The Queen / Ransom

ENGLISH TEXT SUMMARY NOTES PAIRED COMPARISONS

The Queen / Ransom

Text guide by: Melanie Hayek, Scott Langan, Odette Colbert & Kirsten Finlay The Queen / Ransom 2

F: 03 97084354 W: tssm.com.au E: [email protected]

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Contents

TEXT 1 ...... 5 The Queen ...... 5 DIRECTOR NOTES ...... 6 HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND FIGURES ...... 7 King George VI ...... 7 Britain in the 1990s ...... 7 GENRE ...... 8 STRUCTURE ...... 8 Chronology ...... 8 News Flashes ...... 8 STYLE ...... 9 Point of view ...... 9 Values ...... 9 SYMBOLS AND MOTIFS ...... 10 The Stag ...... 10 Hunting ...... 10 Newspapers/Media ...... 11 Balmoral Castle ...... 11 Blair‟s Office/Family Life ...... 11 SETTING AND PLOT SUMMARY ...... 12 CHARACTER PROFILES ...... 13 Major Characters ...... 13 Minor Characters ...... 14 THEMES ...... 18 Family ...... 18 Relationships ...... 19 Private Vs Public ...... 20 Leadership ...... 20 Tradition Vs Evolution ...... 21 IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS – „THE QUEEN‟ ...... 22 TEXT 2 ...... 28 Ransom ...... 28 AUTHOR NOTES ...... 29 HISTORICAL CONTEXT ...... 30 GENRE ...... 32 Audience ...... 32 STRUCTURE ...... 33 STYLE ...... 34 SYMBOLS ...... 36 SETTINGS ...... 38 PLOT SUMMARY ...... 39 CHARACTER PROFILES ...... 44 Protagonists and Antagonists ...... 44 Construction of Character ...... 44 Major Characters ...... 45 Minor Characters ...... 48 The Queen / Ransom 4

THEMES AND ISSUES ...... 53 Honour through Battle: The Hero ...... 53 Paternal (and Maternal) Love ...... 54 Grief and Grieving ...... 54 Talk: Communication through Action ...... 55 Fate and Chance: Visions and Visitations ...... 56 IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS – „RANSOM‟ ...... 58 COMPARATIVE TEXT ANALYSIS: IDEAS, ISSUES and THEMES ...... 64 Learning intentions ...... 64 The difference between Unit 2 and Unit 4: ...... 64 Student must: ...... 64 Student Assessed Coursework ...... 65 Overview of Assessment Requirements ...... 65 ENGLISH VCAA Recommended Performance descriptors – Not compulsory to use ...... 67 Contribution to final assessment ...... 68 Comparing Texts ...... 68 Common Themes: The Queen and „Ransom‟ ...... 69 Changing Identity ...... 69 Leadership ...... 71 Text Construction ...... 73 Approaches to the Essay ...... 74 How to go about it? ...... 74 Where do I start? ...... 75 What will I be marked on? ...... 75 Ways to compare: ...... 75 Essay Construction ...... 76 Comparative Essay Structure A: Separate Analysis ...... 76 Comparative Essay Structure B: Blended Analysis and Comparison - Thematic ...... 78 Comparative Essay Structure C: Blended Analysis and Comparison – Chronological ...... 79 Writing Advice ...... 80 Essay Questions ...... 81 Analysing a Question ...... 82 FINAL EXAMINATION ADVICE ...... 84 REFERENCES ...... 86 References Used ...... 86 References for Students ...... 86

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TEXT 1 The Queen

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DIRECTOR NOTES

Award winning director Stephen Frears directed The Queen in 2006. He says of directing “Well, while you're shooting, you're bringing a story to life. It always goes in slightly unexpected ways. You're trying to make sure everybody's in the same film… You want everyone comfortable with each other, agreeing on circumstances. You're asking actors, indeed, everybody on set, to be intimate, to be a family in a world that's the product of their mutual imagination. You're the patriarch, holding the whole thing together, depending on everyone being collaborative. In editing, you discover what you've got, what you've missed, what you should have done, things you hadn't thought of, holes that need filling. That's why Woody Allen re-shoots. It's done in light of what he's learned, because you make films in the dark, learning as you go. I'm always so curious to see where it's leading. To find out, you must let go, must relinquish control and be open. When I started opening up about 25 years ago, my films got better.” 1

On directing „The Queen‟, Frears has been quoted as saying that he was attracted to directing this moment in British history as it was one that hadn‟t been explored in detail before. He wanted to look at the subject matter, the conflict that was occurring in the mid 1990s between the old world and the new, focusing on the end of traditions in Britain and how the leaders were shaping, or ignoring, what was next for the county.

He felt he had to be meticulous in his telling of this story, since the majority of the people involved were still alive at the time of the film being released. He felt he had to be honest in his story, and to stay away from anything that could not be supported. An additional layer was Frears being a British subject himself. Even though he had spent the majority of the last few decades in America, he wanted to respect his monarch and the institution, and vast traditions, she represents. While people in Britain might have found the traditions of the time unsustainable, they still respect the woman who wears the crown.

Some other notable films he has directed include (but are not limited to):  Dangerous Liaisons (1988)  High Fidelity (2000)  Mrs Henderson Presents (2005)  Philomena (2013)  Victoria & Abdul (2016)

1 IMDb, ‘Stephen Frears – Brography – IMDb’ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001241/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

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HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND FIGURES

It is important that students understand the historical context of this film in order to fully grasp the importance of the events depicted. Therefore, we will consider some of these concepts below.

King George VI

Albert Frederick Arthur George (14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952), was crowned King of the United Kingdoms and the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death on 6 February 1952. He was known as Albert, or „Bertie‟ until his accession to King George VI. As a second son, he was not expected to inherit the throne, but his older brother Edward abdicated, due to falling in love with an American divorcee.

George VI had two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, and a very prominent stutter that he worked on for years to never fully overcome. He served in the Royal Navy during World War I and worked with his Parliament closely during World War II. He was never fully comfortable in his role as king. He faced smoking-related health problems in the last years of his reign. Upon his subsequent death, due to these smoking-related problems, his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, succeed him on the throne.

Britain in the 1990s

In the preceding decades Britain had gone through many periods of change. The 1950s saw the accession of a „girl Queen‟, as Elizabeth was 25 at the time of her coronation. The 1950s also saw a country trying to come to grips with what had happened to their country during World War II. The 1960s saw the beginnings of many societal upheavals, as the youth of the world were trying to „figure out‟ who they were.

The 1970s saw the high levels of unemployment and rise of the British Punk movement with bands such as the Sex Pistols singing songs like „God Save the Queen‟, which included the lyrics “God save the queen, the fascist regime… God save the queen, she ain‟t no human being… God save the queen, we mean it man. We love our queen, God saves.”

The 1980s saw the rise of capitalism amongst the people, whereas the 1990s saw low levels of unemployment and the introduction of the internet to households. Gaming systems became more popular and pop stars such as the Spice Girls and bands such as Blur and Oasis rose through the charts. These bands were part of a cultural movement called Britpop.

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GENRE

Reading and Comparing requires you to analyse two different text types by discussing how the texts are constructed and how differences in the way texts are constructed impact on how themes are explored. The Queen is a film which requires you to listen to dialogue and note the impact of verbal interactions on characters, situations and events. You should also take into account how graphics impact upon your understanding and overall impression in comparison to the second text, Ransom.

STRUCTURE

The structure of the film refers to the way it is put together. This movie could be loosely defined as historical fiction. Although based on a true story and using many elements of real events, there are elements that have been changed, added or subtracted in order to fill in gaps or to add interest or inspiration to the story.

Chronology

The Queen is mostly chronological but there are significant gaps in time portrayed. These gaps are often explained using media headlines to give the information needed to fill these gaps.

News Flashes

The director has used news flashes from the media to give the audience information that would not easily be revealed through the narrative alone. For example, newspaper headlines and snippets of TV news programs are used to give the audience the background information they need prior to watching the film. News flashes are also used to show how the world, not just the people of Britain, are reacting to the loss of the „People‟s Princess‟.

While the film focuses on how Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Tony Blair are both working through the death of Diana in the days that followed her death, their respective narratives are intercut with various scenes from televisions, acknowledging interviews she had done prior to her death as well as her relatives speaking out in reaction to how she was killed. Queen Elizabeth is determined for Diana‟s death to be kept private, whereas Blair is more politically savvy and in touch with how his constituents are showing their grief at the loss of a member of the royal family, despite the fact that Diana was divorced from Charles.

The news flashes and news reports during various scenes allow for the narrative of the characters to continue, while allowing the film to focus on the specific events central to the story. News flashes are also used to show the varying attitudes in the community toward a range of topics. For example, there are a number of instances throughout the film where reports on how the people are reacting to the death of Diana, from reputable news companies such as the BBC and CNN are included The Queen / Ransom 9

STYLE

Point of view

The Queen is primarily told from the position of a third person omniscient narrator. It is narrated from a position where all events and characters can be seen and is not told from the perspective of any single character. We see evidence of this when the focus changes from what the Queen is doing in Balmoral to what is happening in Blair‟s home or his office to scenes of the crowd gathering to pay respects to Diana on the streets outside of Buckingham Palace. The focus constantly changes, and the audience is privy to what is going on in a number of characters‟ lives, even when they are all in different places and events are seemingly unconnected.

Values

Using an omniscient narrator can make it appear that the director is impartial. However, this is generally not the case. Directors make very conscious choices about what is to be shown in a film and how it is to be shown. In „The Queen‟, Blair is shown in more of a positive light than the Queen, until the end of the film when she starts to show a public reaction to the death of Diana. The director has focussed on the positive aspects of their characters and the good that they did in society. He has not explored any negative character traits of in any detail, although he has portrayed them as human, acknowledging the Queen‟s ultra-conservative upbringing and Blair‟s awareness of modern British expectations of their leaders.

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SYMBOLS AND MOTIFS

The Queen contains a number of symbols and motifs.

The Stag

The stag plays a prominent part in the film, as a way to highlight how the Queen is feeling emotionally, as well as being a symbol for Diana and her death. Initially the stag is seen at a distance when Prince Philip and the „boys‟ (William and Harry) are hunting him during their Winter vacation to Balmoral. The stag is then seen again when Prince Philip uses the hunting of the stag as a way to distract the boys from the death of their mother. The Queen has a spiritual moment with the stag when her jeep is broken and she is stranded near a river, waiting to be rescued. „Oh you beauty,‟ she says when it comes close to her. This moment is the first time she has stopped moving, acting and reacting since learning of the death of Diana. The Queen hears her rescuers coming and tries to shoo it away. She turns her head away from it for a moment and then when she turns back, it is gone. She learns the next day that at a neighbouring estate the stag has been killed and she goes and sees its lifeless, headless, carcass hanging up in the kill shed, being bled before the next stage of preparing the meat. The stag was wounded before it was killed, as was Diana emotionally before her death.

The stag is also the symbol of the Ancient Greek Goddess, Diana, who was known as the Goddess of the Hunt. This implies that Diana was hunted, in this case by Paparazzi, and she too ended up dead because of their careless actions.

Hunting

The hunting of the stag on the lands of Balmoral Castle and the hunting of Diana are often connected in the film. The stag was hunted by members of the royal family and their servants. These scenes were often intercut with images of Princess Diana running and hiding from the press in an attempt to avoid them. The continual flashes of the camera while she is attempting to leave a hotel in Paris show how she was never left alone, similar to the continual efforts of Prince Philip and his hunting party to circle the stag in order to kill him. Both of them ultimately end up dead due to the careless actions of others, attempting to win a „prize‟ – either the head of the stag or a photo of Diana with her then boyfriend, Dodi al Fayed.

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Newspapers/Media

The Queen is initially intercut with news reports from the media of Diana and her new „boyfriend‟ Dodi al Fayed. Upon her death the newspapers and Media go into a frenzy trying to report all that they can, re-running previous interviews with Diana and showing many clips of her when she was married to Charles, doing her philanthropic work for the people. There are many times that the headlines of the newspapers „call out‟ the Royal Family for not acting, or responding, to her death publicly as Diana was known for her involvement with the „ordinary‟ man. By having many of the characters watching the same news reports it allowed the director to capture action and reaction shots to the same situation without having to re-establish the events.

Balmoral Castle

Balmoral Castle is one of the residences of the British royal family and has been since 1852, when the estate and its original castle were purchased privately by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. It remains the private property of the royal family and is not part of the Crown Estate. Soon after the estate was purchased by the royal family, the existing house was found to be too small and the current Balmoral Castle was commissioned. The new castle was completed in 1856 and the old castle demolished shortly thereafter.

The Balmoral Estate has been added to by successive members of the royal family, and now covers an area of approximately 50,000 acres (20,000 ha). It is a working estate, including grouse moors, forestry, and farmland, as well as managed herds of deer, Highland cattle, and ponies. It‟s use within the film indicates how isolated the Royal Family is from their people, as the „ordinary‟ man does not generally go hunting or take long walks up and down various windswept mountains.

Blair’s Office/Family Life

Tony Blair‟s cramped Office and family home is shown as a way to juxtapose the Queen‟s lavish estates and lifestyle. The Blair family sit down together to eat a meal of fish fingers, whereas the Royal Family sit down to breakfast and are served by various unobtrusive servants.

Similarly, Blair‟s Prime Ministerial offices are easily accessible by his staff, as Blair has asked everyone to call him „Tony‟, of which the Queen does not approve: “ELIZABETH: Oh. I‟m not sure I like the sound of that [Blair letting everyone call him „Tony‟]. Have we sent him a protocol sheet?”

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SETTING AND PLOT SUMMARY

The Queen tells the story of the death of Princess Diana and how the British people, the newly elected British Prime Minister and the Royal Family all react differently in the week that followed.

The film opens with the news of Tony Blair‟s recent election in May of 1997. His party have promised to „modernise‟ the country, which does not sit well with the traditional views and values of the Queen, who is getting her portrait painted for her royal profile images to be published in the future.

Not long after Tony‟s his election Princess Diana is killed in a car accident in a tunnel in Paris, trying to escape from the Paparazzi who are chasing her for a photo. At the time of her death Diana was the most popular „royal‟, due to interactions with the public during her time as „Her Royal Highness‟ (HRH) and her various charity work around the world. Most of the people of Britain wanted the Queen to speak out about her life and work, to acknowledge her upon her death and to have a public funeral. She initially rejected this as she was honouring the respects of the Spencers, Diana‟s family, and thought that the people of Britain were too restrained to need such a thing: “ELIZABETH: I doubt there are many who know the British more than I do, Mr. Blair, nor who has greater faith in their wisdom and judgement. And it is my belief that they will soon reject this „mood‟ which has been stirred up by the press...in favour of a period of restrained grief, and sober, private mourning. That‟s the way we do things in this country. Quietly. With dignity. It‟s what the rest of the world has always admired us for.”

This refusal initially caused issues between the Queen and her son, Charles, as the film depicts her feeling that Charles was viewing Diana and her actions falsely, romanticising her motherly ways, upon her death. Charles tries to help Blair to help the Queen change her mind, rather clumsily, through his Press Secretary.

Eventually the public criticism of the Queen and her lack of reaction caused her to act and she was forced to follow the plan laid out to her by her Prime Minister, Tony Blair. The media referenced the guilt and anger of the nation being thrown at the Queen as a „spat‟, as she was a likely scapegoat due to being the figurehead of the nation.

During her final meeting with Blair she warns him that one day he too will face the public criticism she has faced during her time as Queen and her clinging to the traditional views and values of a Britain of the past, but they come to a place where they can work together for the betterment of the people of Britain and the Commonwealth.

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CHARACTER PROFILES

Major Characters

The Queen (Helen Mirren)

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on the 21st April, 1926. She was educated privately at home, growing up with her younger sister Margaret. When her father became the King in 1936, she became the heir to the throne and began to undertake public duties such as serving the Auxiliary Territorial Service (mechanic) in World War II. In 1947 she married Prince Philip, who was a former prince of Greece and Denmark and took the title of Duke of Edinburgh. She had four children with him – Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward.

In February 1952, she became the Queen and head of the Commonwealth upon the death of her father. Elizabeth has remained the head of the Commonwealth and the United Kingdom since her accession. She has made many trips to visit the lands of her realms during her time as Queen. In 2017 she became the very first British monarch to reach the milestone of a Sapphire Jubilee (65 years as Queen) as she is the longest reigning and longest-lived British ruler. She has faced time of public criticism, especially after the breakdown of her children‟s various marriages and the death of her ex-daughter in law Diana, Princess of Wales. Despite this, support for the monarchy, and her in particular, remains high in the public.

