Agamemnon's Sacrifices

Clytemnestra fits the character of one of the Argos’s contaminations because of her adulterous acts with Aegisthus and her psychotic murderous plans to kill her husband Agamemnon. In her point of view, justice will only be obtained of she avenges the death of her daughter Iphigenia by killing the one who murdered her, Agamemnon. Cassandra mentions this cycle of fertility and decay when she talks about “the babies wailing, skewered on the sword, their flesh charred, the father gorging on their parts” referring to Thyestes’ babies (A 1095-1097). More blood vengeance and violence only fuels what becomes a never ending cycle of death and decay within the House of Atreus. When Clytaemnestra finally kills Agamemnon she cries, “So he goes down, and the life is bursting out of him—great sprays of blood, and the murderous shower wounds me, dyes me black and I, I revel like the Earth when the spring rains come down, the blessed gifts of god, and the new green spear splits the sheath and rips to birth in glory!”, and she feels reborn from his death and even calls it a gift from the god (A 1410-1415). Not only does Clytaemnestra feel renewed from murdering Agamemnon, but she feels that it was the proper and just thing to do. Although the Furies don’t go after her since this is not a crime of matricide or patricide, killing her husband is unwise and unfair because in Agamemnon’s

The women in Agamemnon are as powerful as men but slaves to the divine. Clytemnestra’s early sacrifices parallel her vengeful slaughter of Agamemnon. After Clytemnestra makes sacrifices in celebration of Greece’s victory, the chorus cries, “hope glows through your victims” (Agamemnon, 658). They reference both hope for Greece 's victory and hope for avenging Iphigenia 's death. Sacrifices of thanksgiving make Clytemnestra an ambassador of victory and the sacrifice of Agamemnon makes her an ambassador of Justice. Agamemnon’s slaughter is an act in the name of heavenly Justice; it is a retributive sacrifice to Fate. Despite its moral significance, the murder of the war hero invokes a cycle of death within the house of Agamemnon. Like the

Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis provides important context regarding the sacrifice of Iphigenia and Clytemnestra’s past with Agamemnon. Clytemnestra is ashamed after talking to Achilles about the wedding between him and Iphigenia that he is unaware of. After discovering Agamemnon 's true intentions, she decides that she will no longer “let shame prevent” her from seeking Achilles’ help to stop Agamemnon because “whose interests should [she] consult before [her] child’s?” (Iphigenia at Aulis 24). Her concern for Iphigenia overpowers the indignity she feels because her child’s well being is greater than her own. Both women’s anger and desire for vengeance grow as their children are endangered or harmed as “vengeance makes grief bearable” (Medea 2.55). The playwrights show each as either a good or bad woman based on if their vengeful actions are ultimately in favor of their children or not.

Both Clytemnestra and Antigone are driven by their passionate transgressions and desires due to conflicts within their families, and they are incapable of bearing the consequences they bring upon their nations and societies. There are times when personal sacrifices are necessary to the greater social progress, and the death of Iphigenia is an example in which case her death contributes to the victory of the Greek army. Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek army, decides to sacrifice the life of his own daughter in exchange of the wind that carries the Greek army to the land of Troy, which eventually leads to a glorious victory. However, Clytemnestra is overwhelmed by the death of her daughter, and she is not capable of perceiving the death of Iphigenia as a sacrifice to secure the Greeks’ victory with help from the Gods. Her husband Agamemnon, who lies to Iphigenia and sends her

Clytemnestra is Agamemnon’s wife and has been ruling Argos while he was away fighting. With help from Aegisthus, Clytemnestra made a plan to kill Agamemnon. She killed Agamemnon for the political power, for the ruthless revenge and for the curses blame. (Core 22: Series of introductory phrases using the same preposition – phrases must have balance.) Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon to avenge their daughter Iphigeneia. Agamemnon sacrifice her in order to have success in the war, but never told Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra, feeling fake sadness over her daughter’s death, felt that she was wronged and had to get back at her husband. Not only did she kill him, but she had an affair while he was away. The sacrifice is why she had the affair with Aegisthus.

Have you ever acted out in retribution for something done to you? Some examples could be if you punched someone for intentionally kicking you, or if someone deliberately hurt the feelings of someone you love and you retaliated in kind. You probably thought the punishment you received for your actions was too harsh or lenient. Many factors went into the decision of what discipline you received for this act and some were fair while others probably were not. This is true for the actions of many people in Aeschylus’s Oresteia. In each of the three plays, someone is seeking vengeance for a wrong done unto them, someone they know/love, or both. For this paper, I will be focusing on the vengeance enacted by Clytemnestra, Orestes, and the Fates. The vengeance that each person enacted was deemed just or unjust depending on many factors including the people who were doing the judging. Vengeance in Aeschylus’s Oresteia is viewed through the social lens of the society that it was enacted in. This lens is made up of the popular values, beliefs, and social conventions of the period as well as the judge’s personal views and/or experiences. These factors (such as gender and relation to the victim, as well as the presence or absence of transgressions on the characters part) lead to different opinions about the guilt of the accused individual and the individual themselves. The view of vengeance in Aeschylus’s Oresteia is very subjective.

