Les Mis 365 - Grantaire’s introduction - Orestes and Pylades
“One might almost say that affinities begin with the letters of the alphabet. In the series O and P are inseparable. You can, at will, pronounce O and P or Orestes and Pylades. … Grantaire was an unaccepted Pylades.”
Alright, I’ve been putting this post off because I’m intimidated by it - it feels like there’s a lot to cover that I don’t want to get wrong, and also if any ancient reference in this chapter is central to the characters, it’s this one. This reference is the alpha and the omega for Enjolras and Grantaire - we begin with it, and we end with it. But I’m determined to sit down and finish and finally post it tonight! (Aha, I’m so behind.)
Orestes and Pylades are another famous pair of friends from ancient literature. A little backstory - skip the next three paragraphs if you aren’t interested: Clytemnestra, sister of Helen, Castor, and Pollux, was married to Agamemnon, brother of Menelaus, who was married to Helen. When Paris ran away with Helen, kicking off the Trojan War, Agamemnon became leader of the Greek forces to get his brother’s wife back. But when the Greek fleet was assembled and ready to sail to Troy, there was one big problem: there was absolutely no wind. Agamemnon consulted the oracles and was told that in order to get the winds to blow the fleet to Troy, he would have to sacrifice his eldest daughter, Iphigenia. Agamemnon summoned Iphigenia, telling her and Clytemnesta that she was to be married to the hero Achilles. Then, when she showed up dressed in her finest clothing, he had her placed on the altar to be murdered. WHAT A GREAT DAD. In the tradition that matters for today’s post, however, Iphigenia was saved at the very last moment by the goddess Artemis and transported far away from her terrible family. (In other traditions she really is killed by her father.)
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