Helen Mirren, the actress who plays the Queen, received an Oscar™ and a BAFTA Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. She says: ‘I really got to love the Queen by playing her. I think she’s a person who is genuine, she refuses to be fake.’ (W Magazine, 2006)

Tony Blair (Michael Sheen)

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair, known as Tony, was born on the 6th of May in 1953. He served as the Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. He is the last British Labour Party leader to have won a general election. During Blair‟s leadership the Labour party coined a new phrase of „New Labour‟, in order to distance themselves from previous Labour parties and their politics.

Despite doing this, Blair has been criticised for bringing the Labour party to „the middle‟ and not being more socialist. In the first year of his leadership Blair had a 93% popularity vote from the British public, primarily based on how he managed the events following the death of Princess Diana. In 2001, the Labour party won the election in a landslide victory and they won again in 2005, this time by less of a majority.

Throughout the film he is portrayed as someone who is aware of the needs of the people, and someone who is sympathetic to what the Queen is going through during this week.

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Minor Characters

Prince Philip (James Cromwell)

Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark and then, upon the accession of his wife to the throne, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was born on the 10th June, 1921. Whilst an infant his family was exiled from Greece, which led to his family leaving Philip to be educated in France, Germany and the United Kingdom. He was a member of the British Royal Navy. He began writing friendly letters to 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth during his service. Not long after the end of the war he was granted permission to marry a then 18-year-old Elizabeth by her father, King George VI. In order to marry her he had to abandon his Greek and Danish titles and become a British subject. He took the surname of Mountbatten from his grandmother‟s side. Just before their marriage he was made a Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich. He had to leave the military when Elizabeth became Queen, having risen through the ranks to that of a Commander. He was formally made a British Prince in 1957. He has had four children with Elizabeth. Any of his children who did not gain royal status have taken his surname and added Elizabeth‟s – Mountbatten-Windsor.

Prince Philip is known to have been a very keen sportsperson – whether it be equestrian, hunting or any other sport. There have been rumours of affairs, but none have ever been proved. He is known as a very stoic individual, who holds strong and fast to the idea of British tradition and family. He has often bridled at his wife‟s political power, having only risen to the level of Prince and never King. Prince Philip retired from Royal duties in 2017 at the age of 96.

Cherie Blair (Helen McCrory)

Cherie Blair CBE QC (née Booth) was born on the 23rd September 1954. She is a British barrister, lecturer, and writer. Cherie is currently an international human rights lawyer, who is passionate about women‟s equality. She has actively campaigned for human rights and equality for women around the globe. She is involved in many charities that have a focus on women, children and the power of education. Cherie is a woman who is not afraid to speak her mind and she is the wife of former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

In 1976, while she was studying to become a barrister, she met future Prime Minister and husband Tony Blair. They married on 29 March 1980. In 1996, during the setting of „The Queen‟, the Blairs have two sons and one daughter: Euan (born 1984), Nicholas (born 1985), Kathryn (born 1988), and eventually have a fourth son, Leo (born 2000). Cherie has described herself as a socialist and, at times, has appeared to have views further to the left than those of her husband.

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Prince Charles (Alex Jennings)

Charles Philip Arthur George was born on the 14th November, 1948 and is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the oldest, and longest serving, heir apparent in British history. He is also the Prince of Wales, having been given that title in 1958. He was educated at a number of private schools and after earning his Bachelor of Arts from Cambridge University he served in the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. In 1981 he married Lady Diana Spencer and they had two sons: Prince William (born in 1982) and Prince Harry (born 1984). In 1996 they divorced after extra marital affairs from both sides. Diana was killed the following year in a car crash in Paris, after being chased by the Paparazzi. In 2005 he married his long-term partner, Camilla Parker Bowles.

Robin Janvrin (Roger Allam)

The Queen inaccurately portrays Janvrin, then Deputy Private Secretary to the Sovereign, as Private Secretary. Robin Janvrin, born 20th September 1946, is a British member of the aristocrats who was the Private Secretary to Elizabeth II from February 1999 to September 2007. On the 1st of June 1987 Janvrin was recruited as Press Secretary to The Queen, though it was initially thought that he would be appointed Assistant Press Secretary. On the 19th October 1990 he became Assistant Private Secretary to The Queen, and in 1996 the Deputy Private Secretary. Within the film he is the one who tells the royals of Diana‟s accident and subsequent death. He is also seen as trying to protect the Queen from the press stories about the death of Princess Diana. He is one of the people who helps Blair to help the Queen react in way to Diana‟s death that the ordinary person would understand.

Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother (Sylvia Syms)

Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (born 4th August 1900 – died 30th March 2002) was the wife of King George VI and the mother of Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. She was Queen consort of the United Kingdom and the Dominions from her husband's accession in 1936 until his death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter. She was the last Empress consort of India. She is a sounding board for the Queen throughout the film, someone whose opinion the Queen respects: “QUEEN MOTHER: Damaging them? My dear, you are the greatest asset this institution has.” It is her funeral plan that is the one used and modified for the public funeral for Diana.

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Alastair Campbell (Mark Bazeley)

Alastair John Campbell, born on the 25th May 1957, is a British journalist, broadcaster, political aide and author, best known for his work as Tony Blair's spokesman and campaign director from 1994–1997. Upon Blair‟s election he became the Downing Street Press Secretary (The Prime Minister principal place of residence and offices) from 1997–2000, for Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair. He then became Downing Street Director of Communications and spokesman for the Labour Party in 2000–2003. He resigned from his role in Downing Street in August of 2003. Throughout the film he is seen as being quite scathing towards to the Royals and what they represent. The film credits him for coming up with the phrase „The People‟s Princess‟, in relation to Diana. It was revealed that Blair was the one who came up with this moniker for her. “ALASTAIR: I made a couple of changes. So it [the Queen‟s address to the nation about the death of Diana] sounds like it comes from a human being.”

Princess Diana (Herself)

Whilst only stock footage of various interviews Diana made before her untimely death are cut throughout the film, she is still an important character, as it is her funeral that is the lynchpin of that turbulent week in the life of the Royals and the British people.

Diana Frances Spencer was born on the 1st of July, 1961 and died on the 31st of August, 1997. She was the first wife of Prince Charles and the mother to Princes William and Harry. She was born into the Spencer family, one of the British houses of nobility. When her father inherited the title of the Earl of Spencer she became Lady Diana Spencer, a title she would keep until her marriage. She came to prominence upon her engagement to

2 Photo Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6322029/Prince-Charles-desperately- wanted-pull-wedding-Princess-Diana.html The Queen / Ransom 17

Charles in 1981, they were married later that same year. In 1982 she gave birth to Prince William and then in 1984 to Prince Harry.

Whilst married to Charles, and as the Princess of Wales, she became well known in various philanthropic endeavours, which her sons continue on in her name, some of which included an international campaign to ban landmines and works with various hospitals in London. She also raised awareness for people living with AIDS, HIV, cancer and mental illnesses.

During her marriage to Charles, she was the focus of intense media scrutiny. In interviews she gave around the time of her divorce she admitted that there were „three people in her marriage‟, alluding to Charles‟ relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles. She died in a car crash in a Paris tunnel after being chased by Paparazzi. Her televised funeral is one of the most watched events in recent media history.

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THEMES

The Queen explores a number of different themes that are relevant not only to the evolution of tradition in modern society and the social climate of the time, but also to everyday life. Here we explore some of the themes that are crucial to the study of The Queen.

Family

Family is shown in different ways throughout the text; the Royal family, the Blair family and also the family of the people of the United Kingdom.

The Royals – this family has recently gone through „annulus horribilis‟ in 1992 – the year the Queen dubbed as „horrible for her family‟. Three of her four children divorced/separated in that year and the castle at Windsor had caught fire. The most famous of her children‟s separation and subsequent divorce was her eldest child Charles and his wife Diana. They had two children together, William and Harry. Charles had been having an on again, off again affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, and Diana had had various affairs of her own during their marriage. The family had gone to the Balmoral estates, as they had done every winter, to escape the cold London weather. The family members present at Balmoral when the news of Diana‟s death broke, is the Queen, the Queen Mother, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Princes William and Harry. Diana had asked to take her sons with her to Paris but had been denied by the Royal family. The members of this family have a very fractious relationship. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip occasionally share a bed at night, Prince Charles has lingering issues about the lack of affection he feels he was given as a child and the Queen mother is getting older and feels her voice is being less and less valued by those around her. In days following Diana‟s death, every member of the family reacts differently: her ex-husband tries to use the circumstances surrounding her funeral as a play for power, her ex-father-in-law sees the event as ludicrous and a waste of time, her ex- grandmother-in-law is upset that they will be using her funeral plan, and her ex-mother-in-law does not like the revisionist history that is happening in the media and her own family about what type of mother this woman was. The only thing that the family agrees on is protecting the boys from the worst of the media coverage and trying to support them in their grief in their own ways.

The Blairs – Having only recently been elected into the role of Prime Minister, Tony and his family are coming to terms with what it means to be in such a high level of prominence and power. Tony very clearly listens to the advice of his wife and the family are often seen eating meals together, around a small table and with lots of family memories, books and general household clutter surrounding them. The Blair‟s three children are never named in the film, but are always present in the scenes set in and around the family home, indicating their importance to their parents – they have not passed the children off to other family members or out to private schools where they only come home on the weekends or during term breaks. Tony takes phone calls of national importance from his advisers in front of the children, only occasionally going to his study, which is pictured as being just off the main family/living room. Cherie endeavours to support her husband, whether it be through being a support person on the phone, giving him advice about the various events of the week, asking him to The Queen / Ransom 19 reflect upon his relationship with his own mother and connecting that to the Queen (as they are similar in action) or even helping him dress himself.

The people of the United Kingdom – are seen as needing their „mother‟, the Queen, to lead them in their grief after the death of the „People‟s Princess‟. As Tony says to his cabinet about the Queen, “TONY: You know when you get it wrong, you REALLY get it wrong. (A beat) That woman has given her whole life in service to her people - fifty years doing a job she NEVER wanted - a job she watched kill her father. She‟s executed it with honour, dignity and, as far as I can tell, without a single blemish - and now we line up baying for her blood - why? Because she‟s struggling to lead the world in mourning for a woman who threw everything she offered back in her face, and who seemed, in the last few years, to be committed twenty-four seven to destroying everything she holds dear.” Once the Queen begins to pay public respect to the flowers that the people of Britain are leaving for Diana she speaks to a little girl in the crowd. “LITTLE GIRL: These [flowers] are for you.” These flowers symbolize that the people were ready to forgive her.

Relationships

The relationships in the film vary from husband and wife to friends and work colleagues.

Tony and Cherie Blair are seen as having a traditional, happy marriage. They talk over ideas and share their days and lives. They eat together as a family and show love, support and respect for each other throughout the film. Cherie is seen as a working mother and Tony a working father, but together they try and find the time to be together and support each other. This is juxtaposed with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip‟s marriage. They rarely share the same bed together and quite often do not see „eye-to-eye‟ on the events that surround them. While the Queen may be the Queen of Britain and the United Kingdom, she is still very traditional. And in that tradition a man should be the „head of a household‟. Prince Philip tries to make her listen and follow his „advice‟, but ultimately she is the one who makes the decisions, with which he does not always agree. Prince Charles‟ relationship is that of a divorced man, who is now idealising his former wife.

Friends and work colleagues can be combined as an idea because Tony Blair is clearly friends, or at least, friendly with his Press Secretary Alastair and Janvrin is as friendly as he can be with the Queen, whilst still maintaining propriety with her and her position. The Queen and Tony start their relationship in the film being out of sync with each other, but they both develop a grudging respect, the Queen more so than Tony, for each other by the end of the film where they can be seen walking together through the grounds of Windsor Castle.

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Private Vs Public

“CHARLES: The two Dianas; the public‟s and ours don‟t have any relation with each other.”

A central theme is the theme of what it means to be private and what it means to be public. To the public, Diana was a kind, lovely, generous woman who selflessly gave her time to those in need. To her family, while she was in no doubt a loving mother to her children, she also had at least one affair and spent the last few years of her life making subtle digs at her ex-husband and the royal family. Diana‟s family, the Spencers, are the ones who initially wanted the private funeral and the Queen, trying to respect their wishes and that of tradition and propriety, tried to make this happen but does not succeed.

The Queen herself is a public figure, but not allowed to have emotions and feelings as she is expected to be steadfast in the face of the world. The only time she shows any emotion over the course of the week is when she is alone in the fields of Balmoral Castle after her jeep breaks down. Even then, the camera does not see her face front on, the audience is only given a side view and the view of her back, with the sound of her sob echoing through the scene.

Once the royals give in to the pressure to give Diana a HRH funeral, the public involvement gets even more pronounced within the film, as there are more and more scenes of the masses of flowers and mementos being laid at the gates of Windsor Castle: “TONY: So it‟s decided? It‟s going to be a public funeral. ALASTAIR: Yes. On Saturday. A whopper. The Abbey. The works.”

Leadership

There are two different styles of leadership within the text, a traditional style of leadership and a more modern one, seen through how the Queen and Tony both lead their staff.

The Queen‟s experience of leadership comes from many, many generations before her and the expectations of how a ruling Sovereign should act in public and behind closed doors. She learned how to be Queen from her father, a gentle man who was not initially supposed to be King but became the ruler upon his brother‟s abdication from the throne. The Queen has a set of expectations of how her staff should act with her. She expects people to refer to her as „the presence‟ when talking about her when she is not in the room. She does not understand the outpouring of emotion over the death of Diana and how her people are reacting to their loss. Over the course of the week she learns that she may be more out of touch with her people than she initially thought: “ELIZABETH: You‟re confusing humility with humiliation.” She gains an insight into new styles of leadership through her interactions with Blair; how he governs his cabinet and why the people respect him as much as they do. While she is initially hesitant about his leadership she eventually learns to value him and his views: “ELIZABETH: With time, one has hopefully added experience to that education, and a little wisdom - better enabling us to execute our constitutional responsibility. To advise, guide and warn the government of the day.”

The Queen / Ransom 21

At the beginning of the text, Tony Blair‟s leadership style is still emerging, as he has only just taken on the mantle of Prime Minister of Britain. He wants a more relaxed environment with whom he sees as his peers and therefore asks everyone around him to call him Tony. He wants the best for the country and throughout the text learns how to work with the Queen to better the people of their nation. “TONY: Besides, I think there‟s something... ugly about the way everyone‟s started to bully her.”

Tradition Vs Evolution

The text explores how society‟s views and values change over time, with the Queen embodying the old, more traditional views and Tony Blair the more modern and evolving. “ELIZABETH: Something‟s happened. There‟s been a change... a shift of values… When you no longer understand your people, isn‟t it time to hand over to the next generation?”

The Royals are reluctant to acknowledge Diana‟s death as she is no longer an „HRH‟ and should not be entitled to the expectations attached to the Royal family: “ELIZABETH: Restrained grief and sober, private mourning. That‟s the way we do things in this country.” Whereas Prince Charles, Tony Blair and his cabinet members are aware that this idea needs to change in order to suit the mood of the people and remain connected to them: “CHARLES: A more modern perspective [about the funeral].” Prince Charles tries to do this, somewhat less than subtly, through his private secretary and phone call to Blair. This show that despite a willingness to change there is still a lack of understanding about how to go about it as well as what change would mean for the people they rule.

Diana‟s funeral proceedings, having celebrities and even a singer (Elton John) makes Prince Phillip aghast, showing how out of touch he is with the people, even more so than his wife. It is through the manipulation of the Queen‟s staff that she is able to see the importance of acknowledging Diana through a live, televised speech; despite Diana having upset and being seen as trying to destroy her family. . In this speech she acknowledges the type of person Diana was and how the grief they all feel is natural for the loss of such a woman.

The Queen / Ransom 22

IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS – ‘THE QUEEN’

“Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” Henry IV, Part II

ELIZABETH: To BE, Robin. Prime Minister to BE. He hasn‟t asked my permission yet.

ELIZABETH: Oh. I‟m not sure I like the sound of that [Blair letting everyone call him „Tony‟]. Have we sent him a protocol sheet?

CHERIE: Remember, you‟re a man that‟s just been elected by the whole country.

TONY: You obviously know my job better than I do. ELIZABETH: Well, you are my tenth Prime Minister, Mr Blair. I‟d like to think there weren‟t too many surprises left.

ELIZABETH: With time, one has hopefully added experience to that education, and a little wisdom - better enabling us to execute our constitutional responsibility. To advise, guide and warn the government of the day. TONY: Advice which I look forward to receiving.

