Readers have more sympathy toward Priam with the techniques David Maaloud has chosen to use throughout his writing in the novel. ‘Ransom’. Priam is the main subject of loss and pain, drawing on the hardship he has faced not only when he was a kid but the feath of his be loved son Hector and the Trojan war.

Priam, the strong and loyal King. Malouf challenges this idea of Priam’s character throughout the book, showing his more sensitive side and getting to the readers in order to make them feel more sympathetic towards his life. “Sunk down in the dirt and straw of the public street, and with howls that in their pain and desolation must have seemed bearlike fouled his head with excrement, that filth his crown.” This identifies the pain and struggles of Priam after his son dies, giving his audience a clear pictyure towards his feeling and actions really abling them to understand and deep encounter the thoughts Priam was having and how he must of felt with the death of his son. "The grief that racks him is not only for his son Hector. It is also for a kingdom ravaged and threatened with extinction." Another key quote which Malouf has put into the text to show the decision need to be made by the almighty king, but how can he do this? The author questiong this, Priam is an ordinary man who not only has just lost his son but needs to look after a country who is looking up for him in help, Malouf tries to show this throughout the novel so it can giver the audience a clear indication of the pain alow them to sympathise upon this man.
Priam, compared to Achilles is a soulful and campassionate personate and readers can see this allowing them to feel pity towards the character, king of Troy