The Trojan War is one of the most bloody and legendary events to be narrated in Greek literature. But, both Madeline Miller and Pat Barker re-tell the war from fresh and gripping perspectives, proving that there are many ways to tell this story.
Barker’s The Silence of the Girls (2018) was shortlisted for The Women's Prize for Fiction 2019 and for The Costa Book Awards 2018. She offers an unflinching portrayal of the cost of war to women through Briseis, queen of Lyrenessos. She is made captive and becomes Achilles’ concubine after his army raids her town. In The Illiad, women are represented as objects for men to be awarded with, but Barker puts Briseis’ experience at the centre of the story. This prevents her being reduced to a status symbol in the dispute between Agamemnon and Achilles.
Through Briseis’ first person narration, Barker highlights the cruelty of the Greek Heroes:
‘Great Achilles, brilliant Achilles, shining Achilles, godlike Achilles…how the epithets pile up. We never called him any of those things; we call him “the butcher.”” ( 3)
We experience the horrendous treatment of women in the war, who are forced to be sex slaves to men who murdered their families. Barker’s fiction focuses on the voices throughout history that are silenced, with themes of trauma and survival which are present in The Silence of the Girls.
In the many male-dominated narratives of the Trojan war, ‘silence becomes a women. ’ (322) It was this injustice that Barker felt had to be fixed:
‘She (Briseis) has no opinion, she has no power, she has no voice. It was the urge to fill that vacuum that made me go back and start re-telling the myth yet again.’
(Waterstones interview with Barker, Martha Greengrass, 29 April, 2019)
It is confusing then, why she chose to share Briseis’ narration with Achilles in the final part of the novel. This shifts the female perspective that is necessary to confront literary tradition back to a male outlook.
Despite this, Barker encourages the reader to compare the misogyny of ancient Greece with that of the present through jarring anachronisms. When Briseis is awarded to Achilles, he says to his comrades: ‘“cheers, lads, she’ll do.”’ (22) This language starkly clashes with the classical roots of the story, but it is perhaps the blunt and jarring reimagining of the Trojan war we need.
In comparison to Barker, Miller’s account could be based in an entirely different war with entirely different characters! Briseis and no other woman appear in Achilles or Patroclus’ beds. In fact, Achilles chooses Briseis ‘before Agamemnon does,’ (214) to save her from Agamemnon’s brutality.
Instead, Miller’s The Song of Achilles (2011) is a crippling love story. Winner of the Orange Prize for Fiction 2012, she captures the intensity of adolescent love and friendship. Through Patroclus’ perspective, we follow the blooming love between him and Achilles as they grow from adolescence to adulthood. Miller’s poetic and uncomplicated language stresses the beauty and splendour of the human capacity to love:
‘their hands meet, and light spills in a flood, like a hundred golden urns pouring out into the sun.’ (332)
Portraying Achilles in a romantic light is surprising, as he is known for singlehandedly killing hundreds of men. But, in the ten years it took for Miller to write the novel, (the same length as the Trojan War!) she carefully creates three dimensional characters with impressive character development. Patroclus starts as a shy child, but by the end of the novel he becomes a brave warrior who is willing to sacrifice everything for the person he loves.
As for Achilles, Miller reveals a loving and charming side of him and is it only when Patroclus dies that he becomes truly terrifying, when in his grief, a furious desire to seek revenge festers:
‘There are no bargains between lions and men. I will kill you and eat you raw.’ (328)
Miller pairs up the innocence of love with the brutality and suffering of war- themes that are central to ancient Greek culture. Her historical accuracy comes from studying classics and mythology for years. She strived to stick to the ancient writings of the battle of Troy as much as possible.
Another way she keeps to tradition is with the underlying sense of doom that is present in her novel. Achilles must choose between a short life filled with glory and a long life living unknown. His attempts to avoid fate is central to Greek dramas and epics.
For Miller, the love between Patroclus and Achilles was the driving force behind writing the novel:
‘For me, the love story between these two men was the heart of the story…and the turning point of The Illiad. I wanted to really honour that.’
(‘The Saturday Interview: Madeline Miller, Orange Prize Winner,’ Kira Cochrane, 2 June 2012, The Guardian)
By honouring the love between Patroclus and Achilles, Miller creates am epic love-story by combining the passions of human love with the grandeur of myth.
Both authors explore the cost of war. For Barker, she examines the terrible consequences for women whereas Miller focuses on doomed love in the face of violence. The Silence of the Girls shows the cruelty found in men in contrast to The Song of Achilles, which shows humanity through love.
What is more important as readers, to listen to voices previously silenced, or to discover love and hope in an event as horrific as the Trojan war? Arguably we need both.
Ratings:
The Silence of the Girls ****
The Song of Achilles *****