ELIZABETH: My great, great grandmother said of it - “In Balmoral all seems to breathe freedom and peace and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils.”

CHERIE: (mimics QUEEN‟s manner) “Thank you so much for coming. Now bugger off.” TONY: I know. What was all that about? CHERIE: Diana. Apparently she‟s got a new boyfriend.

PRINCE PHILIP: Why? What‟s she done now?

TONY: It‟s Diana. She‟s been in a car accident. In Paris.

ELIZABETH: You know what she‟s like.

CHARLES: I should go to Paris. I told my people to start organising a jet. ELIZABETH: What? A private one?

ELIZABETH: Diana is no longer an HRH, nor a member of the Royal Family. This is a private matter.

CHARLES: She‟s mother to your grandchildren.

NEWSREADER: We have just had confirmation, that Diana, Princess of Wales... (voice cracks) ...has died in Paris.

The Queen / Ransom 23

TONY: Well, let‟s cancel everything else. This is going to be massive.

TONY: God, she‟s only been dead an hour! ALASTAIR: Would you prefer I didn‟t do my job? [Writes „People‟s Princess‟ in his notes]

EARL OF SPENCER: [To reporters] It would appear that every proprietor and editor of every publication that has paid for intrusive and exploitative photographs of her has blood on his hands today... ALASTAIR: Not the press, mate. You‟ve got the wrong villain.

ELIZABETH: No member of the Royal family will speak publicly about this. It is a private matter and we would all appreciate it if it could be respected as such.

ELIZABETH: As I said. That‟s the Spencer‟s wish [For a private funeral]. TONY: And the public, Ma‟am? The British People? To share in the grief?

ELIZABETH: I think the Princess has already paid a high enough price for exposure to the press, don‟t you?

TONY: Her instinct is to do nothing. Say nothing. And give her a private funeral. CHERIE: Are you surprised? She hated her guts. TONY: Well, I think it‟s a mistake. They screwed up her life. Let‟s hope they don‟t screw up her death.

TONY (ON TV): “They liked her, they loved her, they regarded her as one of the people. She was the people‟s princess, and that is how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and memories forever.”

CHARLES: A more modern perspective [about the funeral].

Images of NEW YORKERS laying flowers outside the British, Embassy, AUSTRALIANS doing the same in Sydney, PAKISTANIS in Karachi.

ELIZABETH: I‟m sorry, I can‟t bear it.

ALASTAIR: This lot call you [Blair] “The Nation‟s Mourner in Chief”, this lot say you‟re “The only person who has correctly judged the mood of the country”. Even the [Daily] “Mail” was impressed. “People‟s Princess”, mate. You owe me.

TONY: So it‟s decided? It‟s going to be a public funeral. ALASTAIR: Yes. On Saturday. A whopper. The Abbey. The works.

JANVRIN: There is now general agreement, Ma‟am, that a public funeral would be more appropriate.

The Queen / Ransom 24

CHARLES: Look, whatever else you may have thought of Diana - she was a wonderful mother. She adored those boys… Her weaknesses and transgressions only seemed to make the public love her MORE. Yet ours only make them hate us. Why is that? Why do they hate us so much? ELIZABETH: Not „us‟, dear.

DIANA [Interview Footage]: I want to be the Queen of people‟s hearts… I shall never be Queen.

ELIZABETH: How wonderful Diana was. PRINCE PHILIP: That‟s changing his [Charles‟] tune.

ELIZABETH: We encouraged the match. And signed off on it. Both of us. You were very enthusiastic, remember. PRINCE PHILIP: She was a nice girl. Then.

PRINCE PHILIP: And I was sure he‟d give the other one up. Or, at least make sure his wife towed the line. Isn‟t that what everyone does?

DIANA: There were three of us in this marriage. It was a bit crowded.

PHILIP: We will get him [the stag] tomorrow.

CHERIE: I don‟t know... something more interesting. Maybe this time people have finally seen them for what they are.

TONY: Will somebody please save these people from themselves?

CHARLES: In a situation like this you have to be flexible.

PHILIP: Who does he think he‟s talking to? You‟re the Sovereign. The Head of State. You don‟t get dictated to.

CHARLES: Being up against her popularity.

CHARLES: The two Diana‟s; the public‟s and ours don‟t have any relation with each other.

AIDE [reading newspaper headlines]: Show us there‟s a heart in the House of Windsors… Time to Change the Old Guard.

BLAIR: It would help them with their [the people‟s grief].

ELIZABETH: Their grief? If you imagine I‟m going to drop everything and come down to London before I attend to my grandchildren who have just lost their mother… then you are mistaken. The Queen / Ransom 25

ELIZABETH: I doubt there are many who know the British more than I do, Mr. Blair, nor who has greater faith in their wisdom and judgement. And it is my belief that they will soon reject this „mood‟ which has been stirred up by the press, in favour of a period of restrained grief, and sober, private mourning. That‟s the way we do things in this country. Quietly. With dignity. It‟s what the rest of the world has always admired us for.

JANVRIN: And I cannot emphasise enough what effect that had on her. Unexpectedly becoming King as good as killed her father.

ELIZABETH: Don‟t forget I worked as a mechanic in the war.

ELIZABETH: [Upon seeing the stag] Oh you beauty.

TONY: I know, (pause) but allowing her to hang herself might not be in our best interests either.

TONY: Besides, I think there‟s something (pause) ugly about the way everyone‟s started to bully her.

MAN BEING INTERVIEWED ON THE STREET: They‟ve [The Royals] made a serious mistake. The family should have come down to Buckingham Palace… She‟s on her own up there and the place is empty.

TELEVISION REPORTER: Why the Queen hasn‟t addressed her subjects in this time of national grief?

TONY: Then I‟m sure you‟ll agree. The situation has become quite critical.

TONY: Ma‟am, a poll that‟s to be published in tomorrow‟s paper suggests 70% of people believe your actions have damaged the monarchy and one in four are now in favour of abolishing the monarchy altogether.

ELIZABETH: Something‟s happened. There‟s been a change, some shift in values. When you no longer understand your people, isn‟t it time to hand over to the next generation?

ELIZABETH: But if my actions are damaging the crown? QUEEN MOTHER: Damaging them? My dear, you are the greatest asset this institution has. One of the greatest it has EVER had. The problem will come when you leave, but that‟s not for you to worry about - and certainly not today.

CHARLES: Let‟s hope we haven‟t left it too late.

PRINCE PHILIP: Oh, well. I suppose it gives the ghillies time to find a new stag for the boys now theirs has been shot.

ALASTAIR: “Mr. Father of the Nation.” [About Tony Blair] The Queen / Ransom 26

ELIZABETH (voice cracks): Let‟s hope he [the stag] didn‟t suffer too much.

TV REPORTER: The people needed to target their anger at somebody and royal protocol might have got in the way.

TV REPORTER: It‟s really as if the public and the royal family, the monarchy, have had a bit of a quarrel and now it‟s being healed in some measure.

ALASTAIR: I made a couple of changes. So it sounds like it comes from a human being.

TONY: You know when you get it wrong, you REALLY get it wrong. (A beat) That woman has given her whole life in service to her people - fifty years doing a job she NEVER wanted - a job she watched kill her father. She‟s executed it with honour, dignity and, as far as I can tell, without a single blemish - and now we line up baying for her blood - why? Because she‟s struggling to lead the world in mourning for a woman who threw everything she offered back in her face, and who seemed, in the last few years, to be committed twenty- four seven to destroy everything she holds dear.

LITTLE GIRL: These [flowers] are for you.

JANVRIN: You think you can say it? ELIZABETH: Do I have a choice?

TONY: What she‟s doing is extraordinary. That‟s how you survive.

CHERIE: I hope she shows you some respect this time. It‟s quite a debt of gratitude she owes you, Mr “Saviour of the Monarchy.” TONY: I doubt she‟ll see it that way.

TONY: Also, we haven‟t had a chance to speak since THAT week. And I wanted to offer my apologies. ELIZABETH: Whatever for? TONY: In case you‟d felt „manhandled‟ or „managed‟ in any way.

ELIZABETH: I don‟t think I shall ever understand what happened this summer.

ELIZABETH: You‟re confusing humility with humiliation.

TONY: I still believe history will show it was a good week for you. ELIZABETH: And an even better one for you, Mr Blair. TONY: But there are fifty-two weeks in a year, Ma‟am. And two and a half thousand in the life of a Queen. And when people come to assess your legacy, no one will remember those few days. The Queen / Ransom 27

ELIZABETH: Really? You don‟t feel that what respect or affection people might once have had for… this institution has been diminished? TONY: Not at all.

ELIZABETH: One in four, you said? Wanted to get rid of me? TONY: For about half an hour. But then you came down to London and all that went away. ELIZABETH: I've never been hated like that before. TONY: No. And that must have been difficult. ELIZABETH: It was. Very.

ELIZABETH: But I can see the world has changed. And one must 'modernise'. TONY: Well, perhaps that's where I can help. ELIZABETH: Don't get ahead of yourself, Prime Minister. I think you'll find that I'm supposed to be advising YOU!

The Queen / Ransom 28

TEXT 2 Ransom

The Queen / Ransom 29

AUTHOR NOTES

Note: All page numbers provided are taken from Malouf, David. Ransom. Random House, Australia 2009 (2010 Edition).

David Malouf is one of Australia‟s most celebrated and awarded writers. David George Joseph Malouf was born in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1934. He undertook his secondary education at Brisbane Grammar School between the years of 1947 - 1950. He then attended the University of Queensland from 1951 – 1954. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in English. He was then employed as a lecturer at the University of Queensland until 1957. From 1962 - 1968 he was employed as a teacher at St. Anselm's College in England. He then moved back to Australia to take up a lecturing position at the University of Sydney from 1968 - 1977. He currently lives in Australia.

He has won numerous awards, including the Australian Literature Society gold medal in 1974 and 1983. He has also won: the Grace Leven prize in 1975, the James Cook award in the same year, an Australia Council fellowship in 1978, the New South Wales Premier's prize for fiction in 1979, The Age Book of the Year award in 1982, the Commonwealth prize for fiction in 1991, the Prix Femina Étranger in 1991, the Miles Franklin award also in 1991, and the New South Wales award for fiction. He also won the Los Angeles Times Fiction prize and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary award in 1993. On top of these literary awards, he also received an Order of Australia in 1987 for his work as a writer and an intellectual.

Malouf writes in many forms. He has published novels, short stories, plays, and poetry, contributed writing as an editor and produced academic treatises and theses. He also writes libretti for opera. He was invited to deliver the Boyer lectures for the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1998. Each year the ABC board invites a prominent Australian or group of Australians to present six radio lectures expressing their thoughts on major social, cultural, scientific or political issues; these are the Boyer lectures. That David Malouf was chosen to present these lectures is testament to his status as an iconic Australian whose body of work has done much to help Australians come to know themselves as individuals within a contemporary national identity.

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HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The focus of Malouf's novel is a small section of Homer's Iliad, the epic poem that tracks the ten year war between the city of Troy (or Ilios) and the combined Greek city states. In the novel, Troy's King Priam travels to the enemy Greek encampment to beg the warrior Achilles to release the body of Hector. Hector is Priam‟s son, whom Achilles killed in revenge for the death of his friend, Patroclus.

Achilles is the warrior son of a water nymph and a human. Priam, himself partly descended from the gods, casts off his majesty and approaches his enemy as a man wanting to ransom the body of his son, in order to give him an honourable burial.

The narrative in Ransom is focused on the events of this one day.

The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. This excerpt, from the key passages which Malouf focuses on for his narrative, gives a sense of the emotional power in this part of the epic:

As when some cruel spite has befallen a man that he should have killed someone in his own country, and he must fly to a great man's protection in a land of strangers, and all marvel who see him, even so did Achilles marvel as he beheld Priam. The others looked one to another and marvelled also, but Priam besought Achilles saying, "Think of your father, O Achilles like unto the gods, who is such even as I am, on the sad threshold of old age. It may be that those who dwell near him harass him, and there is none to keep war and ruin from him. Yet when he hears of you being still alive, he is glad, and his days are full of hope that he shall see his dear son come home to him from Troy; but I, wretched man that I am, had the bravest in all Troy for my sons, and there is not one of them left. I had fifty sons when the Achaeans came here; nineteen of them were from a single womb, and the others were borne to me by the women of my household. The greater part of them has fierce Mars laid low, and Hector, him who was alone left, him who was the guardian of the city and ourselves, him have you lately slain; therefore I am now come to the ships of the Achaeans to ransom his body from you with a great ransom. Fear, O Achilles, the wrath of heaven; think on your own father and have compassion upon me, who am the more pitiable, for I have steeled myself as no man yet has ever steeled himself before me, and have raised to my lips the hand of him who slew my son."

Thus spoke Priam, and the heart of Achilles yearned as he bethought him of his father. He took the old man's hand and moved him gently away. The two wept bitterly - Priam, as he lay at Achilles' feet, weeping for Hector, and Achilles now for his father and now for Patroclus, till the house was filled with their lamentation. But when Achilles was now sated with grief and had unburdened the bitterness of his sorrow, he left his seat and raised the old man by the hand, in pity for his white hair and beard; then he said, "Unhappy man, you have indeed been greatly daring; how could you venture to come alone to the ships of the Achaeans, and enter the presence of him who has slain so many of your brave sons? You must have iron courage: sit now upon this seat, and for all our grief we will hide our sorrows in our The Queen / Ransom 31

hearts, for weeping will not avail us. 3

Placed near the conclusion of the Iliad, Priam‟s ransoming of his son evokes empathy regarding his own father from Achilles, as well as respect for the old king‟s courage.

So, why did Malouf choose the Iliad, and this particular part of the tale to represent as a novel? His earlier works helped build the Australian identity, focusing as they do on different cultural stereotypes and norms. In his earlier novels, using the power of fictional narrative, Malouf allows for a reassessment of Australia‟s heritage through characterisation. In Ransom, his focus is more universal. Here, he creates empathy for the emotional dilemmas of paternity. He presents various characters - ranging from the heroic, in Achilles, to the aging king, in Priam, to the humble and common Somax - and connects them, each to the other, through their shared roles as fathers. Malouf‟s narrative also contrasts these paternal perspectives to those held by women. Briefly, but importantly, Hecuba, Priam‟s wife, admonishes her husband, showing him that his grief for his son Hector is kingly, whereas, hers is that of a mother, of all mothers. This provides Priam‟s first glimpse of what it must be like to be a man, not a king, and what it will be like for him to grieve honestly for a son. Malouf uses his novel to illustrate that such emotions, and the paradox of what it is to be mortal - the reality of love, and life, juxtaposed with the realities of war, killing and death – reside in us all.

Interestingly, Malouf accounts for his interest in the Iliad merely as that of a storyteller.4 He speaks of his connection to this tale springing from his childhood reminiscence of a tale told to him of war, in 1943, when Australia too was involved in a protracted, world-wide conflict. He speaks of the story of the Iliad also coming to him again in 1973, through writing a poem which draws a comparison between the ancient tale and the Vietnam War. Finally, he speaks of coming back to this „unfinished tale‟ thirty years on from that, when he decided to take up the story of these characters, as a novelist, in Ransom. His personal context is now that of a contemporary Australian, albeit one with vast experience. He has written this novel for now, for the people he sees around him, and also for those whom the growing global community has brought to his doorstep. Perhaps he has also written it because of his affinity with Priam, an aging king, whose role demanded he hide for so long behind ceremony and pretence? Ultimately, whatever his own reasons, he has written Ransom for all people, because it deals with such universal themes.

3 The Internet. The Classics Archive: ‘The Iliad, by Homer’, written 800 B.C.E. Translated by Samuel Butler. http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.24.xxiv.html (accessed 27 May 2010). 4 David Malouf, Ransom. Random House, Australia, 2009 (2010 edition cited). Afterword; a note of sources, pp. 221-224. The Queen / Ransom 32

GENRE

Ransom is a short novel. It is a retelling of a specific story which is found in the Iliad, a text from the 8th Century B.C. The Iliad is fiction, even though some of the events recounted could have transpired as part of Ancient Greek history. Ransom is also fiction. The genre of Ransom is difficult to categorise as Malouf borrows and mixes elements from the storytelling found in ballads or epic poetry (such as Beowulf or the Iliad), well-crafted historical fiction (such as Leo Tolstoy‟s War and Peace), and even low fantasy.5 What results is a lyrical, descriptive novel which uses human senses and emotions to claw the narrative back from speculative, ethereal musing to the realities of life which surround us.

