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Ransom Flashcards

(49 cards)

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1
Q

Theme: Leadership – public v private identity
Explanation: Priam describing himself as a child.

A

“just one of a rabble of slave children” (Priam as a child, Podarces)

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2
Q

Theme: Leadership – public v private
Explanation: Achilles has a connection to his mother when he is not a warrior.

A

“The man is a fighter, but when he is not fighting, earth is his element.” (Achilles)

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3
Q

Theme: Leadership – public v private
Explanation: Priam is trying something new.

A

“the hero of the deed that till now was never attempted.” (Priam)

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4
Q

Theme: Leadership – public v private
Explanation: Achilles is not himself anymore.

A

“His runner spirit deserted him” (Achilles)

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5
Q

Theme: Leadership – public v private
Explanation: Priam is aware of both the good and bad aspects of being a King.

A

“the splendour and limitations of what it is to be a king.’ (Priam)

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6
Q

Theme: Leadership – public v private
Explanation: Priam is a mere human too.

A

‘It is true that the gods made me a king, but they also made me a man, and mortal.’’

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7
Q

Theme: Leadership – public v private
Explanation: Priam is seen as a simply this…

A

“A ceremonial figurehead that might just as well be of stone or wood.’

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8
Q

Theme: Grief (mortality)
Explanation: We lose dear things.

A

“what we must lose is truly sweet to us”- Priam

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9
Q

Theme: Grief (mortality)
Explanation: Achilles seeks revenge and resorts to rage.

A

“He was waiting for the rage to fill him that would be equal at last to the outrage he was committing.” (Achilles)

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10
Q

Theme: Grief (mortality)
Explanation: Killing Hector to get rid of his grief.

A

“That would assuage his grief” (Achilles, Priam too)

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11
Q

Theme: Grief (mortality)
Explanation: Achilles can’t think with clarity.

A

“Half blind with rage” (Achilles)

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12
Q

Theme: Grief (mortality)
Explanation: There is more to death.

A

‘But the truth is, we don’t just lie down and die, do we, sir? We go on. For all our losses.’

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13
Q

Theme: Ceremonial world v natural world (humanity)
Explanation: Priam must view himself as sacred.

A

“He is obliged, in his role as king, to think of the king’s sacred body” (Priam)

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14
Q

Theme: Ceremonial world v natural world (humanity)
Explanation: Priam recognises they must take responsibility.

A

“The opportunity to act for ourselves.” (Priam)

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15
Q

Theme: Ceremonial world v natural world (humanity)
Explanation: Somax relates everyone to one level because they are human.

A

“such bits of experience as are common to all, whether the gods in their wisdom have set us high or low.” (Somax, everyone is human)

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16
Q

Theme: Ceremonial world v natural world (humanity)
Explanation: Ransom is…

A

“Royal custom” (Ransom)

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17
Q

Theme: Ceremonial world v natural world (humanity)
Explanation: Priam dresses very humbly.

A

‘He himself is dressed in a plain white robe without ornament.” (Priam, as human, compares to Queen)

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18
Q

Theme: Ceremonial world v natural world (humanity)
Explanation: Priam was selfish.

A

“His attention was fixed always on what was central. Himself.”

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19
Q

Theme: Ceremonial world v natural world (humanity)
Explanation: The fish have no interest in Priam.

A

“They had already decided that he was an object of no interest.” (Priam and fish)

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20
Q

Theme: Sharing experiences and storytelling
Explanation: Somax and Priam both know what it is like to lose a son.

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A

“…that he knew what it was to lose a son, really did mean the same for him as it did for the driver”. (Somax/Priam)

21
Q

Theme: Sharing experiences and storytelling
Explanation: Achilles had been brought up in a masculine way.

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A

“He had entered the rough world of men, where a man’s acts follow him wherever he goes in the form of story.” (Achilles)

22
Q

Theme: Sharing experiences and storytelling
Explanation: Somax is a storyteller.

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A

“This old fellow, like most storytellers, is a stealer of other men’s tales” (Somax – helps to construct, too)

23
Q

Theme: Sharing experiences and storytelling
Explanation:

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A

“It was as if you had found yourself peering through the crack in a door”(Somax and Priam)
“his heart softened by fellow-feeling” (Somax and Priam)

24
Q

Theme: Sharing experiences and storytelling
Explanation: Description of the innocence of Priam when eating griddlecakes.

