“Both Priam and Achilles are liberated as a result of what Priam does”. Discuss.

Priam’s actions and words temporarily liberate both himself and Achilles, his enemy. A reinterpretation of book 24 of Homer’s epic poem The Iliad, David Malouf’s novel ‘Ransom’ depicts Priam, the king of Troy, going on a journey to ransom the body of his son Hector from Achilles, the man who killed him. Malouf uses natural imagery, flashbacks and flash-forwards to convey meaning in his text. The remarkable actions of Priam touch Achilles’ complex character and allow him to be set free from his tortured mid set. However, in spite of the two men making peace, Priam and Achilles both know that the war will continue, so they are only temporarily liberated.

To gain back Hector’s body, Priam empathises with Achilles. On a physically and mentally challenging journey, Priam, with the help of his new herald Somax and the guidance of the gods, arrives in the hut of Achilles. He begs for the corpse of Hector for burial, offering both material wealth and his humility as a ransom. Feeling “emboldened”, Priam appeals to Achilles “as a father” and “as one poor mortal to another” in order to establish empathy with him. Additionally, Priam asserts that if Achilles gives Hector’s body back, it will show that both of them are “men, children of the gods” and “not ravening beasts”. The evocation of their mortality helps Priam remind Achilles that unlike the immortal gods, “death is in our nature” and “the world does not come to us”. Mortals, as they only live once, are able to treasure each other and make the most out of what they have, which is something “the gods know nothing of”. Capitalising on their common woes, Priam uses a series of rhetorical questions. He asks if Achilles would do what Priam is doing for Hector if his own son Neoptolemus was dead and his body continually desecrated. Priam also asks if Peleus, Achilles’ father, would “entreat the killer of his son” if Achilles was in Hector’s place. With these powerful callings of death, sons and fathers, Priam and Achilles connect and with a shared vision of the future, which inspires horror in both men, Achilles agrees to release Hector’s body.

Priam is liberated from his role as king by what he does in order to retrieve the body of his son. Having experienced more than he had bargained for on his journey to the Greek camps, Priam, encouraged by the gods and Somax, is able to see beyond his royal sphere and cast off “his old role as kingly”. He acquires a “new-found eye for such irrelevant happenings”, giving Priam “an enlivening effect” which “brings him back into the world with a renewed sense”. Out of mutual respect now provided to each other, Achilles has Priam “treated with the utmost courtesy”, releasing the burden of grief that the old king has been carrying. Malouf portrays the meaning of freedom through water, as Priam is refreshed literally and metaphorically by it. For what he has done, Priam earns an eternal legacy, where “he will be remembered” as “a hero of a deed that till now was never attempted”. Calmed by his deeds, Priam is remade as a new man.

Achilles is able to release his grief and rage after Priam empathises with him. After the death of his “brother-in-arms” Patroclus and his revenge on Hector, Patroclus’ killer, Achilles is filled with rage at both the Trojan prince and himself for not being able to save his friend. He has consistently for nine days desecrated Hector’s body and in a manner similar to a temporal Sisyphean punishment, repeats his mutilation of his enemy’s corpse as the gods refresh it each morning. A complex character, filled with grief and anger, he is unable to let go of his vengeful spirit until he is comforted by the words of Priam, the father of his “implacable enemy” Hector. In his hut, when Priam appears before him, Achilles is so overwhelmed by his grief and longing that he first he sees Priam as Patroclus and then his father Peleus. As their interaction proceeds, Achilles is exposed and intrigued by Priam, who jogs the warrior’s “soft affections” that he has both for his son Neoptolemus and Peleus. The calling on of his family by Priam moves Achilles deeply, as he “feels immobilised and out of time”. Furthermore, when the vision is shared between Priam and him of “the end of things in the days after his death”, Achilles is stunned by what he sees. He accepts Priam’s ransom and demands nothing more. Priam’s astounding actions free Achilles from his desire for revenge, forgives Hector and recognises that he had “won an honourable death” and is “no longer an affront”.

The result of Achilles’ reconciliation with Hector leaves the two warriors “in perfect amity”. Thanks to Priam, Achilles overcomes his emotive state and make peace with his fate, which is to die at Troy.

Despite appearing to have reconciled with one another, both Priam and Achilles recognise that the war will still go on. This is shown earlier on in Priam’s interaction with Achilles. The symbolisation of Achilles’ hand resting on his sword reminds Prim that Achilles is a soldier and “retains a terrible potential”. Even though the novel expresses the idea of chance, Malouf notes how some things are subject to fate, such as the death of Achilles and the fall of Troy. Supporting Malouf’s contention, Priam and Achilles witness the future, where in a bitter twist of irony, Priam is slain by Achilles’ son Neoptolemus, the “fiery-headed agent of such destructiveness”, even though the two men have made peace. Moreover, when Achilles promises to come to Priam’s aid when “the walls of Troy are falling”, Priam retorts and ironically predicts that Achilles will be “already among the shades”. Even though they both see the dark futures in store or them and know the war continues, Priam and Achilles are left “smiling in the foreknowledge of what they have already seen” and depart from each other on good terms.

The actions of Priam manage to free both Achilles and himself from their roles and burdens, even though it is only temporarily. Some of the key messages in Malouf’s novel ‘Ransom’ are that people can establish common bonds despite the horrors of war. Ultimately, the inevitability of war overwhelms the lives of the people involved. ‘Ransom’ shows that liberation can occur on a personal level even in the dire situation of conflict.