her son’s death and the spectacle of his
desecration, Hecuba becomes the very figure of the witness to the worst excesses of
the dark aspects of human nature, seeing in Achilles a figure capable of mindless
atrocities and boundless savagery. Hecuba represents a singularly female voice in a
narrative otherwise dominated by the voices of men; she is the figure anticipating the
later enslavement of the Trojan women which became another central preoccupation
of classical tragedy. Hecuba gives one of the most affecting and dramatic speeches
in the novel when she recounts her memories of the birth of her sons, now killed in
battle defending the city: ‘It is my flesh being tumbled on the stones out there. Seven
times now I’ve grieved for a son lost in this war. And what I remember of each one is
how they kicked their little heels under my heart — here, just here — and the first cry
they gave when I yielded them up to the world, and the first steps they took’. (p.52)
Ransom is easily taken as a novel principally concerned with the relationships
between fathers and sons, and the introduction of this strongly resonant maternal
note is a useful balance to the otherwise exclusively masculine tenor of the writing.
The other members of the Trojan court, Priam’s remaining sons and daughters —
Deiphobus, Cassandra, Helenus, Panyamus and Polydorus and advisors such as
Polydamus — all receive the news of Priam’s intentions with alarm and foreboding,
ultimately yielding to the will of their father and king. Malouf sketches these
characters with a sense of the ultimate fate that hangs over them, while they cling to
the rituals and protocols of the royal court. As a group these characters symbolise
the impending tragedy of the fall of Troy, the enslavement of the women, the sack of
the city, the dispersal of the people. They come before the reader of Ransom as the
last vestige of an ancient culture on the verge of disappearing, like their city, into the
oblivion of the past.

22. RANSOM Priam

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.

21. ACHILLES

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.

20. RANSOM EXAM/SAC QUESTIONS

The following questions are examples of the kinds of questions asked in the Year 12 English examination and on Year 12 SACs in relation to the novel RANSOM.
The best practice you can do for the SAC and for the exams later inthe year is to complete as many PRACTICE EXAM QUESTTIONS as you are able, and submit them to your group and to me for comment.

There are TEN Practice Essay topics below. Use these to sharpen your planning and writing skills. Set yourself a maximum of an hour to complete each practice essay. Spend up to TEN minutes generating ideas for your essay, and spend 50 minutes writing.

1. “Ransom is, first and foremost, a novel about redemption – about regaining what has been lost, about saving what has been endangered and retrieving what has been taken away.”
Discuss

2. In the final pages of Ransom, Malouf writes of Somax: ‘This old fellow, like other story tellers, is a stealer of other men’s tales, of other men’s lives.’
Discuss this idea in relation to Ransom.

3. “In the novel Ransom, the narrator tells us that Hector spoke to Achilles with his last breath; as men, both, for whom this moment was sacred; a meeting that from the beginning had been the clear goal of their lives and the final achievement of what they were.”
Discuss

4. “War is never about glory or honour or destiny – although Achilles and Hector thought it was. But there is no glory in war – only the loss of our humanity.”
Discuss

5. “In the novel Ransom, there are many stories that tell of salvation – stories that explore the idea of people being saved. Patroclus is saved from the consequences of his actions; Priam’s life is saved by his sister; Hector’s body is ransomed by Priam ... and many more.”
What do these stories have to teach us about being human?

6. Achilles, Priam, Somax – all three recover their humanity through their actions.
Discuss

7. In Homer’s Iliad, on which Ransom is based, there is no character called Somax. Somax is a creation of Malouf’s imagination. Why did Malouf choose to make such a major change to the original story? What is Somax’s significance to the novel?

8. Towards the end of Part 1 of Ransom, Malouf writes that Achilles is waiting for a break. For something to appear that will break the spell that is on him, the self-consuming rage that drives him and wastes his spirit in despair... day after day, he rages , shames himself, calls silently on a spirit that does not answer, and sleeps.
How is this spell broken? In what sense is Achilles woken?