Audience

Malouf gives lyric beauty to an old tale in his novel. Males may well respond to the „boyish‟ attraction which is offered by the wartime setting. They are likely to find reading of ancient heroes and a time long past, when events were of such a scale that they have become folklore, part of our mythology, history and cultural understanding, exciting. The mature reader will see past this initial excitement and will respond to the vulnerability of the characters. Fathers, and to a lesser extent mothers, will see many of their own fears resonating through different characters. Even if most parents cannot, (thankfully) sympathise directly with the grief felt by the main characters, they will be able to empathise, and hope that the fear which is manifest in the thought of losing a child never happens to them. All readers had, have, are, or will be parents. Adult readers will comprehend this and thus find connection with the emotional narrative of the novel.

Responsive readers will also delight in the language used by Malouf to tell his tale. Using the best features of literary storytelling, Malouf focuses on a bare minimum of scenes but takes his time to blend character reflection with almost poetic descriptions of setting. Such writing is lyrical in places, guided by character development, not plot, and consequently, like all good stories, is an emotive journey, not one which only rewards with a good ending.

5 A parallel to low fantasy is apparent in Malouf’s use of mythology, in that certain characters are the embodiments of gods and other immortals that use magic, but the setting is still in the primary world of earth and its ancient history.

The Queen / Ransom 33

STRUCTURE

Ransom is a novel in five parts. These parts are not named, rather numbered. The plot of the novel is generated from the perspective of characters that are pivotal to the narrative. The narrative voice uses a limited omniscience to describe both the physical and mental state of each main character.

Throughout the novel there is very little dialogue used to drive the narrative forward, rather it is driven by the internal reflection of the main characters as they consider the past and the future direction which their lives may take. Malouf orientates his readers to the background and history of his characters via their thoughts. This introspection does move the narrative forward, but at a controlled pace. This, in turn, allows for description of setting to complement the thoughts and mood of each character as they contemplate their actions, as well as the wider significance of the events within which they are embroiled.

There is also no real antagonist in the narrative. Malouf deliberately gives the reader legitimate reasons to feel empathy toward Achilles, even though his defiling of Hector‟s body is an affront to everyone, including the gods. In this narrative, the gods - although they remain hidden from the minor characters - are depicted as proactive and interventionist. In effect, their actions only serve to assist Priam to meet with Achilles, and for him to have something left of Hector‟s body to reclaim, even after it is dragged behind Achilles‟ chariot for eleven consecutive days.

Chapter One focuses on Achilles, eleven days after his slaying of the Trojan hero Hector. The protagonist in this chapter is presented as a fallen hero; a man at odds with himself due to his suffering grief and guilt because of the slaying of his best friend at the hands of the Trojan prince, Hector. This chapter functions as part of the orientation of the novel.

In Chapter Two, the focus shifts to Priam, the king of Troy, who has a dream or vision which involves going to Achilles, as a man, not a king, to ransom the body of his son, Hector. The juxtaposition of Achilles‟ personality with Priam‟s is well achieved. Both are presented as being significantly changed in the aftermath of Hector‟s death. This chapter also functions as part of the orientation.

Chapter Three is composed of Priam and the carter Somax making their way to the Greek camp. They are joined in this journey by the god Hermes6, „the slayer of giants‟, who is to be their guide. This chapter functions as the complication in the narrative.

In Chapter Four, Priam and Achilles meet. Achilles agrees to return Hector‟s body to Priam. In sharing in Priam‟s grief Achilles, finally, comes back to himself. This chapter functions as the novel‟s climax.

Chapter Five, the final chapter, is the resolution. Each of the main characters has their stories intertwined to conclude the novel: Somax and Priam, thinking of their respective homecomings; Achilles and his son,

6 Hermes is the god of shepherds, land travel, merchants, weights and measures, oratory, literature, athletics and thieves, and is known for his cunning and shrewdness. Being the herald (messenger of the gods), it was his duty to guide the souls of the dead down to the underworld. He was also closely connected with bringing dreams to mortals. Encyclopedia Mythica ‘Hermes’ .. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/h/hermes.html. ( accessed on 14 June 2010) The Queen / Ransom 34

Neoptolemus, who avenges Achilles by slaying Priam; even the fate of Troy, are all given to the readers. Again, Malouf uses character reflection to conclude the story.

He takes the narrative out of the hands of the kings and heroes, and gives it back to Somax.

Somax is the one who survives long past the destruction of Troy. It is he who gets to bounce many grandchildren on his knees, and who gets to speak of his adventure over a drink to anyone who will listen. The twist in this conclusion is that later generations forget the details of history, and assume that Somax is just the borrower of someone else‟s story. This twist is ironic and indicates Malouf‟s awareness of his own relationship to Somax: an aging storyteller who has borrowed from an ancient, classic tale the inspiration to tell one of his own.

STYLE

The voice used by Malouf in Ransom is that of an omniscient narrator. The story is told in the third person. This being said, Malouf‟s use of introspection, where each character‟s thoughts form the core of the narrative, gives an intimacy to his writing. This intimacy draws the reader in so that they feel they are sharing in the thoughts of the character; thus, the novel reads almost as a series of first person accounts and reflections from different characters‟ perspectives.

Malouf uses sentence length to generate a lyrical rhythm in his prose, especially in the opening chapter. The pattern of his writing also changes to suit each character. This gives each character a unique voice. Malouf achieves this through combining structural elements, such as sentence length and the ordering and eventual overlapping of each character‟s story, with subtly distinctive syntax, and individual lexicons. The character of Achilles for instance, has a more lyrical speech pattern, as suited to his status as a hero. He also tends to think poetically, in a sense, almost philosophically, about his life and situation. He reflects on and questions his values, and his right to be called a hero. He is also depicted as still being connected to the world of the gods. This gives a depth to his thoughts, a spirituality which on first impression is surprising in a warrior, but Malouf is careful to construct Achilles so that this spirituality is explained - given that Achilles has continually faced the reality of life or death for the last nine years.

Priam is depicted differently. His voice is initially constructed to present a more limited set of experiences. As with Achilles, Priam has had to deal with the stress of war lying on his doorstep, with all its destruction, waste and death, but unlike Achilles, he has been involved from afar. Despite his age, he has not had the need to think deeply about his personal response to these stresses. Effectively, he has been hidden or sheltered behind his role as king of the Trojans. Protocol has provided his response to every situation. He has also let others do the talking for him. It has been his job to keep up appearances; to present as an aloof, regal presence, which portrays strength and surety by creating the illusion that he is somehow more than just a man. Consequently, with the death of his son Hector, and the vision he has which prompts him to discard protocol and do something „new‟, Malouf portrays Priam as being ironically aware of his own inexperience. As such, Priam‟s voice/thoughts are generated from his minute observations of nature; his new-found interest in small things. For The Queen / Ransom 35 the first time, almost like a child, he takes an interest in the personal stories and the natural life which surrounds him. He finds a genuine interest and affection for Somax. He also finds the ability to sympathise with Achilles, the murderer of his son. In this respect, although his phrasing and manner are at odds with his thoughts, Malouf has deliberately constructed this dichotomy so that his style of writing complements this character‟s preoccupations, juxtaposed with his physical situation. Somax is presented using a different style of writing again. He too keeps thoughts to himself, but he is portrayed as being more used to speaking – and, more specifically, telling stories. Malouf‟s style of writing when presenting Somax‟s perspective becomes more balanced in its combination of thoughts manifesting themselves as physical actions. Somax rubs his nose when troubled or uncomfortable. This mannerism has a calming effect on Somax (and also on Priam and Achilles because of its natural unpretentiousness). It is a mannerism which describes the character as much do his thoughts. Such descriptive focus indicates the differences in social class between the characters. Achilles and Priam rarely lose control of themselves; they are above such human reactions. It is as if their every move is calculated to portray the image which they want their audience to believe. Somax has no such pretension. He has no need for theatrics or pomp. Again, Malouf uses his style of writing to complement each character‟s unique perspective. This also allows the reader to compare characters. The mastery displayed by Malouf – the control he has over his art – becomes truly apparent when the reader realises that he has actually used these different styles to communicate just how similar these main characters are. In spite of their differences, they are able to complete the ransom of Hector‟s body, because underneath each character lies a common humanity. The Queen / Ransom 36

SYMBOLS

A symbol is a person, place, or thing, which comes to represent an abstract idea or concept. It is anything in creative writing which stands for something beyond its literal self or its specific function/role. There are many symbols used by Malouf. This literary device helps construct the poetic quality of his writing.

The natural elements are used by Malouf as symbols in Ransom. The novel begins with Achilles tasting the wind, but this is a physical property of the wind at the sea‟s edge. It is not a symbol, even though it does play its part in connecting Achilles to his mother7.

The first symbol is the earth. Achilles is a warrior, but also a farmer. He knows that he will literally return to the earth, either to work it when his war is over, or to be buried in it when he dies. The earth also serves as a connection to the world of mankind – the world of his father and all mortals.

The other natural symbol is that of the sea. This is his mother‟s element; his mother‟s world, which until the age of five or six, he was still able to escape to so that he could be with his mother for short periods of time. Water, in all its forms is symbolic of a broader meaning. Malouf develops the metaphor of water to allow Achilles to comprehend and accept the relationship he has with his mother. Water holds a reflection, an image, but it is shifting and insubstantial. It „holds nothing and itself cannot be held‟. This quality of water becomes the relationship which Achilles has with his goddess mother. He can call to her, listen for her, glimpse her, but he can no longer hold her or speak to her, like he could as a young child.

The sea also represents distance for Achilles, which in turn becomes related to his concept of time. He imagines his father, and his son across the waters and knows that they are changing, growing. The sea at once keeps him apart from those that he loves, but also serves to carry his son to him, belatedly, to avenge his death. Distance, time, and their physical representation as the sea, prompt Achilles‟ prophetic understanding of his impending death. He knows that the sea will keep Neoptolemus from him. He knows that he will not get to see his son grown to be a man. This element consequently evokes pathos in Achilles, as well as a sense of fatalism. The sea is his representative of his mother, and so also forms a part of him, yet it is something which he was removed from as a child, a direct connection to an element or the gods which he is now denied. Nevertheless, he has accepted this denial, this absence of his mother, and the distance that it has placed between him and his loved ones. He has chosen the life of a warrior, and a mortal, so knows that it is now a part of his lot that he cannot

7 Thetis is a gentle sea goddess. She is one of the Nereids, the fifty daughters of Nereus, goddesses of the sea. She is also called the silver footed goddess of the sea. Achilles, her son, was the most handsome, capable and worthy of all the heroes that participated in the Trojan War. He was born in Farsala in southern Thessaly (Central Greece) as the son of Peleus, the King of Pithia in Thessaly, and the silver footed sea goddess Thetis. Achilles' mother Thetis was strongly attached to her son and when he was born, she attempted to make him immortal by dipping him in the sacred waters of the river Styx. However, she did not quite achieve what she had hoped for... while she was keeping him inside the waters, she had to hold by one heel, leaving a vulnerable spot on Achilles' body. This weakness turned out to be crucial for Achilles, since he was killed during the Trojan War by an arrow that hit exactly that spot. The expression "Achilles heel" remains until today, describing a small, but important weakness of a human being. Greek – Gods.Info. Achilles, the main hero of the Trojan war. http://www.greek-gods.info/greek-heroes/achilles/ ( accessed on 17 June 2010.) The Queen / Ransom 37 overcome such truths as distance and time, which are embodied by the sea.

The mule, Beauty, is another symbol. Since the death of Somax‟s son, which Beauty inadvertently caused, Somax‟ grief seems to have imbued this mule with preternatural intelligence. Even the god Hermes notes that there is something special about Beauty, although Malouf does not delineate just what makes her so memorable. What is explained is that Somax adores this mule. He is fond of both his mules, but it is Beauty whom he believes catches the eye of Priam‟s sons when they come looking for a carter to hire, not himself. Somax believes that she is special. It is this aspect of Beauty which becomes symbolic. She is memorable, special, unique and has something that other mules do not. This could be the look of intelligence in her eyes. It could be the gloss in her coat. It could be that Somax loves her, when he should hate her. Whatever the reason, Beauty, in Malouf‟s narrative is as memorable to the people who listen to Somax‟s stories as any of the kings and heroes he speaks about. In this respect, she symbolises the common, natural elements of a story which an audience finds just as interesting and memorable as the protagonists. It is as if the mule celebrates the necessary details which all good story-tellers know to include. She symbolises that even plain beasts can become things of worth, and more importantly, instruments of fate and chance.

Idaeus, the name of the royal page, is also significant. The name is symbolic of the office or duties performed by the person who holds this title. When Priam considers Idaeus, it is not as an individual, rather, as an extension of the role he performs as king. Idaeus allows for the king to remain silent. He speaks for him. This allows Priam to remain the image of composure, aloofness – royalty. In this sense, Idaeus becomes the voice of the king, but in no way influences or has input into what he is saying. Protocol, or the king, gives Idaeus voice. This is why, when Priam renames Somax „Idaeus‟ the name serves as a symbol – a symbol for change – where anonymity develops into an individual. Somax has no understanding of protocol. He also speaks his thoughts to Priam. He aids and speaks to him not as a servant or page, but essentially as one person to another. Somax is still reverential and respectful of Priam, but he does not put his own identity aside in service of his king. The original Idaeus does.

There is also significance in Priam‟s name. Priam was first named Podarces, son of Laomedon, who was the King of Troy. When the hero Heracles sacked Troy and killed his father and brothers, he was saved by being hidden among the rabble of slave children, whom Heracles intended to sell off for profit. He is rescued by his sister, Hesione. Heracles planned to give Hesione to his companion in arms Telamon, and decided to give her one thing that she wished for as a present. She uses this gift given to her by their conqueror, Heracles, to save her brother. Telamon then carries her away to Salamis in Greece, taking Podarces, now Priam, with them. This is how Priam gained his name - from the hero Heracles, who had so recently slain his father and slaughtered so many of his royal family. Priam means „bought‟ or, ironically, „ransomed‟. Malouf puts forward another interpretation of “Priam” in his narrative. He causes Heracles to declare that “Priam” means „the price paid‟. The Queen / Ransom 38

SETTINGS

In fiction, setting is the time, place, social environment and wider context where the story takes place. Essentially, the setting is the physical world of the story. Malouf is true to the Iliad, in placing his story or narrative around the Trojan War and the fall of Troy. Many scholars believe the Trojan War, retold in the Iliad, is based on an historical Greek expedition against the city of Ilium, which occurred sometime around 1190 BC. Regardless of the historical debate surrounding the existence of Troy, Malouf places his novel inside the city of Troy, in the land between the walls of the city and the coast, and in the Greek military camp, set up in front of the Greek ships, sometime in the Late Bronze Age.

Settings will be discussed in a subjective order of significance. Such an order is subjective because depending on the focus of analysis, different settings become more important.

The royal palace in Troy is described as an esoteric place by Malouf, known to only the royal family and their servants. It exists as a world within a world. When the real world enters the palace, it is in the form of the people of Troy petitioning Priam for judgment or law. When the royal family leaves the palace, they are seen as soldier heroes, such as Hector, or as a class of society removed from the mundane of everyday existence. Malouf‟s descriptions of the palace help the reader understand the rights and privileges of the ruling class. The first duty of those that reside in the palace; the extended royal family and their servants, is to serve Priam, their king. While it is not a place completely lacking in personality, the palace is described as being ordered, clean and meticulously presented. It is, in effect, a metaphor for the Trojan king. Human, intimate, passionate things, such as procreation do happen in the palace, but Malouf describes these as fleeting moments, hidden behind closed doors and white curtains. Ultimately, the palace is where protocol dictates the dynamics of any discussion. Human interaction is ordered, just like the tiles on the floor.

The palace setting can be contrasted with Malouf‟s descriptions of the rest of Troy. Between the palace and the city walls lies a bustling, life-filled metropolis. Rooftops and courtyards host gardens full of produce. The people of Troy go about their daily lives, still finding time to cheer on their sons, fathers, and heroes as they march off to war each day – and to celebrate or feel grief depending on the state of their return. Here, life is described in detail, in its miniature, with kitchen gardens, a fig tree, pomegranates, a clump of herbs, where snails „hang like raindrops from every stalk‟. It is the city where Somax the carter, a plain workman, in his homespun robes and broken sandals, comes to the market place each day hoping to be hired. This is the essential life of Troy, which the Trojans; the royal family and those born to the city, are charged to protect.