Orestes’ father, Agamemnon, is suffered for the truth of the prophecy, the child is the price: if he kills his child, his country will win the war. Due to this prophecy, Agamemnon is tortured and agonizing between his two important roles: father of his family and father of the country. If he chooses his family and doesn’t kill his child, they will lose the war. All people in the country will be tortured as slaves and colonists. However, if he chooses the win, the peace and the pleasant from a family will not exist anymore. His family will be demolished. Eventually, in the middle of the story, he decides to kill Iphigenia. Agamemnon chooses his country, his subjects, and the win, not his family’s peace. He makes Iphigenia drink three solutions including the pills which make her die. “I feel like I’ve done something so wrong that my whole life, my family, nothing will be able to- the worst mistake. I got it wrong. It was wrong. It was wrong” (Aeschylus, 56.) This demonstrates how he is suffered by the truth that he killed his daughter. His choice, even

Agamemnon is the first book in the Orestiean Trilogy written by the famous Greek tragedy writer, Aeschylus. Agamemnon is a story of justice and revenge. The story takes place in a city called Argos. It starts with Agamemnon, the king of Argos, away at the Trojan War. The city is eagerly awaiting the news of their king’s welfare and the outcome of the war. Watchmen are posted in the city, watching for the beacon that would report the capture of Troy and Agamemnon’s return. Beacons are set up from Troy to Argos; when one beacon is lit, the next one will be lit, until the last. The play starts when a palace watchman discovers the beacon and tells Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra, the good news.

In ancient Greece law of retaliation was similar to the eye for an eye concept. Because Clytemnestra killed their father, it was only fair for Orestes to kill her. This is idea is imposed in the final play of the trilogy

Clytemnestra’s overwhelming hate for her husband deepens because Agamemnon shows no feelings of remorse and believes that Iphigenia’s sacrifice “[is] for the best” (216-224). Aeschylus recalls the final moments of Iphigenia’s sacrifice: “her pleading, her terrified cries of “Father”!/[…]/ Her eyes threw a last pitiful glace at her sacrificers,/ but like a figure in a painting,/she could not call to them for help” (228-242). Consequently, Iphigenia’s heartbreaking sacrifice motivates Clytemnestra’s “unforgiving child-avenging Rage” (155) upon her husband, Agamemnon. Clytemnestra’s maternal instinct implores her to take revenge against Agamemnon for his mistreatment of their daughter. Furthermore, Clytemnestra views Agamemnon’s sacrifice of Iphigenia as a betrayal of their marital love. Clytemnestra believes her husband deserves the same fate as Iphigenia because Agamemnon “[has] sacrificed [their] own child, [Clytemnestra’s] labour of love, to charm away the cruel storm-winds of Thrace” (1417-1417). To Clytemnestra, Agamemnon must “suffer, deed for deed,/ for what he [has] [done] to [their] daughter,/Iphigenia, his own flesh and blood!”

Justice is essential, for with a lack of justice, chaos would be brought about in society. In The Eumenides, the Furies value justice without truly being just. Throughout the play, the Furies, protectors of the law, pursue Orestes because of the crime he has committed. They yearn to "trace him by his

“Incorrect,” they will say, “Electra’s value of justice is simply differing from yours.” Can I deny the fact that my opinion of justice greatly contrasts Electra’s? No. It is true that our ideas of what justice is different, however, Electra has her own definition of what justice is and of morality. But, when it comes to the topic of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra it is pure loathing and selfishness that drives her goal of them dead by her or her brother’s hand. When Orestes finds Clytemnestra and begins to murder her for killing his father, Electra cheers him on. “Oimoi! You have struck me!” “Strike again, if you are strong enough!” (McDonald, Electra, 2004, p. 61) In making this comment, Electra’s personal need to see her mother dead is very

With help from Aegisthus, the man with whom she had an affair, Clytemnestra devised a plan to kill Agamemnon. One of the reasons Clytemnestra wanted to murder Agamemnon was to avenge their daughter Iphigeneia’s death. Agamemnon sacrificed her in order to have success in the war, but never told Clytemnestra. The sacrifice is why she had the affair with Aegisthus. (Core 23:

Unfortunately, the same fate awaits him if he commits matricide, thereby avenging his father. Orestes chooses the latter and is besieged by 'the hounds of mother's hate.' (Lib: 1055-6). Through this sequence of murderous events, Aeschylus demonstrates the complexity and futility of the blood feud as a system of justice. There are no winners, and the cycle of violence does not end. Thus, this cycle of vengeance is not justice.

The first play, Agamemnon, tells about the return of the King from the Trojan wars and how his wife has chosen to react to the reunion. Clytemnestra is the queen who was angered by the fact that Agamemnon was away for a decade and that the King sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia to one of the gods. In one part of the play, the Chorus of Elders chants "Zeus who hath paved a way for human thought, by ordaining this firm law 'He who learns, suffers'" (Aeschylus, trans. 1893, 1.176-179) which speaks to the law that was formed by the words. The people of Greece followed the law that a person who commits a crime, whether that be a recognized law or one that the punisher deemed appropriate, is subject to some form of punishment. In Agamemnon's case, Clytemnestra believed that his actions justified his death. She did not believe that it was murder because his actions justified her actions.