Metonymy, metaphor, Patroklos, Achilles

Leonard Muellner

doi:10.24277/classica.v32i2.884

Abstract

This paper proposes an analysis of the relationship between tenor and vehicle in the simile that Achilles speaks to the weeping Patroklos at Iliad 16.5-11. Conceiving metaphor as based on resemblance (and, inevitably, difference) between tenor and vehicle and metonymy as based on attachment or connection between them, the simile is interpreted as a metaphor for the fused relationship between Achilles and Patroklos (the tenor) whose vehicle is the metonymic relationship between a mother fleeing both the catastrophic, violent consequences of war on women and at the same time her very own child who is desperately trying to stay connected to her mother by grasping at her clothing. The analysis invokes as a striking parallel the research of the pediatric psychoanalyst D. W. Winnicott on the birth of metaphor (in the form of a so-called transitional object) that results from the process of a child’s detachment at weaning from her mother.

Highlights

RESUMO: Este artigo propõe uma análise da relação entre teor e veículo no símile que Aquiles diz para Pátroclo que chora em Ilíada 16, 5-11
Concebendo a metáfora como baseada na semelhança (e, inevitavelmente, na diferença) entre teor e veículo, e a metonímia como baseada na ligação ou conexão entre eles, o símile é interpretado como uma metáfora para a relação unificada entre Aquiles e Pátroclo (o teor), cujo veículo é a relação metonímica entre uma mãe fugindo tanto das consequências catastróficas e violentas da guerra sobre as mulheres quanto, ao mesmo tempo, de sua própria criança que tenta desesperadamente permanecer conectada à sua mãe, agarrando sua roupa
My intention is to explicate the simile that Achilles speaks at the beginning of Iliad 16, once he lays eyes upon Patroklos weeping like a dark-watered spring that drips from a steep rock face (16.3-4)