Between the walls of Troy and the coast, lies a distance of a few kilometres. This is the landscape which Priam and Somax roll through in their cart. It is comprised of a white, winding road which leads through open farm land, crosses a river, bypasses the remains of hamlets and farms and contains shallow ravines hidden within the rise and fall of the land as it slopes down to the coast. This landscape is where Priam begins to rediscover the range of his senses. It is where he begins to properly observe the world around him. The most significant setting in this landscape is the river where Somax and Priam stop for an evening meal and to wait out dusk. Here, Priam bathes his feet in the stream, enjoying the simple pleasure of cool running water on his skin.

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This is where he notices the small fish, which are curious yet also completely unconcerned about whose feet they are inspecting: to them the king‟s feet are no different to any other innocuous object which happens into their part of the stream. This observation amuses Priam, and helps him remember that he is a man playing the role of king, not vice versa. This knowledge confirms his belief in his mission to ransom Hector. It also confirms the angle or plea which he is planning to present to Achilles – that of father to father, man to man.

PLOT SUMMARY

The first chapter of the narrative focuses on the Greek hero Achilles. Descriptions of setting complement and shed light on Achilles‟ mood. Similarly, the events of the natural world, as felt and seen by Achilles, are described to build his philosophy and approach to life in the mind of the reader. That Malouf begins his narrative with Achilles is poignant and necessary.

The reader is introduced first to Achilles reflecting on himself as a boy removed from his goddess mother. His reminiscence leads him to think of his father and to his life as a farmer. The maternal relationship he has is presented as intangible and removed, yet because it is a part of the spiritual world; it is also still part of him. His paternal relationship is almost its contrary: solid, earthy, practical. It is a relationship filled with reciprocal love, and for Achilles‟ part, open adoration for his strong, noble father.

The reader is positioned to admire and also to be in awe of this hero. That this happens at the novel‟s beginning or orientation is important, as Malouf wants Achilles‟ treatment of the body of Hector later in this same chapter to shock readers with its barbarity; a barbarity which is in stark contrast to the hero who so touchingly still listens for his mother, who so openly wants to return to his father, who regrets the nine years of war which have kept him from Neoptolemus, his son, and who deeply feels the death of his friend, Patroclus.

The focus of this chapter is the king of the besieged city of Troy, Priam. This chapter begins with a close, observant description of the city, with Malouf describing it as an ordered, functioning, practical place, where nature still goes about its business of growing and striving for life, as do the people. Priam is introduced by the pronoun „he‟. This narrative‟s distance hints at the momentous „new‟ idea that Priam is about to receive, inspired by a visitation from a goddess. While the rest of the palace sleeps, Priam „comes to attention‟. In this dream-like state he sees what he is to do; rescue the body of his son Hector, via a simple cart ride, an open plea to Achilles, and a huge ransom. He believes he has to take a „Chance.‟

The next event in the chapter is Priam informing his wife, Hecuba of his plan to rescue Hector‟s body. This moving conversation provides a maternal contrast to the paternal viewpoint presented through Priam‟s character. It also allows for Priam to re-tell his story of how he came to be rescued – to be restored back to The Queen / Ransom 40 himself, the king, when he was just a boy. He tells of the slaughter of his family, and how to avoid being butchered he was disguised as a commoner, a street urchin, and thrust amongst the group of city orphans who had been spared the sacking of Troy, only so they could be sold as slaves. For these brief few hours, Podarces, son of Laomedon, King of Troy, becomes one of a rabble of slave children. He is rescued by his sister, Hesione, who uses a gift given to her on a whim by their captive, Heracles, to save her brother. And this is how Priam got his name, from the hero Heracles, who had so recently slayed his father and slaughtered so many of his royal family: Priam, „the price paid‟, the gift given to Hesione, which she used to buy her brother „back from the dead‟.

Priam relates this story because chance could have gone against him then and kept him ordinary. It could have left him as Podarces, the slave. Instead, it rescued him and set him back on his throne, albeit many years later.

The royal court is then gathered and the reader gets to meet Priam‟s remaining children and extended family. In the face of his family‟s protest, and despite royal protocol, he maintains his conviction. His vision or dream which he remembers woke him during the night is to be the course of action which he will to take to ransom Hector‟s body. The remainder of this chapter sees his ire grow as his family try and subvert his intentions, but, eventually his royal commands are obeyed and a cart and driver are hired to carry Priam and the ransom to the Greek camp. The cart comes complete with two mules and Somax, an experienced, humble carter-for-hire who is uncomfortable, yet observant in the unexpected presence of royalty. He even has the self-assurance to feel affronted when Priam names him „Idaeus,‟ the royal herald, out of custom. Eventually, after due ceremony and prayer, the strange procession of royal Trojans and their simply adorned and unusually transported king, makes its way to the gates of Troy. A curious crowd gathers as they make their way through the city, not unlike the crowds that had been gathering daily, before the death of Hector, to cheer their heroes; their sons and fathers, the army of Troy, off to war. The difference is, this procession is new, and the crowd do not know what to make of it. As the gates are reached and the royal family turns to walk back to the palace, the crowd too, disperse. Only the humble cart, two mules, Somax (or Idaeus in the mind of the king), Priam and the huge ransom roll on into the countryside.

III

This chapter begins with the perspective of the carter, Somax, who is grappling with the proprieties of being in the company of a king. Priam and Somax sit out the coming of dark beside a stream. Here, Priam discovers the humble pleasure of bathing his feet in a running river. He also comes to consider Somax, and finds his „simple modesty and good will‟ not at all „objectionable‟. Somax offers to share his food with Priam, and eventually tantalises him into eating, despite Priam initially not feeling hunger. It is Somax‟s description of the way the food was prepared by his daughter-in-law, which touches Priam with its beauty. Again, Priam marvels at the situation his audacity has placed him in. He also gains heart from the company of Somax, a man whose experiences are vastly different from his own. Priam acknowledges to himself that in this world, outside of the walls of Troy, Somax is much better equipped in relation to life than he is, despite their differing status. Out here, Priam discovers, everything is „just itself‟.

Invigorated by his new sense of things, Priam inquires about Somax‟ family. Then Somax recounts the tragedy The Queen / Ransom 41 of losing three sons and four daughters, of whom only two of the boys reach adulthood, Priam questions the depth of his grief for his own dead sons. He counts his sons, and cannot be sure of their number, „two or three more than fifty? Two or three less?‟ Priam realises that he had been spared some of the grief associated with losing a son because of the sheer number of his offspring, and also because as a king, he had not been responsible for any of the chores which bind a father to a son. When comparing his grief to Somax‟s he counts himself lucky.

On dark they return to the wagon, to find a slim youth in a winged bonnet waiting their return. He boisterously announces himself to be their escort and names himself Orchilus, one of lord Achilles‟ men. Somax is at once suspicious but Priam is bemused as much as he is wary. There is something about this young Myrmidon which confuses him. After an eventful fording of the river, where the cart nearly turns and risks drowning them all, the three strange companions continue toward the Greek camp. On the other side of the river, Orchilus reveals he is more than what he first appeared. He inquires after Somax‟s daughter-in-law‟s limp, and promptly tells Priam that Somax is in fact a bit of a rogue. Rather than being truly angry at this information being given to Priam, something inside of Somax cautions restraint. Feeling that all is not right he tells Priam, who, confirms this feeling by naming Orchilus as the god Hermes. His true identity revealed, Hermes clarifies that he was sent, but not by Achilles, who does not know of their coming. It is inferred that he was sent by the gods so that Priam can get his chance to plead for the return of his son Hector‟s body. Hermes also informs Somax that his granddaughter has recovered from her fever. This is the one thing that has been playing on Somax‟s mind since taking on this carting job. Hermes also calls Priam „father‟, which, along with the steadfast company of Somax, gives the old king strength to continue with his bold plan.

It is Hermes who lifts the bar on the gates to the Greek camp, allowing the wagon to roll on through. Stunned into inaction, the captain and his guards on duty at the gate stand „as if spellbound‟ as a wagon, drawn by two black mules, carrying two old men, rolls past them. It is only after the gates have closed behind this cart and the heavy pine trunk, which barred the gate, has mysteriously dropped back into place that they find voice for their consternation, and begin to question what it is that they have seen.

Achilles sits brooding at his own small dining table, reflecting on the resentment he feels for his new attendant, Automedon. It was Automedon who was at Patroclus‟ side when he was slain. It was Automedon who defended Patroclus‟ body from the Trojan jackals, before seeing Patroclus‟ vision dim and his spirit leave him. It should have been Achilles at Patroclus‟ side when he fell. It should have been Achilles, wearing his own armour in battle against Hector, not his friend, who out of shame for Achilles‟ petulance keeping him from the field, had fought in his stead. Automedon‟s presence is „both a reminder and a rebuke‟ to Achilles, who knew he should have been there himself.

His other close companion is Alcimus, a youth whose strength and overabundance of animal nature reminds Achilles of himself little more than a season ago. Achilles finds the brashness in this young man endearing. Then, a lyre begins to be played, and the music melts Achilles‟ will. It changes his perceptions of himself and takes him back to a more fluid time, when he was more open to the gods, in the realm of his mother. In this The Queen / Ransom 42 heightened state, he sees a figure and immediately hopes it to be the shade or spirit of Patroclus. His mood changes to disappointment, then to sorrow, as he realises that the figure moving toward him through the smoke of the room is old. It is nine years since he last saw his father, Peleus. Moved to weeping at the presumed changes which time has wrought since he last saw him, Achilles falls to one knee and reaches for the old man‟s hand. Alcimus and Automedon too have seen this stranger walk to them through the crowded tent. They leap to Achilles‟ side with their swords drawn, ready to strike. The old man falters, and then stops.

At a sign from Achilles, Alcimus and Automedon reluctantly sheath their weapons. Priam, standing now before a kneeling Achilles, who in his own dream had seen himself kneeling, announces himself, „I am Priam, King of Troy,‟ he says simply. „I have come to you, Achilles, just as you see me, just as I am, to ask you, man to man, as a father, for the body of my son. To ransom and bring him home.‟ What then transpires ends with Priam finally on his knees, reaching out to Achilles, but not in pleading, as Achilles presumes, but rather in fellow- feeling. Priam‟s words, asking Achilles to remember his own son, and father, and then to remind him of his mortality, strike Achilles to the core. In a surreal vision, he feels his own cold death. Achilles then sees Priam being slaughtered by Neoptolemus, his own son, in order to avenge his death. This is too much for Achilles, who begs Priam to say no more. He agrees to Priam‟s ransom. Both of them are weeping; Achilles from the horror of the vision which he has concerning his mortal demise, and Priam for the horror which he sees on Achilles‟ face. It is Achilles‟ hand which steadies Priam back to his feet.

During the ensuing meal Achilles and Priam agree to an eleven day truce. In this time, Hector will be sent on his way, as is fitting for a Trojan prince. And the two men find an intimacy, despite their differences. Always present is Achilles‟ latent power, as the killer of men, yet they talk only of peace. Later in the night, as the women prepare Hector‟s body to be received by his father, Achilles visits the hut in which this chore is being carried out. He is out of place here. He also recognises that he too will finish his life here, as it was begun, in the caring hands of women. And it is at this moment that he finds himself, the true Achilles.

The next morning, the body of Hector is carried to the cart. Priam and Somax are escorted to the gates of the Greek camp by Achilles and his two squires. In their moment of parting, Achilles speaks: „Call on me, Priam,‟ he says lightly, „when the walls of Troy are falling around you, and I will come to your aid.‟ ... „And if, when I call, you are already among the shades?‟ ... „Then alas for you, Priam, I will not come.‟

So, Achilles and Priam part, with the knowledge that both have of their own deaths. At a word from Somax, the cart jolts on out of the Greek camp.

Chapter five concludes the narrative. The physical events portrayed in the chapter are simple – Priam and Somax cart the body of Hector back to Troy. They stop only once, a suitable distance from both the Greek camp and the walls of Troy, for Priam to climb down from the cart to view the body of his son. Somax understands his grief, which is without words, but not without sounds. He and his wife had made the same The Queen / Ransom 43 sounds as Priam when they had sat through the long night beside the broken body of their eldest son. Priam‟s grief changes into a strange triumph as he spies the lone figure of his wife, waiting for their return on the walls of Troy. Somax‟s thoughts lift when he thinks of returning to his home to be greeted by his beloved granddaughter.

Achilles also has his story finished, through his son, who is on the voyage to his father‟s side even as Hector‟s body rolls back into Troy. Neoptolemus avenges Achilles, but not in the way he envisaged, as a hero slaying a king. Through Neoptolemus‟ eyes we see an enraged son hacking Priam to death after he trips when attempting to flee.

He feels shame at the ugly, clumsy nature of his vengeance, knowing that it is beneath the actions of a true hero, and also no compensation for the vague, nine year old memories of his father, with which the war against Priam had left him. This shame, despite his actions not being witnessed, he will carry with him for the rest of his days. It is not easy being the son of Achilles.

Malouf then directs his story back to Somax. Somax is the only main character who survives to have grandchildren. He is also the true story-teller of all the characters. The others are heroes or royalty; they have stories told about them. The ironic twist to the novel‟s conclusion is that the longer Somax lives, the less his story is believed. Future generations forget the past and assume that Somax has borrowed his story from others. The irony of this, something not lost on Malouf, is that he too has borrowed from someone else‟s story in order to tell one of his own.

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CHARACTER PROFILES

Protagonists and Antagonists

A narrative may have main characters that are set against each other in some kind of conflict; the one forcing the conflict is the antagonist, the other is the protagonist. The antagonist may often be on the side of evil whereas the protagonist is on the good side. Malouf deliberately dissolves the traditional boundaries between protagonists and antagonists, showing instead the shared compassion of humanity. Warriors are set against diplomats and kings, but this style of characterisation is in keeping with the heroic, humanist understanding of human nature, where there is no absolute division between good and bad, right and wrong, rather each character has the potential for each, and must continually battle to control their baser urges.

Construction of Character

Malouf deliberately cultivates pathos for his characters. By changing the perspective of the narrative to focus on each of the main characters in turn, the reader is positioned to understand the motivations and actions of each one. One of the strengths of Malouf‟s writing in the novel is that he presents his characters without bias. Each of the main characters is described using a fairly similar number of words. Even the minor characters are fleshed out so that each main character can be seen to have support, in the form of practical service, and emotional counsel.

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Major Characters

Achilles

Status: He is a Greek hero and renowned warrior.

Circumstances: He has come to Troy to assist Agamemnon8. He has chosen the life of a warrior. He strives to be honourable but guilt and the need for vengeance lead to him defiling the body of Hector. He is aware this action offends the gods.

Personality: Essentially, he is confident; a leader, proud, energetic, and dynamic but the exuberance of youth has left him since he killed Hector.

World View: He is a hero. He reveres the simple life of a farmer or soldier but knows that he has grown larger than this life over the nine years of the Trojan War and that there will be no returning to it.

Motivations: He is searching for a way to assuage his guilt. Instead of feeling avenged and satisfied after killing Hector, he still feels guilt over his friend Patroclus‟ slaying. He wants forgiveness from Patroclus, but he is dead. He also wants to have his actions regain the respect and esteem of his men but cannot put his grief aside in order to achieve this.

Behaviour: He loathes his rage after killing Hector, yet does not let it abate. He begins to lose self-respect. He is grieving. Only after showing respect for Priam and honouring his request does he feel free of the guilt he has attached to himself over the nature of Patroclus‟ death.

Development: He does regain his sense of self-worth by returning Hector‟s body to Priam. Achilles discovers that he will not grow old. He learns he will not survive the war against Troy.

8 During the siege of Troy, Agamemnon offended the greatest of the Greek warriors, Achilles, when he took the girl Briseis from him. Encyclopedia Mythica. ‘Agamemnon’, by James Hunter. http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/agamemnon.html (accessed 22 June2010) The Queen / Ransom 46

Priam

Status: A Trojan, the King of Troy. He is elderly. He has ruled Troy for more than fifty years.

Circumstances: He is beset by grief for the death of his son Hector, and also for the impending doom of his people. Troy has been at war with the combined Greek cities for the last nine years.

Personality: His personality is hidden behind his role as king. He is magnanimous, just, wise and steadfast.

World View: Essentially, he is fatalistic regarding his own life, but also regarding the fate of his city and its people.

Motivations: He is motivated to retrieve the body of his son Hector, a hero of Troy: to do what any father would do in his situation.

Behaviour: He is frail; consequently, his behaviour is measured. He displays courage by following through with his conviction to ransom his son‟s body.

Development: He finds his own voice – the ability to speak for himself as a father, and as a man. He learns to be observant, and becomes sensitive to the world around him.

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Somax

Status: He is a common carter; a plain workman. He is middle-aged; at least in his forties.

