A University of Melbourne Short Essay Assignment
Under the 1st-Year Arts subject "From Homer to Hollywood"
Passed with High Distinction (H1)
============ ============ ============
By Benjamin L., written during Semester 1, 2011
Tutor's Comments (S. Young):
Ben, this is an
excellent essay that demonstrates a good deal of consideration & planning.
You show an engagement with Homer’s poem & have presented a detailed &
unique analysis. You have identified the epic simile quite effectively & do
so to support the representation of glory & the glory & honour which is
foreshadowed. You cite the text effectively & make sound judgments
throughout. Well done.
Introduction
Battle
is portrayed as a contest of masculine gender, manifested in terms of martial
valour, between the champions of each side. The tension of the battle is built with
vivid descriptions of armies massing against each other and the momentum it
creates created culminates in the confrontation between Paris of Troy and
Menelaus of Sparta. The clash of their armies is personified in the clash of
these champions but instead of combat, the extract describes Paris’ ‘defeat’
through making him fall short of a masculine gender-role: the warrior. In light
of this, the extract’s portrayal of the battle scene can be seen as a device
that contrasts with Paris’ later cowardice with his initial valour, thereby
discrediting his masculinity. Battle is a gender-laden contest.
Creating Tension &
Momentum
An
atmosphere of tension is first created through specific imagery devices. One
prominent device is the epic simile, where the object of interest is named but
the narration digresses into a lengthy discussion about the metaphor it is
likened to before returning to the object of interest. For example, the first
stanza discusses the confrontation of armies with “squadrons marshalled,
captains leading each”, but proceeds to liken the Trojans’ “cries and dins of
war” to wildfowl and digresses to discuss the wildfowl’s “great formations… flying
in force, shrieking south” and “speeding blood and death to the pygmy warriors,
launching… savage battle down upon their heads”, before returning to the scene
to describe the Achaeans. By likening the battle to a grand event that rivals
nature’s violent upheavals, namely the migration of wildfowl from “winter’s
grim ungodly storms”, the epic similes creates the tense atmosphere usually
associated with a battle.
The tension built through the extract’s use of imagery is complemented
by diction that describes motion. This can be seen in the second stanza, where the
“feet of the armies marching at top speed, trampling through the plain”. The
word “marching” in the context of this battle with “squadrons marshalled” gives
the reader a sense of the scale of battle, while “trampling” gives it a sense
of violence that creates a sense of anticipation for what is to follow and
heightens the tension already present. Together with the aforementioned visual
and auditory imagery, the reader gets a sense of the battle’s scale and dynamism, providing a sense of excitement that lures them to
continue reading.
The Heroic Champion
The scene’s tension culminates in the appearance of a champion from
either side. They are portrayed as Homeric heroes with superhuman abilities and
serve as metonymic personifications of their respective factions. When
understood in context of the casus belli,
the confrontation between Paris and Menelaus effectively personifies the war
into a conflict between two powerful men.
The personification of armies as heroes is illustrated in stanza three:
as the armies drew “closer, closing, front to front”, Paris “sprang” form the Trojan
lines as “a challenger… challenging all the Argive best to fight him
face-to-face in mortal combat”. He is portrayed as a warrior ready for battle
with various weapons at the ready, appearing “magnificent as a god”. This
divine, superhuman portrayal is enhanced by the “the skin of a leopard hung
across his shoulders”, as if implying that his ferocity can subdue a wild
predator. Paris is, in other words, the superhuman metonymic embodiment of the
Trojan warriors’ might and valour.
His adversary, Menelaus is also described as a warrior “fully armed” but
while Paris is portrayed in human and divine terms, Menelaus is given a
pseudo-bestial rendering in an epic simile. Rather than a god, Menelaus is
likened to a predatory “lion lighting on some carcass”, driven by a hunger and
“rips it [the prey], bolts it down” and is “thrilled at heart” to see Paris,
“the adulterer”. These primal descriptions are congruent with Menelaus’ agenda
– “now for revenge” – against Paris for the ‘theft’ of Helen, who was married to
Menelaus. This conflict between Paris and Menelaus was why the battle was
fought and, as the armies gained momentum, it seems fitting for the text to personify
the conflict by focusing on an intense confrontation between Paris and
Menelaus.
Valour Makes the Man
However, the clash of champions is settled by a lack of valour rather
than a duel, ending with a slur on Paris’ masculinity. As mentioned earlier, Paris
wears a leopard’s fur, which can be taken as a symbol of his great ferocity.
However, Menelaus has been likened to a lion – also a predatory feline – but
contrary to the connotations of the slain leopard, Paris cowers when he sees
the lion-like Menelaus. Paris: “trembling grips his knees… and back he
shrinks”, “… into his friendly ranks”. He is portrayed as a man who is
physically and emotionally overwhelmed by fear, in contrast to his earlier
behaviour where he “sprang from the Trojan ranks… challenging all the Argive
best”. The audience is reminded of this juxtaposition at the end of this
stanza, which sarcastically referred to him as “magnificent, brave Paris” after
the supposed leopard killer morphed into a kitten.
Hector then questions Paris’ masculinity and, in doing so, focuses on
the role of valour in battle. When Paris and Menelaus emerged, the impression
of masculinity that was created was characterised by an eagerness for battle,
but Paris has retreated in the face of his adversary and fallen short of this
identity. Hector makes its shame explicit by calling him “an outrage – a
mockery in the eyes of all our enemies” and “would to god you’d never been
born”, suggesting that shame is worst than death in battle for a warrior. These
statements illustrate that Paris’ shameful failure to fulfil a gender-role that
demands valour in battle has led to a sort of ‘moral defeat’ for Troy. When
seen in light of the grand scenes painted in the preceding stanzas, both the
audience and the “Achaeans must be roaring with laughter” at Paris’ bravado.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the extract portrays battle as a contest of masculine
gender defined in terms of martial valour. Rather than a clash of armies, the
battle is personified in the confrontation of Paris and Menelaus who embody
their respective factions. Tension is created through the use of imagery – especially
epic similes – and this tension gains momentum through diction describing the
motion of armies. This culminates in the emergence and description of Paris and
Menelaus as champions of the Trojans and Greeks respectively, but the battle is
lost in an anticlimactic fashion when Paris falls short of the male warrior’s
gender role when he cowardly retreats. Given the contrast with the grandeur of
the earlier stanzas, it would seem that battle as a gender-laden contest can be
‘lost’ on moral grounds.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment