The Agamemnon By Aeschylus

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

The deaths of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra hold quite an amount of similarities, one is, as mention above, that both events were results of of revenge. Agamemnon was killed by Clytemnestra in, “Agamemnon,” because Agamemnon killed her daughter Iphigenia. "No he cannot see/ the stroke that Fury’s hiding, stealth, and murder./ What outrage- the woman kills the man!/… Raging mother of death, storming deathless war against the ones she loves

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.

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.

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!”

In the tragedy of Agamemnon, both Clytemnestra and Cassandra have their opinions of Agamemnon. He has shown the type of King he truly is. Clytemnestra, his wife, has took action in her own hands when it came to dealing with Agamemnon. This resulted in his brutal death where he least expected it. Cassandra, priestess of Apollo, was cursed with gift of prophecy but no one will believe her. With that being said she knew things were going to end bad with Agamemnon before everyone else. This is why Cassandra remains a noble prophet when Agamemnon tries to lead her into temptation. With them being the voice of the play they commonly explain their emotions towards Agamemnon out of anger. They both know that the things that he is doing is morally wrong and not the work of a honest king.

I completely understand why Clytemnestra acted the way that she did, but I feel as if most of her actions were out of hatred and anger. When I look at it, I see both of Clytemnestra’s actions as being murders because she, herself, killed two people. When I look at Agamemnon’s case, I somewhat see that he made a sacrifice because he was doing what he was told to do and what seemed like the best thing at the time, but it can very much be seen as a murder. He didn’t necessarily commit the same type of

The Chorus discusses how Helena’s name is very appropriate since she brought destruction upon the Acaians as well as the Trojans. Then, the chorus reflects upon the concept of suffering and who suffers. They deduce that people of goodwill are more likely to suffer despite their goodness while evil people create righteousness. (The Chorus is insane because chaos and pride definitely does not lead to righteousness- it leads to death and destruction. As for good people suffering, that’s the problem with evil.) Agamemnon comes home with Cassandra and the Chorus praises him for defeating the Trojans even though they doubted him at first. Clytemnestra declares her “love” and entices Agamemnon to walk on a purple carpet. Agamemnon refuses

Agamemnon, however, portrays an unconscious despot. None of the crimes committed by him were done alone, and all were committed against subordinates in his kingdom. The list of his crimes are numerous. The chorus claims Agamemnon's guilt in leading many Achean youths to their slaughter "for the sake of another's wife" at Troy (Ag., ln. 445-55). Though

In the Ancient Greek tradition, it was demanded that a family member should seek retribution for the murder of his/her kin by killing the person responsible for the murder. The Greek justice system allowed retribution in the form of murder. Retribution was a measure of justice. Justice in the Eumenides moves from Clytemnestra being the executioner, to Orestes being judge, jury and executioner to finally trial by jury. In the Eumenides, the view of what is justice is no longer a culture of violence but a rule of law.

In the first play, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra murders Agamemnon to retaliate for the sacrifice he made of their daughter, Iphigenia. Clytemnestra did this out of revenge, since the code of getting even demanded that someone’s murder must be avenged by their close blood relative. This called for torment at the hands of the Furies, who were female divinities of a terrible frightening aspect, that came upon anyone who murdered a close blood relative. In the second play, The Libation Bearers, Orestes kills Clytemnestra to avenge the murder of Agamemnon. This act is still maintaining the revenge principle, but it is committed primarily at the instigation of Apollo. Apollo takes center-stage in the third play, The Furies, to argue in defense of Orestes in a trial supervised by Athena. This ultimately leads to the end of revenge killing and the establishment of a new order of justice based on the laws of the

Because of Agamemnon killing her daughter, while he was away, his spouse Clytemnestra along with her lover, his step brother, Aegisthus planned to avenge her daughter. So, when Agamemnon victoriously returned to Mycenae, they killed him together with his mistress, Cassandra. (SparkNotes Team,

When Cassandra gives the warning that Clytaemnestra would slay both the king and her, the chorus does nothing; they simply watch Cassandra enter the ill-fated house. The chorus does not even act in defense of their king; instead, they reason that if justice and fate had decided that Agamemnon ought “pay for the blood / his fathers shed, and die for the deaths / he brought to pass” then he would pay (1363). In this way, the chorus did not take it upon themselves to question or to act; they did not take it upon themselves to be responsible for being present. Instead, the chorus refrains from holding Agamemnon accountable for his crimes until fate chose to do so by refusing him the glory won out by the good

At first, Aeschylus invites the audience to sympathize with Clytemnestra, but this changes as the play progresses. In the beginning of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra emphasizes the fact that there had been a multitude of rumors about the death of Agamemnon while he was at war. An audience typically feels sympathy towards anyone who has a spouse out at war, and even more so when that person finds out their

Agamemnon was particularly cursed, although he was the victor at Troy. The reason for this curse is that Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and Agamemnon's earthly father Atreus were in the habit of "eating" and "sacrificing" their own children to appease the gods. But the imagery created by Aeschylus of these acts of sacrifice is also that of incestuous acts and their consequences. Aeschylus writes in Agamemnon, "Look! See them sit, there on the wall, like forms in dreams, / Children butchered like lambs by their own kindred." [1219-1220] The reason that Aeschylus portrays the children as sitting is because Agamemnon was sitting at the meal in which Atreus served up the flesh of his son for