In the time of Ransom, a title is all a man had that showed what people thought of him. Whether it be a symbolic name, or a description of their life or appearance, a mans title is how he carries himself throughout his life. The main characters (Achilles, Priam, and Somax), have all had titles handed to them which they have either taken in their stride or resented. Without some sort of a title in this life, people will never truly know their purpose or the legacy that they will leave when they die. It gives them a true sense of self.
Achilles is a character that has been given many titles that describe who he is and what he has to be. He is Achilles the Great, leader of the Myrmidons, the Greeks greatest warrior, a father and a son, a soulmate …show more content…
Podarces is the name he had been given at birth. He had only lived with this name for his early years of childhood and the reasons for this are terrible. Priam nearly had the opposite problem of his name and titles, which is of not having a name at all. Troy fell when he was a child, for a moment Priam (Podarces at the time) was “just one of a rabble of slave children, with a smell on [him] that [he] had taken till then to be the smell of another order of beings” which at the time he saw as hope for survival, but now looks back with shame. In that moment he was no longer Podarces, he had “been reborn as No One”. Heracles, the man who had seized Troy, had changed his name with ease once he was a “No One”, so that he was finally Priam, “the price paid”. Now “each time he hears himself named, this is what he will recall” and its true, although exteriorly Priam is always poise and eloquent, he can never “rub off” the smell of his time as “No One”. He now has the title of “King Priam” which he lives with ceremonially much like the rest of his life. In the Iliad, “Priam” and “Troy” are used interchangeably. This represents how Priam is viewed by the people both in and out of Troy. He has grown up and melded with the place that is more a part of him then anything else. The journey Priam undertakes makes the readers and virtually himself forget …show more content…
He hasn 't had any titles given to him, done nothing of importance that would make him even slightly well known. He is a humble carter that has “been blessed and unblessed” with sons and daughters, and has a life that is so excitingly normal in the eyes of two great characters like Achilles and Priam. He is simply Somax, a loving father and local carter. When Priam’s men approach him to ask for his services in the kings journey, Somax gets his first title. Idaeus. The kings herald. He hasn’t lived in a life like the other men, he has grown up with Somax and is “comfortable with it, warm and very much himself”. It is felt that Somax knows his true identity more then anyone else in the book, refreshing compared to always having the hero (either Achilles or Priam depending on how you view it) know everything there is to know. Although understanding the royal custom and agreeing to allow Priam and his sons call him Idaeus, this doesn 't deter Somax from knowing who he is, he refuses to let this title change who he really
Achilles is a character that has been given many titles that describe who he is and what he has to be. He is Achilles the Great, leader of the Myrmidons, the Greeks greatest warrior, a father and a son, a soulmate …show more content…
Podarces is the name he had been given at birth. He had only lived with this name for his early years of childhood and the reasons for this are terrible. Priam nearly had the opposite problem of his name and titles, which is of not having a name at all. Troy fell when he was a child, for a moment Priam (Podarces at the time) was “just one of a rabble of slave children, with a smell on [him] that [he] had taken till then to be the smell of another order of beings” which at the time he saw as hope for survival, but now looks back with shame. In that moment he was no longer Podarces, he had “been reborn as No One”. Heracles, the man who had seized Troy, had changed his name with ease once he was a “No One”, so that he was finally Priam, “the price paid”. Now “each time he hears himself named, this is what he will recall” and its true, although exteriorly Priam is always poise and eloquent, he can never “rub off” the smell of his time as “No One”. He now has the title of “King Priam” which he lives with ceremonially much like the rest of his life. In the Iliad, “Priam” and “Troy” are used interchangeably. This represents how Priam is viewed by the people both in and out of Troy. He has grown up and melded with the place that is more a part of him then anything else. The journey Priam undertakes makes the readers and virtually himself forget …show more content…
He hasn 't had any titles given to him, done nothing of importance that would make him even slightly well known. He is a humble carter that has “been blessed and unblessed” with sons and daughters, and has a life that is so excitingly normal in the eyes of two great characters like Achilles and Priam. He is simply Somax, a loving father and local carter. When Priam’s men approach him to ask for his services in the kings journey, Somax gets his first title. Idaeus. The kings herald. He hasn’t lived in a life like the other men, he has grown up with Somax and is “comfortable with it, warm and very much himself”. It is felt that Somax knows his true identity more then anyone else in the book, refreshing compared to always having the hero (either Achilles or Priam depending on how you view it) know everything there is to know. Although understanding the royal custom and agreeing to allow Priam and his sons call him Idaeus, this doesn 't deter Somax from knowing who he is, he refuses to let this title change who he really