Ransom Essay

‘I come as a hero of the deed that till now was never attempted.' What part does chance play in Ransom.

In Ransom, David Malouf's lyrical revisitation of Homer's Iliad, the notion of chance is intricately explored, primarily through the significant role it plays in defining the life of Priam, king of Troy. A key aspect of Malouf's reinvention of the Iliad is his subversion of Homer's traditional view of an inherent fatalism in Trojan society. In the novel, ‘chance' is shown as the conduit through which Priam challenges the will of the Gods, detracting from the common conventions of reliance and worship upon deity that was typical of the royalty of his era. The significance of ‘chance' is further centralized through Malouf's insinuation of the key role it plays in determining Priam's identity, creating within him a play of dual self; the coexistence of Priam, ‘the price paid' and Podarces, ‘a slave', and ‘a nameless substitute like any other.' Perhaps the most important role of chance in the novel is that it creates an opportunity for Priam to change his legacy; to create a story for which ‘he will be remembered for as long as stories are told.'

The ulterior motive behind Priam's quest to reclaim the body of his son Hector is to leave an enduring legacy of himself, an ideal that is facilitated primarily through ‘chance'. Priam's vision of the Goddess Iris is the catalyst for the radical change in his thought process, the inception of the seemingly ‘blasphemous' idea of chance driving Priam to attempt ‘Something impossible.' ‘Something new.' It is through this revelation that Priam is able to transcend his submissive acceptance of his fate and implement his own legacy, effectively acknowledging that while the Gods had set a predetermined fate, they had not defined his path to reach that fate. Moreover, Priam's acceptance of the notion of chance allows him to recognize the significance of the minutiae of ordinary life, which are normally ‘ignored' and ‘left to fall into the realm of the incidental and ordinary.' It is Priam's acceptance of the ‘world of endless surprise and accident', a metaphorical representation of ‘chance' that confirms his view of the ‘accidents' in ‘ordinary life' as a reflection of his ability to alter the course of events eventually resulting in his final, predetermined fate. For Priam, chance is essentially a channel that provides him with an ‘opportunity to act for himself , ‘to try something that might force events into a different course,' thereby leaving an ‘image' that would ‘forever stand as proof of what I (he) was'. Ultimately, Priam's quest is initiated and propelled by ‘chance', with the ‘dangerous' idea allowing Priam to challenge the inherent fatalism