Ransom

Earth and Water

These two elements represent Achilles’ dual nature. The earth represents the masculine world of farmers and warriors, whereas the water links Achilles to his mother, as it is her element. Achilles is resigned to the fact that ‘one day… he will go back to it [the earth]’ (Part 1) as all men do when they die, but he aches for the sensation of being ‘eel-like, fluid, weightless, without substance in his mother’s arms’ (Part 1). The fact that he is ‘covered from head to toe in dust’ (Part 1) after he kills Hector so viciously, like a man who has ‘climbed out of the grave’ (Part 1) indicates that he has moved further away from the man he longs to be and has become an animal that is unrecognisable in his grief and anguish.

Beauty the Mule

Beauty, one of the two mules that tow Somax and Priam across the plains (the other is Shock) is representative of the simple beauties in life that so often go unnoticed. Beauty and Shock are necessary for the ransom to take place in the manner that Priam first envisaged; he dismisses the ‘ceremonial chariot with two thoroughbred horses… elegant, high-stepping creatures all liquid muscle and nerve, their manes plaited with thread-of-gold’ (Part 2) in preference of ‘two coal-black mules’ (Part 2). He understands the importance of arriving to Achilles ‘not as a king but as an ordinary man’ (Part 2).

Beauty, in particular draws the attention of those around her and she is the reason that Somax finds himself in the palace, as she catches the attention of the princes, such is her ‘winning nature’ (Part 2) and ‘intelligence, which is there for all to see’ (Part 2).

Hector’s Body

When Hector is killed and his body desecrated ‘all the common people of Troy, who flocked to every vantage points on the walls, looked on’ (Part 1), the outlook for Troy becomes bleak. The corpse represents the future of the great city; Hector ‘the fearless protector of Troy and its people’ (Part 1) was first born to Priam and therefore heir to the throne. The cyclic actions that Achilles revisits on the corpse are symbolic of the ongoing anguish he feels and his hopes to diminish the pain but it is ‘never enough’ (Part 1) and the ‘break’ (Part 1) that he waits for has not yet been set into motion. Until the arrival of Priam, the fury inside him continues to rage and the damage to Hector’s body gets exacted daily.

Breath

The subtle references to breath are deposited throughout Malouf’s text to instill mysticism, reminiscent of the historical context with which he sets the novel. Hector’s warning to Achilles that he will die not long after the duel is ambiguously wheezed out in the ‘precise point where Hector’s own breath gave out and what replaced it was the voice of a god’ (Part 1). Nevertheless, the warning is chilling and a reminder to Achilles of the urgency to seek respite from his agony. The personification of breath is visited as Priam recounts the story of Podacres to his wife years later, when ‘a breath, not my own, betrays me’ (Part 2). Later on, it is Achilles that experiences the ‘breath of a hot sword in the air’ (Part 4) when he sees the body of Priam in a vision of the old man’s assassination.

The Queen

The Stag

There are many interpretations about the stag in Frears’ film, all of which are perfectly plausible readings into the symbol. The mention of it being a 14-point stag means it is an imperial stag and it’s unusual that it would have lived to get to that size without being hunted and shot. Somehow, the creature has evaded capture thus far and this makes it an admirable beast.

Connections can be draw between the stag and Lady Diana, both have been hunted relentlessly and finally meet their deaths. When the Queen sees the stag posing in its final position in the makeshift butcher room she may very well consider the spectacle that is about to come, which will find Diana, much like the animal, strung up in front of the world in Westminster Abbey and used as a venue for their grief. Another interpretation might indicate that the magnificent 14-pointer has outlived its expectation and needs to move over to make room for new stock, much like the out dated monarchy. Initially, the Queen is rendered breathless by the beast; seeing it in its natural environment she calls it ‘a beauty’ but later she is shaken by seeing the same stag’s horribly decapitated carcass, shot by some corporate suit on a hospitality jaunt, an unsubtle, but ferociously unsentimental piece of symbolism about the brevity of life.

This notion is confirmed later on when just before the family leave Balmoral to travel to London, Elizabeth strolls defiantly through the palace hallway with stag busts adorning the walls; a nod to the many stags that have been stalked and killed on the grounds and that in the end, they have become immortalised.

Guns

The symbolism of guns within the text is not overt but contributes to the tension of the film. Each day as the boys, Philip and a group of Gillies venture out into the Scottish highlands they brandish guns at the ready to bring down their quarry. Each day, we wait for news about their hunt until finally Philip remarks that it’s been shot when it wandered into one of the neighbouring estates and they’ll need a replacement animal to stalk. A single gunshot wound has injured the animal but when the Queen comes to examine the animal she learns that it’s almost certain that it suffered for miles before finally succumbing to its wounds. Elizabeth cautions Philip to refrain from using guns because ‘it’s Sunday’ in an effort to maintain civility and tradition. On more than one occasion an anxious Charles hears a loud noise and believes it to be someone ‘taking a shot at me’ with a gun; his concern about being hated stretches to him being paranoid about an assassination attempt. But strangely, there is a sense of strength associated with guns when Philip encourages Elizabeth to ‘stick to your [her] guns’ and say strong in her resolve to deal with the family’s grief privately.