Circumstances: He comes to the Trojan market place each day hoping to be hired so that he can provide for his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. He owns a cart and two mules. He lives in a village, somewhere a small distance from the city of Troy.

Personality: He is earthy; practical, ethical and stoical. He is endowed with common sense, gained from his life experience. He is passionate about his mules and his remaining family. He shows great emotional strength in dealing with the loss of his wife and children.

World View: He finds enjoyment in the things he has without becoming incapacitated by the family that he has lost. He feels grief but practicality demands that he keep working. He has the ability to enjoy the simple things.

Motivations: He works to provide for his family.

Behaviour: He is robust and a capable carter. He is respectful of others if they have not offended him. He is prepared to speak his mind if he is uncomfortable with a situation. He is honest when he displays his emotions. He talks a lot to help settle himself when nervous and also because he likes a good story.

Development: Through his service, he earns the respect of both Priam and Achilles. A case can also be made that he earns the respect of the gods, who heal his granddaughter. Despite his low socio-economic status, his open, practical honesty is obvious to those whom he meets. He is rewarded with longevity and a large family, possibly because he does not once think selfishly of receiving a reward, other than that of his fee for hire.

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Minor Characters

Hecuba

Status: She is Priam‟s favourite and most respected wife. She is the most influential and oldest wife of Priam.

Circumstances: The other wives, princes (Priam still has other living sons) and princesses look to her for guidance. She is mother to nineteen of Priam‟s children. She is Hector‟s mother.

Personality: She is a caring mother. She is also determined. She is protective of Priam.

World View: Her world view is that of a royal mother, who understands the duty of her children is first to serve their king, then to be her offspring. She also represents the caring, respectful and resourceful wife.

Motivations: She loves Priam and her extended family. She advises Priam to stay safe.

Behaviour: She tries to talk Priam out of his plan. When she cannot achieve this, she influences her family to also try to persuade Priam to give up the notion of ransoming Hector‟s body.

Development: She resigns herself to wait for Priam‟s return, looking for him from the walls of Troy.

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Hermes

Status: The messenger of the gods and a son of Zeus. He is the patron of athletes, thieves, and trade.

Circumstances: He appears to Priam and Somax and offers to guide them to the Greek hero, Achilles. Initially, he names himself Orchilus, one of lord Achilles‟ men, and takes on the appearance of a beautiful Greek youth.

Personality: Who can fathom the personality of a god? He is quirky, self-absorbed, boisterous, pretentious, arrogant and powerful.

World View: He fills his many roles with a particular style, linked closely to his chosen persona and attire; a dandified youth with beautiful hair, a splendid cap (perhaps it had wings?) and sandals to allow him to be „fleet of foot‟, as he is known for his speed. His sandals are light and sturdy.

Motivations: To help Priam‟s taken chance be successful. To restore order to the world of men: to break the stalemate which Achilles has with the gods - induced through Achilles‟ stubborn refusal to honour Hector‟s body.

Behaviour: He displays bluster, confidence, arrogance, and competence in equal measure.

Development: He can only be seen by Priam and Somax. Achilles can sense his presence. After completing his main task he does not intervene, or influence the conversation between Priam and Achilles.

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Automedon

Status: Achilles‟ squire and body guard. He is Achilles‟ chief attendant, the driver of his chariot and his close body servant. He is a Myrmidon. He is young.

Circumstances: It was Automedon who defended Patroclus‟ body from the Trojan jackals and got to hear his last words and breath and see his life leave him. Achilles is resentful of Automedon.

Personality: He is loyal. He is also reserved and serious in his duties.

World View: He is disciplined and loyal to Achilles. He is dedicated to serving Achilles.

Motivations: To serve and protect Achilles.

Behaviour: He is quiet and reserved. He is attentive to Achilles.

Development: He duteously stays poised to serve Achilles, even when his dedication and presence become annoying.

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Alcimus

Status: Achilles‟ personal squire and body guard. He is a Myrmidon. He is just a boy.

Circumstances: He is younger than Automedon but no less dutiful to Achilles.

Personality: He is brash and has an appealing natural animalism.

World View: He fights and plays hard, with youthful exuberance.

Motivations: To serve and protect Achilles

Behaviour: He is raw and powerful in his service of Achilles. He is quick to reach for his sword to protect Achilles‟. He also does what he is told to do by either Achilles or Automedon (who is his senior).

Development: He dutifully serves Achilles even when Achilles is not himself.

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Deiphobus

Status: One of Priam‟s sons, he is young and hardy.

Circumstances: He lives with Priam in the palace, and has shown suitable grief over the death of Hector, but has otherwise done nothing else about it.

Personality: He is the most smooth-mannered and eloquent of Priam‟s sons.

World View: Royal, privileged.

Motivations: To prevent his father from attempting to ransom Hector‟s body. To protect his father‟s life, reputation and image as king.

Behaviour: He proves himself a strong orator. He presents plausible reasons why Priam should not leave the city.

Development: His advice and pleas are not heeded by Priam.

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THEMES AND ISSUES

All texts raise themes. They are the issues, messages and insights into life that the narrative wishes to address and which give the narrative its purpose. However, there can also be issues and messages suggested by a narrative that readers may devise for themselves. There may be major themes, those that are very important to the narrative, and minor themes, those that are less important. Themes may be presented directly or indirectly. A list of possible themes would be almost endless, and a single narrative will address only a few. Themes often involve the nature of some kind of conflict, which may be intra-personal, inter-personal, intra-national, international, passive and/or active, and have traumatic effects and moral implications and outcomes.

Honour through Battle: The Hero

Malouf‟s novel is full of and about heroes. In the Iliad, a hero was any soldier who fought for either side in the Trojan War. In mythology and legend, a man or woman, often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his or her bold exploits, and who is favoured by the gods, is a hero. More modern interpretations speak of a hero as somebody who commits an act of remarkable bravery or who has shown an admirable quality such as great courage or strength of character. „Hero‟ has also come to mean somebody who is admired for outstanding qualities or achievements. In Ransom, readers are given the Greek hero Achilles as the archetypal hero. Typically, as is the fashion in Greek Mythology, he is not completely noble or virtuous. He fights as much for himself; for personal fame and glory, as he does for any love he feels for his king or Greece. In typically fickle fashion, Achilles withdraws from the front lines of the Trojan War because of a personal quarrel with the leader of the Greek army over a slave girl. This petulant act ultimately leads to Patroclus, through shame and embarrassment for his beloved friend and leader, donning Achilles‟ armour and going off to fight in his stead. This deception was reluctantly agreed to by Achilles. By pretending to be Achilles, Patroclus thought that he was restoring Achilles‟ honour in the eyes of the other Myrmidons. By joining the battle he was also able to rally the beset Greek soldiers. This is why, when Patroclus was killed, Achilles felt guilty and responsible for his friend‟s death.

The Trojan hero Hector is also part of the narrative, as is Patroclus, even though both of these warriors are dead; killed mere days before the novel is set. Malouf uses the fate of Hector and Patroclus as the impetus for the twenty-four hours over which the action of the novel transpires. These dead heroes also generate the intra- personal conflict suffered by Achilles. Their deaths lead Achilles to question why it is that he is still alive, or, more accurately, what it means to be still alive when others are dead. He also draws comparison between himself and Hector, eventually realising a shared brotherhood with a fellow warrior and hero. Achilles acknowledges that although a foe, Hector was honourable in life, and therefore should be honoured in death. Hector had the courage to fight for his people, not just for himself. He also had the courage to face Achilles in personal combat, even after the gods had prophesied that he, Hector, would be defeated and killed. With these qualities Achilles could empathise; such courage and conviction was to be admired.

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Paternal (and Maternal) Love

As previously stated, at the heart of the narrative, played out through Priam‟s plea to Achilles, is the discourse which surrounds the relationship between parents and their children - more specifically, fathers and sons. The most universal theme explored in the novel is the paternal connections shared between characters. This type of relationship (as well as the maternal relationship) is explored most thoroughly. It is in this particular story, presented so briefly in the Iliad, that Malouf has found a narrative which explores intimately, poignantly and simply the love which exists between parents and their children: between fathers and sons. Malouf‟s main characters, in Priam and Achilles, communicate the strength inherent in this kind of relationship. Fathers, such as Priam, will try something new and take a chance for their children. They will also risk their lives for their children (in this instance, even taking the risk when their child is already dead). Children will also risk all to both defend and avenge their parents. The novel also explores the strength of the love between parents and their offspring, even when traditional forms of this love do not exist. Achilles is removed from his mother, who is a goddess, yet still feels connected to and needing of her. Priam and Hecuba offer a distant kind of love to their numerous children, as is shown by Priam not even being sure of the number of children he has actually sired; the role of king has prevented him from getting to know his children personally, yet he still loves them. Somax is also presented as a father figure to both his daughter-in-law and granddaughter. The novel presents each of these different types of parent-child relationships, and proposes that each variation offers an equivalent opportunity for a powerful bond – a bond Malouf posits as a universal and special type of love.

Grief and Grieving

Grief is the common emotional connection shared between the main characters. Priam has slept fitfully since Hector‟s death, which may account for his vision or dream. It is his grief for his son, as well as the more subliminal grief he is anticipating for his people which is preventing his rest. Achilles also cannot rest as he once did. He has also lost his appetite. Grief is also making him resentful of Automedon. He is subdued and depressed. Somax still grieves for his children and wife, although he has had more time to come to accept their deaths, so he is therefore further into the grieving process than Achilles or Priam. Grief allows these three characters to enter into dialogue; each can empathise with the others‟ emotional pain. They see in each other a shared humanity because of their grief. In this sense, this emotion is the catalyst for the events which transpire, as well as being the facilitator of the relationships which are forged between these three men. Priam, Somax and Achilles could not be more disparate. They are diametrically opposed in almost every way: class status, physical prowess, age, culture, and race. But theirs is an unusual division, because for all their differences, they still find things to admire, as well as to empathise with in each other. They form a bizarre triage of grief. There is the numbing grief of a father who has lost a favourite son. There is the raw grief of a man who has lost his best and oldest friend. There is the aching grief of a father who has outlived all his children and his wife. Malouf asks the reader to consider whose grief is the stronger and which of these main characters has the most The Queen / Ransom 55 right to grieve. The answer to these questions is subjective, depending perhaps on which of the main characters each reader most readily identifies with. Yet, it is an essential theme for, in striving to find an answer, readers will confirm the validity of Malouf‟s narrative. By setting the novel in an ancient time and by utilising characters so removed from contemporary models, readers are positioned to acknowledge that emotions such as grief are universal. Just as grief unites such diverse characters in this novel, emotions form an essential part of everyone, despite race, class or religion. Ultimately, even though the emotion explored so comprehensively in this novel is grief, a feeling which is associated with many of the negative aspects of what it is to be a sensitive human being, it is shown that even this negative emotion can temporarily halt a war, and can bring enemies together on common ground. This illustrates the power and importance of all human emotions. Humanity shares the ability to feel emotions. They are what should be today's common ground, in all relationships, whether those relationships are personal, political or diplomatic.

Talk: Communication through Action

Another important difference between the main characters is the way they use speech to communicate. Talking as a form of communication is an action; it is a verb. It is something that people do. The complexity of talking, and why it is a theme in Ransom, is that in the modern world it has also come to be an abstract noun. In contemporary society, when people are „talking‟, or need to „talk‟ to discuss an issue, it is understood that they wish to engage in meaningful conversation, with either one or all parties to the conversation having underlying motivations, which also forms an important part of the discussion. Such „talking‟ has a context. Such „talking‟ has a purpose. What is different about Malouf‟s portrayal of speech or dialogue in the novel is that each of the main characters chooses to speak for completely different reasons and purposes.

Priam speaks rarely, as he is a king. The only time he engages in personal talk is when he is with his wife, in the privacy of their chamber. Even the discussion he has with his family, when he tells them of his plan to rescue Hector, is controlled. This reticence regarding speech is only put aside with difficulty - firstly, when Priam engages Somax in conversation (although even here Priam quickly reverts to being the listener) and secondly, when he converses with Achilles after his emotional plea for Hector‟s body.

Achilles speaks to give orders. Through Achilles‟ internal reflection, Malouf informs the reader that Achilles was not always like this. When Patroclus was alive, he was vibrant, charismatic, and confident. It is only after he feels the guilt of Patroclus‟ death has lifted that he can begin to use speech effectively again. Ironically, it is Priam, not any of his Myrmidons, who gets to know this changed Achilles first, through the conversation they share after Hector‟s ransom.

Of the three main characters, Somax is the one who is most accustomed to talking. He uses speech to communicate his thoughts of that moment, or ideas which have come to him from his immediate context. He listens and answers questions. He speaks honestly about his past. He enjoys telling stories in order to entertain. He does not speak with an agenda or hidden purpose.

What allows these diverse characters to communicate successfully is not their ability as orators, rather it is their The Queen / Ransom 56 shared experiences. It is when they are doing things together that they are able to speak of events and thoughts which spring from their emotions. As such, Malouf gives his main male characters attributes regarding speech which are part of the modern Australian male stereotype. These men do not speak directly of their emotions. They do not sit down to „talk‟. They do things together. They share experiences. They share sympathy and form a mutual respect. This is when they express themselves as individuals, not as their roles or as protocol dictates. This is when they engage in honest dialogue, not rhetoric.

Fate and Chance: Visions and Visitations

Greek mythology is not a religion, rather a collection of stories which were either written or compiled by the Ancient Greeks. Malouf‟s Ransom, introduces the modern concept of „taking a chance‟ or of „doing something new‟ in order to achieve a goal. The Ancient Greeks, and the Trojans, are presented as having a close connection to their gods (Achilles and Priam are both descended from gods) in this novel. They are also presented as being closely connected to the spirit world; a world which the gods inhabit, and also one which they control. Mortals pass into this spirit world when they die. The unique thing about Greek mythology is the amount of influence which humans are actually given in relation to their gods and the world which these gods inhabit. The gods do interact with humans. They are in fact dependant on human worship and ritual for their power. So, even though the gods are powerful, they are also tied closely to their followers. This means, that if events in the real world are threatening the order of the spirit world, they will intervene. It is just such an event that Malouf depicts in this novel. The way Achilles denied Hector a burial and also how he treated his body offended the gods. Achilles‟ actions also defied the gods; hence they took an active role in helping this to be resolved.

Firstly, the gods visited Priam, and suggested in a dream that he take a chance and try something new. Secondly, Hermes assisted Priam so that he could speak with Achilles. These interventions are crucial. Malouf makes it clear that without divine intervention, Priam would not have made it to Achilles. But, Malouf is also careful to keep the intervention of the gods limited to these two tasks. It is Priam who takes matters into his own hands to ransom Hector‟s body. It is he who decides to ignore all protocol and to try something new. It is also Somax and his mules which pull Priam and the cart out of the river when the cart threatens to tip. Hermes, even though present, does not intervene, rather, the god allows men to handle this situation. In the same way, the gods allow Priam and Achilles to handle their situation as men. It is not armies, or lightning bolts from the heavens which give Priam back Hector. It is his emotional plea to Achilles, as one father to another, one man to another, which achieves his purpose. And, it is just such accomplishments by men which the gods admire and reward.

The rewards Malouf presents as interventions from the gods come in two forms; the metaphysical and the physical. The gods did preserve Hector‟s body. This is a physical intervention. Hermes also raised the gates of the Greek camp and cast a clamour over the guards so that the cart could roll through unopposed. He also plays a harp as a subterfuge to allow for Achilles to be in the mood to receive Priam, and also to allow for Priam to make his way to him through the crowded tent. Furthermore, the gods cure Somax‟s granddaughter of her fever. These are essentially physical interventions. The gods also play a role through the metaphysical visions The Queen / Ransom 57 which characters believe to be divine messages. Priam „dreams‟ how he will rescue his son‟s body.

Achilles also sees the truth of his own death and the resulting vengeance of his son on Priam as a blinding vision just after they meet. These are metaphysical interventions or visions. It is through both of these methods that Malouf is able to construct a by-play which runs throughout his novel between the plans and meddling of the gods, which are often in conflict/contrast with the will and actions of man. When both are in collusion, the world is normal and the gods remain at a distance but when things go awry, the gods intervene. Malouf posits that both fate and chance are matters for the gods. And, because men and gods are so entwined, both groups get to play their part in this narrative.

