Ransom: Part 4 Summary & Analysis

Achilles's detachment from the world around him stands in sharp contrast to everything that has happened to Priam in Part 3. Priam, for instance, has learned to take pleasure in the meaningless "prattle" of people and things around him, seeing it as an expression of "each thing's presence." By contrast, Achilles shares the sense that chatter—in this case, his men's conversation—is meaningless, but not the sense that it might nevertheless hold "interest" (to borrow a word from Priam). This speaks to the deathliness of Achilles's current state, since he has lost the ability to appreciate the ordinary pleasures that make life meaningful. It also perhaps explains why Achilles feels drawn to Alcimus, since an "animal nature"—an ability to give himself over to the pleasures of the moment—is part of what currently eludes Achilles.

The trance-like state Achilles enters in this passage is another example of how suspension works in Ransom. Malouf describes the moment as one where Achilles slips outside the normal constraints of his body, and even his own identity. The external world also seems to become less solid, "as if flow, not fixity, was [its] nature." The fluidity and changeability of this state contrasts with the rigidity of fate and physical reality, providing a space in which change and growth are possible.

Significantly, Achilles begins to soften to Priam even before the latter has a chance to state his case. In mistaking Priam for Peleus (who has presumably grown old in Achilles's absence), Achilles is forcibly reminded of his father's mortality. However, where Patroclus's death enraged and embittered Achilles, the sight of his "father's" impending death elicits only "tenderness" and thus lays the groundwork for the appeal Priam will later make. Ultimately, Achilles will stop seeing death as a personal insult (as he did when he sought revenge for Patroclus's death) and begin to see it as a universal human experience which should therefore inspire empathy.

Even after Achilles has realized his mistake, the sight of Priam continues to move him. Again, this points to the changes underway in Achilles's character, since he can now recognize the vulnerability and humanity of a complete stranger.

For all the changes he has already experienced, Priam still remains somewhat bound to his old ways of thinking at this point in the novel. Achilles's actions in this passage disturb him, for instance, because they do not align with his earlier premonition of the meeting: in Priam's vision, he himself was the person kneeling. This episode, then, in some ways flips the script on Priam, who had previously argued that the "unexpectedness" of his appeal might spark a change in Achilles. Here, the strangeness of Achilles's actions gives Priam pause and (perhaps) greater insight into the man he is pleading with.

This passage is another example of the different meanings of "extraordinary" over the course of the novel. A father pleading for mercy on his child's behalf is "ordinary" in the sense that it rings true to basic human emotions, but within the logic of an epic world, its very normality makes it unusual. Malouf also sets the meeting between Achilles and Priam against a backdrop of routine life within the camp. Although the soldiers' ignorance of what is happening might at first glance seem to undercut the significance of those events, the novel eventually suggests that the continuity of normal, everyday action is important: as Somax has already said, "life goes on" in the face of extraordinary events (good or bad).

Somax's appearance helps ground Priam and Achilles's meeting in everyday, unheroic reality. Like Priam and Achilles, Somax responds to the strange situation he finds himself in with uncertainty. Somax, however, is reacting not to the intensely emotional scene that is unfolding, but simply to the idea that he is participating in these momentous events. In other words, this quick detour into Somax's thoughts reframes Priam and Achilles's meeting from the perspective of an outsider, which helps strip it of its larger-than-life aura. In Somax's mind, Priam and Achilles are secondary characters in a story about the unusual experiences he himself has had over the course of the day.

As Priam did earlier in the novel, Achilles is here learning to take an interest in what is incidental, ordinary, or idiosyncratic—in this case, the exchange between Somax and Priam. More specifically, Achilles finds that the men's temporary inattention has the effect of pleasurably distancing him from his own personality. In other words, the passage provides another example of an "unlikely" event serving as a catalyst for change by breaking down the usual barriers of identity.

In this first attempt at persuasion, Priam introduces all the major ideas that ground his argument, explaining that he is appealing to Achilles as a father and as another "poor mortal." Above all, though, he introduces the idea of humanity or humanness as an ideal to strive towards. Priam urges Achilles to accept his offer on the grounds that doing so will "show that [they] are men, not ravening beasts," but in Ransom, establishing one's humanity proves to be less about "rising above" an animal nature and more about descending from an elevated status as a king, demigod, etc. 

Priam's appeal in Ransom differs in one very notable way from the parallel scene in the Iliad: in the latter, Priam invokes Peleus rather than Neoptolemus. Although Malouf's Priam goes on to mention Peleus, it is the reference to Neoptolemus that initially moves Achilles, perhaps because it is an especially vivid reminder of ordinary life. Although Achilles tries to imagine Neoptolemus as a glorious warrior, his thoughts continually circle back to images of his son as a "small mimic hero," play-fighting like any other child. This proves significant later in the novel, where it becomes clear that Neoptolemus feels burdened by his father's towering reputation.