9. “Priam realises that the gods are perhaps not solely responsible for the actions of men, and that realisation opens up a space for human action, for humans to control their own destinies.”
Discuss

10. “Achilles is not one person, but two. But for a time one part of his dual nature is suppressed. It is only when Priam comes to him that he is able to allow the suppressed part of himself to re-emerge. And in doing so, he becomes human again.”
Discuss.

19. REALITY is the WORLD as we SEE it.... or is it?

We look "OUT" onto the world through our eyes, and SEE the world AS IT IS.
At least, that's what we mostly think.

But is this true?
There are TWO ways (at least) of "SEEING" this person. Some people can move easily between one view and the alternative view.

What do YOU see?

18. Student query about RANSOM

From: STUDENT B

To: barry

Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 7:27 PM

Subject: English

Hey Barry how are your holidays going? excited to go back to school?I just finished reading ransom and im suprised to say that i enjoyed it, the only thing that i got a little bit lost on is the referencing to the greek gods and how they can influence their lives. I was just a little bit confused and was wondering if you could clear that up for me.Thanks :)

Hi B:

I'm glad that you enjoyed RANSOM. I love it. I think malouf is a wonderful writer.
Generally speaking: the Greeks believed the gods - Zeus, Athena, etc etc - DETERMINED everything.
They didn't just INFLUENCE - they determined. When Achilles destroys part of Apollo's temple, close to Troy, that god was angry with him and wanted to repay him for his lack of respect...

It had been foretold - by one of the oracles - that if Achilles fought at Troy, he would not come back alive.

So - that "default" position for Greeks(humans) was a sort of FATALISTIC acceptance that they had no real say over what happened to them. [Centuries later, Shakespeare observed:
"As flies to wanton boys are we to gods - they kill us for their sport."]


We directly meet TWO gods in the novel:
The goddess Iris "appears" to Priam ... It is not clear [to us as readers - OR to Priam himself - whether he is dreaming, or imagining, or that the experience is "real" ... but Iris plants the seed in Priam's head that - just maybe - humans CAN affect their own fate. That life is NOT ruled entirely by gods ... that chance plays a big part. Now to Priam - and to the Greeks - this was unheard of. It was, in many ways, blasphemy. It was saying: The gods are NOT all-powerful as you once believed; humans can in fact SHAPE their own destinies.

Now Malouf leaves it up to us, as readers, to make our own decision:
Was Priam dreaming? Was Priam's unconscious self telling him these things? Was Priam in a trance and imagining it all? or did the goddess Iris actually speak to Priam?

With the other god who appears directly in the novel - Hermes - Malouf presents him as "real" ... we do not question whether he is there; we simply accept it. After all, Hermes is not just "seen" (and perhaps "imagined" ) by Priam; Somax converses with him too. And Hermes guides the old men to Achilles' tent without the guards seeing them...


In the mind set of the ancient Greeks (as in the mindset of modern Evangelical Christians) it was perfectly acceptable to believe that the gods (or in the case of modern Christians and Moslems) would speak directly to humans.
One of the Christian hyms goes:
He lives, he lives Christ Jesus lives today
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way
He lives, he lives, his wisdom to impart
You ask me how I know he lives: He lives WITHIN MY HEART.


So ... you might say: if we believe in something strongly enough, then for us, it EXISTS ... it is REAL...

I think that Malouf was "playing" with the idea of a human at a PARTICULAR MOMENT when his way of seeing the world CHANGES ... Priam is certainly insightful about WHY he is going... he has a GUT FEELING that this is the ONLY way he can regain the body of his son...by sheddin all the appearance, all the trappings, all the prestige of his "CEREMONIAL SELF" - ie Priam the king - and being nothing more, or less, that a man, begging another man for the body of his son.

Greek tales told of heroes behaving heroically, and being aided by the gods. Priam went "godlessly" to Achilles, went as SIMPLY a man. Like Somax. No longer Priam, and much more like his childhood self, when he was Podarces ...

I hope that helped.

I hope you've had a great holiday and I look forward to seein you in less than a week now.

Feel free to follow up with any further questions.

Barry

17. Who is the REAL you? Are YOU real?

This is a really intresting video clip. It involves a philosopher talking about the concept of SELF.

http://www.youtubesnips.com/watch?v=GFIyhseYTWg