Madison Soltys
Professor Laura Field
Classical Quest for Justice 106-002
11 September 2014
Clytemnestra: Queen of Argos Clytemnestra could well be deemed one of the most dangerous and treacherous women in Greek mythology. Undoubtedly, she was guilty of a number of acts of evil, including adultery and the murder of her own husband, King Agamemnon and his concubine, Cassandra. However, many readers differ on their feelings towards Clytemnestra. In Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, Clytemnestra is struck as the protagonist, and the anguish she suffered at the hands of her husband is emphasized more than her crimes against him. Some argue that Clytemnestra’s murderous actions are justified on the pretense that her daughter, Iphigenia, was Agamemnon’s sacrifice to appease the Gods and bring him and his men to the foothills of Troy. Nevertheless, Clytemnestra act of vengeance goes far beyond the death of her daughter to reveal her true character, motives and intelligence. After agreeing to wage war on Troy and bring back Helen, the wife of Menelaus, Agamemnon had to face a difficult decision on the voyage to Troy. He either had to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia to appease the God’s or face returning to Argos without having won back his brother’s wife and honor (210). While it could be said that the murder of his daughter was a justified action as a matter of the good of the state over the good of his family, it can be just as rightly held that the sacrifice was simply to support his own blood thirsty ambition and pride. While Agamemnon does show guilt and inner conflict for what he does, saying; “‘Obey, obey, or a heavy doom will crush me!/ Oh but doom will crush me/ once I rend my child,/ the glory of my house-/ a father’s hands are stained,/ blood of a young girl streaks the altar./ Pain both ways and what is worse?’( 205-215)” , it is this sacrifice that incurs the wrath of Clytemnestra and eventually seals Agamemnon’s fate. Clytemnestra, as Iphigenia’s mother, cares nothing of Agamemnon’s war, or his brother’s honor. Although the sacrifice of Iphigenia can be defined as one of the most motivating factors contributing to reasons why Clytemnestra murder her husband, other factors are discussed throughout the play as well. During the play the audience is left questioning whether or not Agamemnon is the protagonist or the antagonist. Unlike classical tragic protagonists, Agamemnon's flaws are dishonorable. Despite Agamemnon's long absence from Argos, he does not greet his wife with words of pleasure as she does to him. Instead, he passes her by coldly and flaunts his mistress, Cassandra, in front of Clytemnestra and the Chorus. “Done is done./ Escort this stranger in, be gentle./ Conquer with compassion. Then the gods/ shine down upon you, gently. No one chooses/ the yoke of slavery, not of one’s free will/ and least of all. The gift of the armies,/ flower and pride of all the wealth we won,/ she follows me from Troy (950).”
Through this passage, Agamemnon presents to us another dishonorable flaw in his character during this dialogue between he and his wife. Even thought this is not the main factor in the death of Agamemnon and Cassandra, it demonstrates the potential to be deemed a contributing component to the murders. Prior to the murder of Agamemnon, it is reviled how truly intelligent Clytemnestra is. In the patriarchal society of Argos, it is a preconceived notion that Clytemnestra loses respect by those citizens of the city as well as the well respected elders, simply because she is a women. Even though the leader of the elders states that Clytemnestra has many masculine qualities (355), she is still questioned and her theories are undermined because of her gender. However, Clytemnestra proves to be holding her own while she has undertaken the throne and has seemingly set up a successful messenger system of fire goblets to let the city know that Troy has fallen. “And I ordained it all./ Torch to torch, running for their
Joey Leung Founding Voices In Class Essay: Aeschylus, Prompt #3 14th January 2015 Agamemnon and The Eumenides, Happily Ever After? Agamemnon and The Eumenides, two great plays of a trilogy in The Oresteia. The endings of both plays have wishful and promising foreshadowings for the events to come. Agamemnon ended with hope of Clytemnestra restoring the house of Atreus to order and The Eumenides ended with a happy fairy tale ending, however these endings have lead readers to question if everything…
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Title: A Comparison of the Element of Hamartia in “Hamlet”, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, and “Agamemnon” Thesis: One of the elements that can be compared in the plays “Hamlet”, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, and “Agamemnon” is hamartia. Attempt has been made to analyse the main characters’ personality traits and provide the reader with specific examples that help to clarify how hamartia is present in each of the three plays. In order to analyse all the three characters’ personalities…
Upon conclusion of my analysis of both Agamemnon and Hamlet it is evident that Hamlet is more tragic then Agamemnon. Howrever, they both are tragedies in their own right as they both a bid by Aristotle's definition of a tragedy. Both plays display the collapse of a character who is not entirely good nor a entirely evil, but a combination of the two. This character, the tragic hero, also undergoes a tragic flaw, which ultimately leads to their death. The development of this character causes the audience…
is a commonly discussed topic with in the study of ancient history. The view that warriors in the Iliad are more concerned with the satisfaction of personal desires than with obligations to others is one that is often contemplated. Throughout this essay it will be argued for and against this statement. The first place in which we see a Homeric hero putting his personal desires before his obligation to others is in the setting of the poem. When Paris took Helen from Menelaus it seems intuitive to…
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recollection of these paths is acknowledged when Odysseus, Phoenix, and Ajax the Greater were sent by Agamemnon to bribe Achilles with gifts to convince him to return to war. Achilles tells the three great warriors what Thetis told him: he can either die in the blaze of glory, or he can lose his glory and live a long life. In this instance, Achilles remains stagnant and refuses to fight all because Agamemnon has dishonored him (IX.423-429). It is not until Achilles’ most beloved friend Patroclus is killed…
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of the oldest manuscripts in human history: The Iliad and The Epic of Gilgamesh. Both feature perfect examples of the power and camaraderie of male friendship and showcase the full range of emotions associated with losing someone you love. In this essay, I’d like to explore the nature of relationships between fire-forged battle companions and take a closer look at the tragic deaths of Enkidu and Patroclus and the effects they have on the heroes of both tales. During the times in which these two…