Priam's speech here is his second major statement about mortality and the way it impacts human life. Drawing again on the symbol of ransom, Priam describes death as a "fee" that people must pay in order to experience the world and its pleasures. As a result, death is inseparable from human nature itself and thus grounds for mutual understanding: since everyone experiences death and loss, Priam argues, everyone should be able to sympathize with the losses of others. This, again, is presumably a novel idea to Achilles, who has previously viewed death and loss only in terms of what they mean to him personally.

Priam's appeal sparks a complicated response in Achilles. On the most basic level, the "story" that Priam tells allows Achilles to experience events he would otherwise not be able to—e.g. the sight of his father as an old man—which in turn allows him to feel compassion for Priam's plight. Even beyond this, however, Priam's words seem to elicit a reassessment of Achilles's understanding of mortality, selfhood, and compassion. The succession of old men Achilles sees—Priam, Peleus, and himself—points to the universality of mortality. Death itself, though, strikes Achilles as an experience of total isolation—that is, an experience that cannot be shared with other people. It is this realization about the ultimate loneliness of human fate that seems to spark a change in Achilles; since death eventually cuts the individual off from all others, it is even more important to take part in a common humanity while alive.

As a later flash-forward will confirm, Achilles's vision in this passage is largely accurate: Neoptolemus will kill Priam in revenge for Achilles's own death. As Achilles envisions the scene, however, Neoptolemus's ferocity makes him barely recognizable as a human (in fact, the text likens him to a "Fury"—a Greek goddess of vengeance). The actual murder, however, though just as brutal, is psychologically very different than what Achilles imagines. Malouf reveals Neoptolemus to be a frightened boy desperate to live up to his father's image. Relatedly, there is a similar, though more minor, discrepancy between the vision Priam has of clasping Achilles's knees and the way the scene actually plays out. Although Priam does eventually kneel in front of Achilles, he does so in "fellow-feeling" rather than "supplication." In other words, Malouf suggests that the future—though perhaps "fixed" in an outward and physical sense—is not set on the level of thoughts, feelings, intentions, etc.

Achilles's new perspective on death and humanity allows him to see Hector in a different light. Where he had previously railed against everything that seemed to thwart his own will—Patroclus's death, the preservation of Hector's body, etc.—he now sees these events within the broader context of the gods' plans for him. In fact, he even feels a sense of kinship with Hector, with whom he shares a common fate: death in general, but also the duel that was in some sense the culmination of each man's life. Although none of this, presumably, erases the pain of the loss Achilles has experienced, his reflections in this passage suggest that he accepts the role that Patroclus's death and all the events that followed have played in his development as a person. For the first time, in fact, he feels that he is "the true Achilles," perhaps because he has learned, through loss, what it means to be human.

Like the riverbank in Part 3, the laundry room belongs to a world that is very different than the one Achilles (or Priam) is familiar with. For one thing, it is physical and bodily in a way that even Achilles—a warrior—is unused to. The smell is reminiscent of a nursery (or perhaps even a delivery room), and therefore evokes images of bodies that are vulnerable as a result of their infancy (or, in the case of this room, death). The laundry room is also a female space, which likely contributes to the "unheroic thoughts" Achilles finds taking hold as he stands there; the implication is that all men, however great and powerful, will ultimately end up being tended to by common and (by the standards of the day) "weak" women. Interestingly, however, Achilles does not appear resentful when he realizes this, which suggests that he has a newfound appreciation for the humble and everyday aspects of life.

Perhaps even more than the memory of where he is, it is the behavior of Achilles's attendants that pulls Priam out of his panic in this passage. The "irrelevant happening" is yet another example of the attractions of the everyday and ordinary, and it proves grounding even in the midst of fear and grief.

Priam's hopes that he might be able to save Troy ultimately come to nothing, which suggests that there are limits to the power of chance in Ransom: when all is said and done, Troy is "destined" to fall. Throughout the novel, however, Malouf has established a connection between the ability to imagine alternate realities (e.g. in a story) and the ability of those realities to exist. In other words, even though Priam's speculations in this passage do not alter the course of events, the very fact that he is able to imagine them doing so marks a step away from a purely fatalistic worldview: however things actually are, Malouf implies, they might be different.

The truce that Priam and Achilles negotiate embodies many of Ransom's broader ideas about fate and death. Although Priam is well aware that the war will resume on the twelfth day, he no longer feels weighed down by the knowledge of the deaths to come. Instead, he accepts the truce for what it is: a "time for living" fully and happily despite knowing how it will end.

Like the earlier exchange between Achilles's attendants, the simple, down-to-earth presence of Beauty ad Somax seems to have a grounding effect for Priam, who might otherwise be overwhelmed by emotion on first seeing his son's body. The final conversation between Achilles and Priam, however, is a reminder that the time for enjoying these kinds of everyday pleasures is drawing to a close: both men know that their deaths are rapidly approaching. In light of this, Achilles's parting smile is likely a form of grim humor—or, as he puts it, a "dark" joke.