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IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS – ‘RANSOM’

PART I

Achilles:

„He sees my indifference to the fate of these Greeks as a stain to my honour, Achilles told himself, and to his own.‟ (p. 16)

“If all this touches you so deeply, Patroclus,” he had flashed out, “you go and save the Greeks.” (p. 17)

„“Just a little longer, Patroclus,” he whispers. “Can you hear me? Soon, now. Soon.” But first, he had Patroclus‟ killer to deal with, in a last encounter out there under the walls of Troy.‟ (p. 21)

„He is as fouled with dust as the thing – bloody and unrecognisable – that he trails from his axle-bar.‟ (p. 34)

„His runner spirit has deserted him.‟ (p. 35)

„He is waiting for the 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.‟ (p. 35)

„Meanwhile, day after day, he rages, shames himself, calls silently on a spirit that does not answer, and sleeps‟. (p. 36)

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PART II

Priam

„The grief that racks him is not only for his son Hector. It is also for a kingdom ravaged and threatened with extinction.‟ (p. 40)

„Priam comes to attention. He knows from long experience what is expected of him. Stays ready but still‟. (p. 41)

„For all his reverence – he might say as a necessary part of it – he is wary in his dealings with the gods, who do not always act openly, or so he has discovered. He treads lightly in their presence.‟ (p. 42)

He is obliged, in his role as king, to think of the king‟s sacred body, this brief six feet of earth he moves and breathes in – aches and sneezes and all – as at once a body like any other and an abstract of the lands he represents, their living map‟. (p. 43)

“Not a mockery, my friend, but the way things are. Not the way they must be, but the way they have turned out. In a world that is also subject to chance.” “Chance?”‟ (p. 46) (Goddess Iris, who links the gods to humanity)

„Yes, yes, he thinks, all this I know is unprecedented. But so is his plan‟. (p. 49)

“There are things,” he says, almost under his breath, “that once we have touched them, once they have touched us, we can never throw off, however much we scrub away at ourselves, however high the gods set us.” (p. 69) „Yes, yes, Priam thinks, that is all very well, but what have you done more than the rest? Beat your breast, fouled your hair with earth, wept a little. You are young and hardy. Even an old man like me can do that much.‟ (p. 83) „Priam meanwhile has been regarding this rough-looking fellow who is to be the sole companion of his journey and is confirmed once again in the rightness of his project. The carter resembles so completely the figure in his dream.‟ (p. 96)

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Somax

„In the tavern where he goes to enjoy a little company, to hear a joke or two and to escape in light- headedness the harshness of his life, he talks so warmly and so often of his little mule that he is teased for it with all sorts of coarse but joking suggestions; and it is true, he is a little in love with the creature.‟ (p. 94)

„Likes the look of me, does he? Well there‟s something! He thinks of what his cronies at the tavern will have to say of this.‟ (p. 96)

PART III

Priam

„He was a rough fellow, this companion he had chosen, with no notion, so far as he could see, of what was proper, but he did know his way about, and there was so much simple modesty and good-will in the man, and so much tact in the way he made his suggestions, that Priam found nothing objectionable in him.‟ (p. 117)

„He observed with amusement that they found the royal feet every bit as disappointing and without interest as the driver‟s.‟ (p. 117)

„But out here, he discovered, everything was just itself. That was what seemed new.‟ (p. 124)

„Most surprising of all was the way the fellow let his tongue run on, with no fear at all, it seemed, of being taken for a mere rattle or chatterer.‟ (p. 125)

„In his own world a man spoke only to give shape to a decision he had come to, or to lay out an argument for or against. (p. 126)

„And he looked at the old fellow who had revealed these things to him with growing respect.‟ (p. 128)

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„The fellow was just too good to be true.‟ (referring to Orchilus/Hermes) (p. 146)

„The landscape they were entering was one of utter devastation‟. (p. 135)

„He took comfort as well from the title the god had just given him… father...‟ (p. 161)

Somax

„Very tactfully, his heart softened by fellow-feeling, since he too was a father, he allowed himself the deception of pretending he had misheard.‟ (p. 113)

„He‟s like a child, he thought, a bit on the slow side. Or a man who‟s gone wandering in his sleep and doesn‟t know where he is or how he got there.‟ (p. 115)

“But the truth is, we don‟t just lie down and die, do we, sir? We go on. For all our losses. But I‟d‟ve been walking around, strong as I am, with a broken heart. My heart would have broken – it‟s near broke already. My wife, rest her spirit, gave me three sons, and four daughters, and you know, sir, not one of them is still living.” (p. 131-132)

PART IV

Achilles

„The fact is, he resents Automedon. His presence is both a reminder and a rebuke.‟ (p. 169)

„Father?‟ (p. 174)

„The man is a stranger. Noble, yes, even in his plain robe, but not at all like Peleus. What tricks the heart can play! ... and he continues now to feel tenderly vulnerable to all those emotions in him that belong to the sacred bond.‟ (p. 174)

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„Ice ribs him round with an iron grip. It is the coldness of that distant star that is the body‟s isolation in death.‟ (p. 185)

„Something in him has freed itself and fallen away. A need, an obligation.‟ (p. 189)

„What he feels in himself as a perfect order of body, heart, occasion, is the enactment under the stars, in the very breath of the gods, of the true Achilles, the one he has come all this way to find.‟ (p. 190)

„Unheroic thoughts.‟ (p. 193)

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COMPARATIVE TEXT ANALYSIS FOR

The Queen / Ransom

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COMPARATIVE TEXT ANALYSIS: IDEAS, ISSUES and THEMES

Learning intentions

• Explore how comparing texts can provide a deeper understanding of ideas, issues and themes • Investigate how the reader‟s understanding of one text is broadened and deepened when considered in relation to another text • Explore how features of texts, including structures, conventions and language are conveyed in these texts • Convey ideas, issues and themes that reflect and explore the world and human experiences, including historical and social contexts

The difference between Unit 2 and Unit 4:

Unit 2:

 How do authors convey ideas, issues and themes?  How do similarities and differences between texts create new meaning?  How does the comparison enrich meaning and understanding?

Unit 4: A detailed comparison:

 Look at how the texts interplay with each other and respond to them  What meaningful connections can be made between the texts?

Student must:

 Identify how texts are similar and how they are different  Know both texts really well  Significant discussion of both texts needed (does not have to be exactly 50:50)  Know what to compare  Consider ways that textual features impact on meaning  Know how to write a written comparison that shows enriched understanding  Be able to sustain a coherent clear argument  Use the language of comparison  Make clear and discerning choices about what to put in and leave out

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Student Assessed Coursework

 Worth 60 marks in Unit 4  Suggested written response length: 900 – 1200 words

Overview of Assessment Requirements

For this area of study students are required to produce a written analysis comparing the selected texts, discussing similarities and differences between how the texts present and deal with related ideas, issues or themes from different perspectives to reflect particular views. The task itself is asking student to enhance their understanding of a text beyond the basic events and characters. Students need to find meaningful connections between the two allocated texts and to analyse the individual texts for the interplay between character and setting, voice and structure and how the ideas, issues and themes are conveyed.

Unit 4 Key Knowledge Unit 4 Key Skills • an understanding of the ideas, issues and themes identify meaningful connections and areas for presented in texts comparison • the ways authors convey ideas, issues and themes • explain and analyse in texts –– similarities and differences between texts in the • the features of written, spoken and multimodal presentation of related ideas, issues and themes texts used by authors to convey ideas, issues and –– the choices made by authors to convey particular themes perspectives • the ways in which different texts provide different • compare texts to negotiate and communicate a perspectives on ideas, issues and themes and how deeper understanding of ideas, issues and themes comparing them can offer an enriched understanding • apply the conventions of discussion of the ideas, issues and themes • use textual evidence appropriately to support • the conventions of discussion comparative analysis • the features of comparative analysis: structure, • plan comparative responses, taking account of the conventions and language, including relevant purpose, context and audience in determining the metalanguage selected content and approach • the conventions of spelling, punctuation and syntax • develop and clarify ideas and insight gained of Standard Australian English. through comparison using discussion and writing • draft, review, edit and refine comparative responses, using feedback gained from individual reflection, and peer and teacher comments • apply the conventions of spelling, punctuation and syntax of Standard Australian English accurately and appropriately. *From VCAA English and EAL Study Design The Queen / Ransom 66

There is some degree of freedom in how the school assessed coursework is provided to students, as long as the entire moderation cohort completes the same assessment under the same conditions. English students do not have to sit the exact same assessment as the English as an Additional Language students. The general advice from VCAA is as follows; (these may or may not be followed by the individual school)

 The majority of the written assessment should be completed in class.  All students should come prepared with a dictionary.  The essay questions can be known to students prior to the written task or an unseen question provided on the day.  There can be one or more questions provided.  Students can bring a sheet with quotes/plans/ideas/etc. or be required to arrive in class purely prepared to write.  Classes can complete the work during their usual classes or in a combined time outside of class.  How much time is provided is up to the discretion of the teaching group.  Written responses should be 900-1200 words, oral responses 4-6 minutes  EAL responses can be 800-1000 words, oral responses 3-5 minutes

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ENGLISH VCAA Recommended Performance descriptors – Not compulsory to use Very Low Low Medium High Very High Satisfactory Thorough Sophisticated Some understanding understanding of the understanding of the understanding of the of the texts and how Limited texts and how they texts and how they texts and how they they convey ideas, understanding of the convey ideas, issues convey ideas, issues convey ideas, issues issues and themes texts and how they and themes from and themes from and themes from from different convey ideas, issues different perspectives. different perspectives. different perspectives. perspectives. and themes from Identification of Identification of Identification of Identification of some different perspectives. relevant connections meaningful highly significant connections between and areas for connections and areas connections and areas the texts. comparison. for comparison. for comparison. Sustained and Thoughtful and Clear and appropriate insightful comparison Comparison that effective comparison comparison that that presents an presents some that presents a Limited presents an enriched understanding of the detailed understanding of the understanding of the understanding of the ideas, issues and understanding of the ideas, issues and ideas, issues and ideas, issues and themes in both texts ideas, issues and themes in both texts themes in both texts themes in both texts through broad themes in both texts through some through close analysis through complex analysis of the through close analysis attempts at analysis of of the similarities analysis of the similarities and/or of the similarities the similarities and/or and/or differences. similarities and/or differences. Some use and/or differences. differences. Limited Suitable use of textual differences. of textual evidence to Careful use of textual reference to the text. evidence to support Considered use of support the evidence to support the comparative textual evidence to comparison. the comparative analysis. support the analysis. comparative analysis. Sound control of the Skilful control of the Careful control of the Some control of the features of features of features of features of comparative analysis, comparative analysis, comparative analysis, comparative analysis, including the including the highly Limited control of the including the careful including the use of appropriate use of proficient use of features of use of structure, structure, conventions structure, conventions structure, conventions comparative analysis. conventions and and language, and language, and language, language, including including the use of including the use of including the use of the use of relevant metalanguage. relevant relevant metalanguage metalanguage. metalanguage Expressive, fluent and Highly expressive, Generally fluent and Mostly clear written coherent written fluent and coherent Written language that coherent written language that employs language that employs written language that shows limited control language that employs some conventions of the appropriate and employs the skilful of spelling, the appropriate use of spelling, punctuation accurate use of and accurate use of punctuation and spelling, punctuation and syntax of spelling, punctuation spelling, punctuation syntax of Standard and syntax of Standard Australian and syntax of and syntax of Australian English. Standard Australian English. Standard Australian Standard Australian English. English. English. *From VCAA English and EAL Study Design

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Contribution to final assessment School-assessed Coursework for Unit 4 will contribute 25 per cent to the study score.

ALL STUDENTS Outcomes Marks Allocated Assessment tasks Outcome 1 60 A detailed comparison in written form of how two Produce a detailed comparison selected texts present ideas, issues and themes. which analyses how two selected texts present ideas, issues and themes.

Outcome 2 10 A written statement of intention to accompany the Construct a sustained and reasoned student‟s own oral presentation, articulating the point of view on an issue currently intention of decisions made in the planning process, debated in the media. and how these demonstrate understanding of argument and persuasive language. 30 A point of view presented in oral form using sound argument and persuasive language. The point of view should relate to an issue that has appeared in the media since 1 September of the previous year. The issue does not have to be the same as the issue selected for study in Outcome 2, Unit 3.

Total Marks 100 *From VCAA English and EAL Study Design

Comparing Texts

The easiest and usually the most comprehensive manner through which to compare the two texts is through the different messages and meaning portrayed about the relevant themes. This will involve a detailed understanding of each text, including the themes, characters and how the text has been intentionally constructed by the writer/director. Once a thorough understanding has been developed it is easier to compare how the writers/directors have constructed meaning and conveyed the key ideas to the audience.

The comparison between Ransom and The Queen

Will generally revolve around the ideas conveyed about the themes. It is imperative that a detailed understanding of how the ideas are conveyed by the writer and director is developed and forms the core argument within the essay. Each of these areas should be heavily supported by textual evidence including how the text was constructed.

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Common Themes: The Queen and ‘Ransom’

* Please note you have to compare similarities and differences; these theme notes simply look at commonalities

Category The Queen Ransom

Theme: Central idea we Change – in society Change – in leadership

examine

Idea: Concept What benefits does having the What benefits does having the courage to change bring? How do courage to change bring? leaders bring this change? What do leaders need to do? Issue: Something in dispute Are the sacrifices made worth it? Are the sacrifices made worth it? Does family need to be sacrificed Does a leader need to more multi- in order for things to change? dimensional in order to lead

successfully?

Changing Identity

Q. Read through the following quotes. Which quotes would you assign to the above table and why?

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QUOTES from the Texts

ELIZABETH: Oh. I‟m not sure I like the sound of that [Blair letting everyone call him „Tony‟]. Have we sent him a protocol sheet?

ELIZABETH: My great, great grandmother said of it - “In Balmoral all seems to breathe freedom and peace and to make one forget the world and its sad turmoils.”

CHARLES: A more modern perspective [about the funeral].

TONY: Will somebody please save these people from themselves?

CHARLES: In a situation like this you have to be flexible.

ELIZABETH: But I can see the world has changed. And one must 'modernise'.

„It seems to me that there might be another way of naming what we call fortune…or the whim of the gods. Which offers a kind of opening. The opportunity to act for ourselves. To try something that might force events onto a different course‟ (Priam, P57)

„Not the way things must be, but the way things have turned out. In a world that is only subject to chance.‟ (Iris to Priam, P57)

„But what seems foolish is just sensible sometimes. The fact it has never been done, that it is novel, unthinkable - except that I have thought of it - is just what makes me believe it should be attempted. It is possible because it is not possible. And because it is simple. Why do we always think the simple thing is beneath us?‟ (Priam, P55)

„The chance to break free of the obligation of always being the hero… to take on the lighter bond of being simply a man. Perhaps that is the real gift I have to bring him. Perhaps that is the ransom‟ (Priam, P56)

„But I am also a father. Mightn‟t it be time to expose myself at last to what is merely human? To learn a little of what might be, and what it is to bear it as others do?‟ (Priam, P79)

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Leadership

QUOTES from the Texts

TELEVISION REPORTER: Why the Queen hasn‟t addressed her subjects in this time of national grief?

ELIZABETH: But if my actions are damaging the crown? QUEEN MOTHER: Damaging them? My dear, you are the greatest asset this institution has. One of the greatest it has EVER had.

TONY: In case you‟d felt „manhandled‟ or „managed‟ in any way.

ELIZABETH: Don't get ahead of yourself Prime Minister, I think you'll find that I'm supposed to be advising YOU!

„I believe that the thing that is needed to cut this knot we are all tied in is something that has never been done or thought of. Something impossible, something new‟ (Priam, P54)

„I have played my part, and tried to let nothing peep out of the real man inside me‟ (Priam, P73)

„You have done this because you are still thinking in the old way. I told you, I tried to tell you, that my vision was of something new. Now this time listen.‟(Priam, P85)

SAMPLE ANALYSIS on LEADERSHIP – INTEGRATED STYLE, Main Body Paragraphs ONLY

Priam, Queen Elizabeth and Tony Blair are able to sway the majority of their people to their way of thinking and therefore inspire them to align their thoughts and beliefs with a broader principle. As outlined in the previous section on identity, the Queen made initial decisions which went against the grain of popular thought. She was eventually talked into reacting to the death of one of her former family members, the People‟s Princess, her son‟s ex-wife. Her decision not to act was initially done at the request of Diana‟s family but it was also embraced due to an embrace of traditions: “That‟s the way we do things in this country. Quietly. With dignity. It‟s what the rest of the world has always admired us for.” She establishes this declaration of privacy very early in the film and clings to it in a way that shows her reluctance for change.

