Somax Vs Achilles

"There are things... we can never throw off."
Which experiences make the deepest impression on the characters in Ransom?

In his adaption of Homer’s eighth century epic, Malouf demonstrates the vastly different effect each character’s experiences, both past and present have upon them, and how each one can help that character grow. In his interpretation of Achilles, Malouf shows how the traumatic the loss of his soul-mate Patroclus and his equally disturbing violation of Hector throws the Greek hero’s fragile psyche into an undignified malaise. However, Priam’s visit to Achilles acted as a catalyst to free him from his depression, and from the forgiveness Priam offered, he found peace within himself. In a similar but extended trauma and growth,
Priam’s harrowing experience as Podarces the “no-one” had left him scarred for as long as he endured his “kingly role”. Peace only comes for Priam in his experiences in the pastoral setting where he finally gains a real understanding of, as opposed to a simple knowledge of, his common humanity which he intends to share with Achilles. This pastoral scene reveals to Priam the nature of his humanity which had been for so long suppressing. Somax, a character of Malouf’s own creation and the only common man presented in depth within the novella, despite his own experiences of loss and grief and his worries for the future, never experiences a deep malaise or prolonged scarring. He has always been comfortable in his own skin, and as a result is fundamentally unchanged by his experiences in the novel, and even by the deaths of his children. There are some experiences that effect characters for weeks, and some that last for years, but no matter how deeply ingrained this trauma can be, it is cleaned and absolved when they gain an acceptance and understanding of themselves and their fate.

Nine years of fighting takes its toll on Achilles’ soul, however this pain which had for so long been offset by his soul-mate Patroclus comes rushing to the fore upon his death. Achilles arrived at Troy, he was “little more than a boy”, with an “over-abundance” of his “animal nature”, and despite his many years spent “bivouacking on the open plain”, he remained mostly unchanged, sustained in full by the solace he found within his “soul-mate since childhood” Patroclus. However when Achilles’ pride caused an “unhappy rift” between the pair, it resulted in the death of Patroclus on the battlefield, and from that point onwards all of Achilles pride, happiness, love and all other emotions and thoughts were consumed by grief, depression and rage. When he sought out Hector, slaughtered him, and laid waste to his body, he was not sure why he had committed and continued to commit an act so terrible and so destructive, because even his rage did not match “the outrage he was committing.” Achilles was left a broken and changed man by the death of his soul-mate, as the impact of losing someone he loved so much as a result of his own actions was unbearably profound, leaving Achilles in a rut of his own despair.

In ransoming Hector’s body to Priam, Achilles gains an understanding of the common humanity that all mortals share. When Priam enters the Myrmidon’s tent, Achilles is confronted with the image of his father that is “too disturbing to be pushed aside”, and it is this image that convinces Achilles to leave himself vulnerable to Priam’s influence. Priam appeals to Achilles not only as “one poor mortal to another”, but also as a father. Priam’s newfound appreciation for their commonality is refreshing for Achilles, but even more so is the forgiveness that the Trojan king offers. Achilles can see that in forgiving him, Priam has found peace, and that he too must forgive himself not only for what he has done to Hector, but what he has cost Patroclus. In doing so Achilles finds that “a need, an obligation” “[falls] away” as he also discovers that his death in combat, like Hector, is a “part of his own accomplished life to accomplish.” When Priam leaves Achilles, he leaves a man who is in “perfect order of body, heart”. A man restored and significantly changed by the forgiveness of another.

Somax is a man with a sense of confidence in himself; he has no insecurities, thus he is able to endure the tragic losses of all his children and emerge fundamentally unchanged by these events.
Unlike Achilles Somax is able to “go on, for all [his] losses”. Somax’s losses come in the form of the deaths of his seven children, the most tragic of which being the two most recent deaths of his sons. When one died after trying to lift a cart that was much too heavy, Somax was filled with regret for the way he treated the boy when he had “knocked him down,” and “wished a thousand times over” that he had acted differently. But unlike Achilles when Patroclus died, he had an understanding that “the fleas keep biting, the sun comes up again.” His life would go on. When his other son died when Beauty had kicked him into the river, he was distraught, and “felt like punching” the mule “where she stood” but once more unlike Achilles, Somax knew that “it wouldn’t’ have brought him back.” This clarity of perspective from Somax is due to his understanding of himself and others that has been ingrained within him as a result of the harsh reality of his everyday life. Somax “unchangeable, therefore unchanged” in a way that Priam himself has strived to be for so many years because Somax has the strength within himself to endure and remain unchanged even in the presence of
adversity.

Podarces lived as the youngest son of King Laomedon and fundamentally died as a slave-child and a no-one, reborn as “Priam”, the new king of Troy.
However, Priam could not escape the immense trauma he experienced and it continued to secretly haunt him for much of the rest of his life. In Troy, the story of Podarces is one “every child has heard”, and every Trojan knows but is not one that any really understand. Not even Hecuba knows the pain it has caused him. In spite of the seemingly happy ending, Priam “had not been delivered”, as the experience of what it was to have “your breath in another’s mouth” was something he could not “un-experience.” What scared him the most was the fear that he might not have his story told; he might’ve remained “a nameless thing”. This thought is what persists with him throughout his life, that all his “high honour” and “kingly duty” all stem from something as insignificant and meaningless as a whim. Hecuba too is made uneasy by just the thought of this. Priam’s experience as Podarces has left him scarred, as he feels he is no more than the “little shadow of a dead prince”, and that his all life on the throne has been as insignificant as the whim that put him on it. As such he strives to fill his life with only the kingly duty as if his commitment to the role will eventually end his sense of
insecurity.

On his journey to the Greek camp Priam learns what it means to be just a man, and that life’s meaning lies not within his honour or his favour with the gods but in his ability to find peace within his own life. Priam learns much on his travels with Somax. He discovers the simple beauty of what it means to be human, and that his life can be measured by more than just the extent of the name and legacy he leaves behind. The “ceremonial world” is completely separated from the “actual and immediate” of the natural world, as all of his “royal sphere” and high dignity “are to be ignored”. This epiphany of Priam’s is that all the punctilious scrutiny he poured into his royal being had overlooked what is primary in life. The pastoral scene also allows Priam to learn the value of the new. After his experience as Podarces, Priam limits himself to tradition and to the certainty and sureness that it brings, but out with Somax, Priam quickly realises “what is new could also be pleasurable”. This realisation frees him from Podarces; He can experience the new without compromising or risking his kingliness and his honour, and his mortality and insignificance before the gods is not something he should fear but something he should embrace.

The events of Ransom demonstrate that any trauma can be healed and proves false the belief that “there are some things we can never throw off.” The loss of Patroclus weighed heavily on Achilles for many days, but even his deepest malaise was overcome when Priam offered him forgiveness and an understanding the fate and mortality that are fast approaching both of them. Somax is a character who endured his own losses through his resilience of character that is part of his nature. Priam’s experience of Podarces has conflicted and plagued his mind for the vast majority of his life, but even this is overcome when Somax shows him that there is pleasure to be found in the new and beauty to be found within his simplistic humanity. In Ransom any low point can be overcome, it is simply a matter of being at peace with oneself.