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A

‘Like an obedient toddler… allowed himself to be persuaded and took one of the little cakes in his fingers” (Priam, Somax – symbol or normalcy/griddlecakes)

25
Theme: Sharing experiences and storytelling Explanation: Somax again relates everyone.
“We're tied that way, all of us. Tied here,” (Somax to Priam)
26
Theme: Change/legacy Explanation: Iris speaks to Priam.
“the way things are. Not the way things must be, but the way they have turned out.” (Iris)
27
Theme: Change/legacy Explanation: Priam dreams for change.
“Something impossible. Something new”. (Priam)
28
Theme: Change/legacy Explanation: The triumph was endosed by the Gods and endorsed.
“It is only a provisional triumph, of course”
29
Theme: Change/legacy Explanation: Priam has become a new version.
“…even in these last days of his life, as a man remade.” (Priam)
30
Theme: Change/legacy Explanation: Achilles doesn't always want to be the hero.
"the chance to break free of the obligation of being always the hero” (Achilles and Priam, restored to human self)
31
Theme: Change/legacy Explanation: Priam has changed.
“Look, he wants to shout, I am still here, but the I is different.” (Priam, change)
32
Theme: Change/legacy Explanation:
"What lies ahead is the interim of the truce, a time for ordinary life to be resumed” (Priam)
33
Theme: Change/legacy Explanation: Achilles and Hector are in peace.
"there can be no conflict between them. They are in perfect amity. Their part in the long war is at an end."
34
Theme: Paternal/maternal roles Explanation: Priam appeals to Achilles as a father.
“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.”
35
Theme: Paternal/maternal roles Explanation:
‘To be son to the great Achilles is a burden.’ (Neoptolemus)
36
Theme: Paternal/maternal roles Explanation: Neoptolemus will avenge his father's death (a shame)
“the raw shame of it will be with him now till his last breath” (Neoptolemus)
37
Theme: Paternal/maternal roles Explanation: Hecuba laments Astyanax.
“It is my flesh that is being tumbled on the stones out there.” (Hecuba)
38
Motif: Water
symbolizes change and the fluidity of life, cleansing – metaphorical cleansing of former lives (rebirth after death of former self), Achilles as demi-god symbolises water and his mother’s element, represent separation of people/places
39
Motif: Clothing
represents two different worlds – the ceremonial full of material wealth, and the everyday and humble without adornment. Priam is happiest in plain white robe.
40
Motif: Journeys
symbolize change and storytelling and connection with others.
41
Motif: Beauty
carries Malouf’s message that the beautiful, ordinary things in life are the most valuable and enduring…
42
Motif: Ransom
fee paid in exchange for something else (life, name…Priam and Podarces, body back from enemy), death is the fee paid for life.
43
Motif: Tears
subvert the male stereotype and signify grief and transformation into humanness.
44
Motif: Natural World
represents catalysts for change and transformation, river provides metaphorical death of former self and acquisition of humanness, at the end of the text, when Priam’s presence on the way back to Troy does not intrude on the daily rituals of the peoples’ survival – breaks down social structures, just like The Queen
45
Motif: Light and dark
Change and transformation of both natural landscape but characters too. “empty shining” 78 “stripped of all glittering distractions” 79 “his spirts … cleared and lightened” 117 “secluded corner where the torchlight does not reach” 167 “air is thick … pour out smoke and acrid fumes” 167 “eleven days of peace Priam felt shining around them” 198 “the hills towards Troy are just beginning to develop shadows on their sides” 207 “his heels glow” 211
46
Motif: Air
“Only the humming of the air, and its scorching touch, as it eddied round past him” 27 “air still heated and thick” 111 “smoky darkness” 171 “air is thick … pour out smoke and acrid fumes” 167 “the air out here is so fresh and clear after the smokiness of the hut” 188 “clear night sky. Breathes in its freshness” 189 “the air, with its cool edge, a reminder of how present and warm he is in his envelope of flesh” 194 “cleared his heart of the smoky poison that clogged and thickened its every motion” 190 “fog, which crawls so close to the ground” 205 “the air is fresh and clear” 208 “air is filled with the stench of shit” 21
47
Symbol: Griddlecakes
storytelling and power of words, and also symbolises humility and the ordinary
48
Symbol: Jove’s Eagle
symbol from gods that they endorse the journey and will protect Priam, whereas Somax sees it a chickenhawk – an ordinary bird out hunting for food, a part of everyday life. Demonstrates the two different worlds. Symbolises sight for Priam in a new world…when he enters foreign places with Somax the eagle sees for him.
49
Symbol: Fingerlings (fish)
an equaliser of humans, the see beyond status and wealth and treat everyone equal. Helps to break down social divides.

English (6 decks)

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