How does ransom end

Achilles' relationship with Patroclus has the nature of what we might now call codependency. Ironically, what makes their friendship possible is the death of another child—the bond that Achilles senses as a result of this speaks to how much death is what forms the bonds that define Achilles' life.

His relationship with his father and estrangement from his mother happen because of the fact that he will eventually die, and dying is what brings him and Patroclus together. Patroclus is a foil to Achilles, almost a less-privileged brother, but that doesn't prevent Achilles from loving him. In the end, Achilles' love for Patroclus, as well as his pride, is what dooms Patroclus.

Because he loves Patroclus and yet is too proud to fight himself after Agamemnon's insult, he allows Patroclus to face Hector, who targets Patroclus specifically because he is dressed in Achilles' armor. His unspeakable grief after Patroclus dies, however, demonstrates how much his love for Patroclus outweighs any pride he has about being seen as weak or incapable.

Instead, he focuses solely on revenge. If Patroclus is a foil, then Hector is Achilles' doppelganger. For most of the war, these two men have been equally beloved by their troops and pretty much equally matched in skill. Seeing Hector wearing Achilles' armor intensifies this effect, so much so that even Achilles begins to feel as if he's killing himself. By killing Hector in Achilles' own armor, Achilles also has the opportunity to assuage some guilt about his own part in Patroclus' death, almost as if he himself is also being punished for Patroclus' death.

This is again amplified by Hector's prophecy that soon, Achilles will also die, making the victory over Hector even more bittersweet. Without the larger Greek mythological context, it would be difficult to understand exactly how offensive Achilles' choice to drag Hector behind his chariot is.

In almost all cultures, it is considered abhorrent to disrespect dead bodies, but the ancient Greeks and neighboring civilizations placed especially high emphasis on the proper preparation before burial, viewing it as something that was literally sacred.

For them, unless someone's body was prepared and coins laid on the eyes, the soul couldn't make its way in the afterlife. So what Achilles is doing is an affront to the gods as well as being cruel.

This is the reason why Hector's body never stays damaged: the gods are preserving it. However, they're also limited in how much they can interfere, which means that they can't prevent Achilles from trying to destroy each day. The book begins, therefore, on an impasse between Achilles' furious grief and what the Greeks consider to be common decency.

Just like Achilles is waiting for a break, we as readers have been positioned to wait for an event to shake things up. The Question and Answer section for Ransom is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. At first, Achilles mistakes Priam for his own father. When he realizes his mistake, he is impressed by Priam's vulnerability and humility. He had refused to fight for Agamemnon, the King of the Greeks, because Agamemnon had taken Briseis from him Briseis was a slave girl that Achilles had grown fond of.

Patroclus was killed in that battle by Hector. It is also for a kingdom ravaged and threatened with extinction, for his wife, Hecuba, and the many songs of daughters and their children who stand under his weak protection. Priam sees the goddess Iris, who is seated close by him on the couch. Not the way they must be, but the way they have turned out. In a world that is also subject to chance. His mind becomes clear.

He has a vision. A plain wooden cart … draw by two coal-black mules. He has an unprecedented plan, which he relays to his wife Hecuba.

He tells her that he will travel by mule and cart, carrying a ransom of treasure to Achilles, who is residing in the camp of the Greek army, and exchange it for the body of Hector. But only because they have never really looked at me. And when they do look, what they see is what they are meant to see.

The fixed mark to which everything else in my kingdom refers. A ceremonial figurehead that might just as well be of stone or wood. In other words, Priam has always been a symbolic figure to the people, as opposed to a normal human being, with weakness and vulnerability. He plans to change all of this by carrying out his vision. She argues that Priam will likely be struck down before he gets even halfway to the Greek camp. Because we are kings? To take on the lighter bond of being simply a man.

Priam recounts to Hecuba the story of his early life. His original name was Podarces. This event had a profound effect on Priam. From then on, he had understood that his life was just one outcome of many possibilities, and that things could have turned out very different, but for chance.

They like Hecuba are sceptical. Do not, for the affection we all bear you, expose yourself to the hazards of war and of the road, or to the indignities that Achilles and any other Greek who happens along might heap upon you. Be kind to your old age. Relieve yourself of this unnecessary task. But I am also a father.

To learn a little of what that might be, and what it is to bear it as others do? They let him proceed with his plan. Priam assigns Somax the role of herald, and tells him he will call him Idaeus which is the name of his usual herald. They set off on their journey, receiving strange looks from the crowd.

As the sun begins to fall, Priam and Somax stop by the River Scamander to rest. Somax helps Priam down from the cart and helps him wash his feet. He is not used to smalltalk. Somax talks about his family.

His infant granddaughter has a bad fever at the moment, and his two full-grown sons are both dead. The fleas go on biting. The sun comes up again. They continue their journey to the Greek camp.

Priam and Somax are soon visited by a mysterious, charming man, who introduces himself as a Greek soldier sent to escort them to the camp. However, he soon admits he is the god Hermes after Priam realises his true identity. Hermes leads them to the Greek camp.

Priam and Somax meet Achilles in the camp. He then drags Hector's dead body along the walls of Troy for the next 11 days. It was dangerous for King Priam to claim the body of his son Hector because he had to go into the Greek camp all by himself.

Achilles had been in such a rage over the death of his friend Patroclus that he drove the entire Trojan army off the field and then abused Hector's body after killing him. Until the point he realized that His close friend and cousin Patroclus was killed by Hector in the battle because he was wearing Achilles armor. The death of Patroclus, Achilles wanted to take revenge and so he challenged Hector to fight One-on-one.

Somax is presented as intrinsic to Priam's liberating process because he introduces him to a range of human emotions that he typically suppresses in his austere role as a royal. The journey enables Priam to experience a range of human emotions that are intrinsic to mortality and which separate man from the gods. A Greek war general and demigod he is the son of a water nymph who undergoes a complex inner conflict centered around the death of Patroclus and the subsequent murder of Hector.

Malouf describes him as incredibly powerful, violent and disturbed. Achilles was killed by being shot in the heel by the Trojan prince, Paris. Paris used an arrow. Achilles was almost an immortal, incapable of dying.

As a baby, his mother, the goddess Thetis, dipped him in the River Styx in order to give him immortality. Production on the new season is set to begin in October. As with past seasons, CBS will be the U. Priam rebukes Neoptolemus , throwing a spear at him, harmlessly hitting his shield. Neoptolemus then drags Priam to the altar and there kills him too. It has been suggested by Hittite sources, specifically the Manapa-Tarhunta letter, that there is historical basis for the archetype of King Priam.

According to the show's official synopsis on CBS, it's "inspired by the real-life professional experiences of the world-renowned crisis negotiator Laurent Combalbert and his partner Marwan Mery.