While Priam may change „inwardly‟ and come to know something of how it is to be an ordinary man while on his quest to reclaim the body of his son Hector, his style of leadership is far from conciliatory; he is used to giving orders and expecting them to be followed. At the meeting of his family, councillors and advisors the old man‟s scheme seems preposterous. This scheme challenges their very notion of who their father is and who their king is. Priam, however, remains resolute in his decision, so much so he flies into a rage when he is The Queen / Ransom 72 presented with his royal chariot and horses and reminds his subjects, :You have done this because you are still thinking in the old way.” Unlike the Queen, however , Priam, while successful in attaining his primary goal, ultimately sees his kingdom destroyed and is killed by Achilles‟ son.

The Queen and Priam are strongly affected by what has happened to them in the past. Both of them known what it is to have experiences significant loss and to feel powerless. The Queen‟s experience of being thrust into the throne at a young age and the loss of her beloved father, King George VI, have had an immeasurable impact upon her and appear to have determined her fate. She comes to realise that, despite her distaste for public shows of grief, she is still in control of how she chooses to react and act towards situations in her life, as reflected by the her Private Secretary Janvrin asking her if she can recite the words given to her for her televised address about Diana‟s death: “Do I have a choice?” This address does not weaken her style of leadership and in fact allows the people of Britain and the United Kingdom to see her grief and validate their own.

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Text Construction

Along with comparing themes, looking at text construction is also an expectation of Reading and Comparing. The comparison of different ways in which texts have been constructed will assist with understanding of textual features. The use of visual images can shape our view and give added meaning to events and individuals, which sometimes words upon a page cannot muster.

Areas of note:

 The compression of time in film  The interplay of dialogue between characters  The use of media: newspaper, and news footage  Camera shots and angles  Malouf‟s use of vivid imagery to describe scenes  Ransom is told in the third person  Malouf‟s use of introspection: each character‟s thoughts form the core of the narrative, thus giving an intimacy to his writing  Malouf‟s pattern of writing also changes to suit each character

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Approaches to the Essay

Topics may fall into the following categories:

 Ideas, themes and issues

 Cultural, geographical, historical, social and ideological context of the texts and their writers

 Questions about genre that ask you to look at the way the type of text influences how themes and issues are covered e.g. a play and a novel. The way texts are constructed and the differences in how they are constructed impacts on theme.

Bear in mind each of these questions asks you to look at the text in a different way and therefore to seek different information according to each type of question.

How to go about it?

 The comparative analysis of the texts does not always have to be a 50:50 balance. One text could resonate really well with you and then you can draw the other in. Could be 60:40. It is essentially all about the quality of comparison and contrast.

 Identify connections between ideas, issues, themes and features.

 Compare settings and context: cultural, geographical, historical, social and ideological.

 Group connections together in your exercise book.

 Identify points of comparison.

 It is not about specific elements of the plot, but rather related moments.

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Where do I start?

Consider focusing on the protagonist, then secondary characters and relationships between all. This could prove a great starting point for further discussions into ideas, themes and issues.

What will I be marked on?

 Construction  Conventions  Language  Metalanguage  Grammar and spelling  Have you moved seamlessly from one text to another?  Written expression

Ways to compare:

 Comparison tables  Venn diagrams  Mindmapping/brainstorming  Close passage analysis with annotations  Selecting and matching key quotes  Constructing compelling statements about both texts  Stills from films and passages from the book

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Essay Construction

There are three core comparative essay structures available to students. Each style has its own advantages and disadvantages. Generally, all options should be made available to students so that they can assess their own skills and ability when choosing how to respond to the essay question.

Comparative Essay Structure A: Separate Analysis

Introduction The introduction will provide an overview of the essay topic and the student‟s contention. It will introduce both texts with the title, writer/director and a brief summary in relation to the essay topic. Finally, it will suggest the areas that will be compared.

Paragraph 1 The student provides a thorough analysis of text A with the inclusion of evidence to justify the statements and claims made. The structure of the paragraph should follow the P/EE/EE/EE/L approach outlined below.

Paragraph 2 The student provides a thorough analysis of text B with the inclusion of evidence to justify the statements and claims made. If capable, the student may start to make comparisons during this paragraph. The structure of the paragraph should follow the P/EE/EE/EE/L approach outlined below.

Paragraph 3 The third paragraph compares the prior analysis of both texts A and B. The structure of the paragraph should follow the P/EE/EE/EE/L approach outlined below.

Conclusion The conclusion brings the comparison back to focusing on and proving the contention. Some Structure A essays will not require a conclusion as this occurs during the final paragraph.

Advantages Disadvantages  Supports students who are weaker  Limits the quantity of comparison in essay structure and comparative skills  If students are running out of time when writing under timed  Allows students to thoroughly conditions they may not end up analyse each text and to show a comparing any of the texts and comprehensive understanding of therefore will not meet the the texts individually outcome.

 Relies on an easier range of  Does not provide as much sentence structures and vocabulary opportunity for students to make choices insightful comparisons between the texts

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Individual Paragraph Structure

Students at VCE level should be working towards a complex and sophisticated essay structure. Outlined below is an extended version of the popular TEEL or PEEL paragraph structure that students can use in all three essay structures.

Clearly introduce the main point you will be exploring in the T or P Topic Sentence/Point paragraph.

Explain the sub point (an element of the bigger idea you are discussing) with evidence from the text. Expand/Explain and EE In a single paragraph analysis this means the first of the analysis Evidence/Example points on that text. In a blended comparison it will be the point relevant to the first text. Explain the sub point (an element of the bigger idea you are discussing) with evidence from the text. Expand/Explain and EE In a single paragraph analysis this means the second of the Evidence/Example analysis points on that text. In a blended comparison it will be the point relevant to the second text. Explain the sub point (an element of the bigger idea you are discussing) with evidence from the text. Expand/Explain and EE In a single paragraph analysis this means the third of the analysis Evidence/Example points on that text. Usually you will not require a third combination in a blended analysis An effective link will connect to the essay contention and the next paragraph. It is hard to link the paragraph to the next L Link paragraph in Structure A.

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Comparative Essay Structure B: Blended Analysis and Comparison - Thematic

Paragraph 1 Each of the body paragraphs will take a thematic/grouped approach to the comparison. Each paragraph will present ideas and evidence from both texts with comprehensive Paragraph 2 comparison throughout. The body paragraphs may focus an area of analysis (text structure, development of characters, narrative voice, etc.) or build on the ideas and Paragraph 3 themes presented (how a character feels isolated, how they deal with isolation, etc.). Each paragraph should follow the paragraph structure outlined earlier.

Conclusion The conclusion brings the comparison back to focusing on and proving the contention.

Advantages Disadvantages  Provides the opportunity for  More complex and challenging extensive and sophisticated comparison of the texts  Requires a broader and deeper understanding of essay structure  Allows students to use varied and and language choices. sophisticated sentence structures and language choices  Students need a comprehensive understanding of all areas of both texts.

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Comparative Essay Structure C: Blended Analysis and Comparison – Chronological

Paragraph 1 Each of the body paragraphs will take a thematic/grouped approach to the comparison. Each paragraph will present ideas and evidence from both texts with comprehensive Paragraph 2 comparison throughout. The body paragraphs are formed around comparing the beginning, middle and end of the text and how each of these sections is presented. Each Paragraph 3 paragraph should follow the paragraph structure outlined earlier.

Conclusion The conclusion brings the comparison back to focusing on and proving the contention.

Advantages Disadvantages  Provides the opportunity for  Difficult to complete if the text is extensive and sophisticated not presented chronologically. comparison of the texts  Does not always work effectively  Allows students to use varied and for comparisons with a multimodal sophisticated sentence structures text. and language choices  Can be complex to complete when  Allows students to approach the there are no similarities between task with a formulaic approach and the sections of the text. they do not need to have an extremely cohesive understanding of the themes, etc. The Queen / Ransom 80

Writing Advice

Most students will benefit from a step by step approach to responding to a reading and comparing essay question. Outlined below is one approach students should benefit from.

STEP ONE: BREAKING DOWN THE QUESTION

Students will need to carefully read and assess their understanding of the essay questions and how it relates to each of the selected texts. This includes understanding the vocabulary used and the specifics that the question is alluding to.

STEP TWO: DEVELOPING A CONTENTION

It is always pivotal that students are arguing a clear and specific contention rather than the broad nature of the essay question. As essay questions are written for all students in the state; in the exam students need to be able to refine their response to a specific area that they can show a depth of understanding rather than a superficial response that addresses too many areas. The contention should show insight into the essay question and a specific line of argument that can be followed.

STEP THREE: CHOOSE AN ESSAY STRUCTURE

Not all essay questions and contentions will be appropriate to the three essay structures. It is important that students weigh up the pros and cons of each, keeping in mind the specific response and their own personal skills.

STEP FOUR: PLAN THE ESSAY

Planning is a core and essential element to good writing. It allows students, especially in the exam, to concentrate their time on remembering and creating a coherent response to the topic. If students have written an effective plan there are a number of benefits.

1. All of the ideas and examples are pre thought out. In some ways students can stop focussing on this area and shift their focus onto writing with clarity and sophistication. 2. If the student is running out of time all of the ideas are considered and it is easier to cull without losing vital ideas, comparison and examples. 3. Students can ensure they are writing to meet the criteria and receive the maximum marks available

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Essay Questions

1. Compare the ways in which The Queen and Ransom highlight the futility of revenge.

2. Compare how perceptions of leadership are challenged in The Queen and Ransom.

3. Compare the ways in which characters in The Queen and Ransom experience changes in their identity.

4. Compare how individual stories of struggle in The Queen and Ransom show humanity rather than heroism.

5. Compare The Queen and Ransom, using the following quotations as the basis of your response:

„ELIZABETH: Well, you are my tenth Prime Minister, Mr Blair. I‟d like to think there weren‟t too many surprises left.‟ (The Queen)

„You have done this because you are still thinking in the old way. I told you, I tried to tell you, that my vision was of something new. Now, this time listen‟ (Ransom)

6. Compare The Queen and Ransom, using the following quotations as the basis of your response:

„Words are powerful. They too can be the agents of what is new, of what is conceivable and can be thought and let loose upon the world‟ (Ransom)

„ELIZABETH: I've never been hated like that before.‟ (The Queen)

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Analysing a Question

Compare The Queen and Ransom, using the following quotations as the basis of your response:

‘ELIZABETH: Well, you are my tenth Prime Minister, Mr Blair. I’d like to think there weren’t too many surprises left.’ (The Queen)

‘You have done this because you are still thinking in the old way. I told you, I tried to tell you, that my vision was of something new. Now, this time listen’ (Ransom)

Approach:

This type of question asks you to look at both quotations and determine what each means in terms of the text as well as in a broader context.

You also need to identify connections between the two quotations.

Quotations in terms of the texts

The first quote is Queen Elizabeth explaining to her new Prime Minster, Tony Blair, how many leaders she has worked with BEFORE him and the impression is many will come after. She has seen and heard many things and would be hard pressed to be surprised by anything.

In the second quote Priam urges his subjects (including his sons) to listen to what he has expressed to them as he is exasperated at being presented with the royal chariot and horse, when he asked for a simple mule cart.

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Similarities:

Both Elizabeth and Priam urge their followers to listen to what they truly have to say.

Both Elizabeth and Priam are on personal journeys of self-discovery throughout the text.

In both texts powerful events from the past govern the current population and their attitudes and dominate the political and cultural landscape

Queen Elizabeth, Tony Blair and Priam demonstrate the power of individual choice and the concept that destiny is in the control of individuals

Queen Elizabeth, Tony Blair and Priam share a similar attitude towards propriety and what is „right‟ in regards to society expectations and challenging said expectations.

Differences:

The change Blair alludes to has a lasting impact, while Priam‟s triumph is temporary and his city of Troy is eventually to be destroyed

Blair uses calm, inclusive and conciliatory language, whereas Priam is autocratic and thus admonishes his subjects for not following his vision

Priam believes in destiny, but also makes his own decisions based on the concept of chance, a concept brought to him in a dream vision from the gods‟ messenger Iris. Whilst Queen Elizabeth believes in controlling one‟s own fate.

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FINAL EXAMINATION ADVICE

When preparing for the exam it is important to revise both of the texts and comparative essay writing skills.

The Texts You need to be familiar with all aspects of the texts: the individual stories, the characters, and themes. Make sure you re-read and re-watch the texts. Create your own timelines of the experiences of the characters. Revise the themes, identifying specific details from each text to support your interpretation, including quotes. Create your own Venn diagrams comparing each of the themes and the characters. You should also revise a series of quotes from each text that will be useful in supporting your points in the essay. Ensure you know how to spell the characters and place names correctly: this shows fundamental knowledge of the texts.

Essay Writing Revise comparative essay writing and paragraph structure. Make sure you have decided whether you will write a block essay or integrated essay structure. Do not use first person. Even though the essay question may ask “Do you agree?” present your points confidently and as fact - you do not need to include specific reference to your personal opinion.

The Exam It is very important that you get used to writing an essay in 45 minutes, to give you enough time to proofread and edit your work. During the reading time, read the essay questions for your pair of texts and select which one you will answer. When working on the question, identify the key words and clarify what the question is asking you. Plan your points. Always plan your essay before beginning to write. By planning your essay before beginning to write you are getting your thoughts in order and ensuring that you have relevant points of evidence to support your opinion. Focus on answering the question, not just summarising the texts. Include relevant quotes, but make sure they are not too long and that they reinforce your points. Write in pen and write clearly.

 Always underline the title of the text, e.g. Ransom. (When hand writing, always underline; when typing, either italicise, underline or „quotation‟ marks). Always refer to the author as Malouf, not David. Refer to Frears as the director of the film.

 Comment on HOW and WHY the texts were created. This will add great depth to your response and show the examiner your sophisticated understanding of the writer‟s and director‟s style and purpose.

 Analyse the key words in the topic. Brainstorm synonyms to assist your use of varied expression in the essay. Make connections to major themes.

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 Do not simply summarise the plot of the texts. You must show the ability to analyse the events and characters. Some students do not understand the difference between summary and analysis. Summary is when you simply retell the events of the story. Analysis is when you explain why a character is behaving a certain way and/or why the novelist was writing the story, e.g. their message. This must always be done through EXAMPLES found within the text or the text‟s context.

 Be specific! Do not be vague or generalise in your answers. As said in the last dot point, you must show how the text explores the ideas in the topic through EXAMPLE. Choose your examples and argue through them rather than just including quotes because you have to. Always state exactly what you mean. Do not say things like „what the novel shows…‟ Say specifically instead „the pathos/sadness that the novel creates…‟

 Answer the whole question. It sounds silly but students often answer only one part of the question or get entirely off topic without meaning to. Make sure that you plan your arguments (usually through the key examples you will use) and then follow the topic sentences and link back to the question at the end of each paragraph so you don‟t get off topic.

 Avoid repetition of examples, ideas and expression. Repetition creates the impression of a limited knowledge of the text and also reflects poor planning and structure.

 Avoid including large quotes. Key quotes should be carefully selected, limited in length and linked to the topic of discussion.

 Plan the main ideas in your essay and express them in clear topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph.

 Ensure spelling is accurate, especially of characters‟ names, in order to show fundamental knowledge of the text.

 Do not use first person “I”. There is no need to introduce ideas in a personal way. Clearly the whole essay contains what you believe and know.

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REFERENCES

References Used

 Malouf, David. Ransom. Random House, Australia, 2009 (2010 edition cited).  Encyclopedia Mythica. http://www.pantheon.org/  The Classics Archive: The Iliad, by Homer, written 800 B.C.E. Translated by Samuel Butler. http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.24.xxiv.html  Greek – Gods.Info. Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece. http://www.greek-gods.info/greek- heroes/achilles/  Frears, Stephen. „The Queen‟. (2006) United Pictures.  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001241/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm  https://emanuellevy.com/interviews/the-queen-according-to-frears-7/  https://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/TheQueenScreenplay.pdf  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_VI  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Blair  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balmoral_Castle  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherie_Blair  https://www.cherieblair.org/  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_The_Queen_Mother  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Campbell

References for Students

 Malouf, David. Ransom. Random House, Australia, 2009 (2010 edition cited).  Contemporary Writers. British Council of the Arts. Biography, David Malouf and Critical Perspective, Dr James Procter, 2009. http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth66  Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopaedia. David Malouf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Malouf  Toni Whitmont. Booktopia. Book Review of Ransom. http://www.booktopia.com.au/ransom/prod9781741668377.html;jsessionid=JVuDq+qBfjxbnUaAEZIiR w__  Kabita Dhara, Readings, Carlton . Readings Bookseller Website. Short Book Review. http://www.readings.com.au/review/ransom-david-malouf