Agamemnon Lecture Notes Agamemnon Play Tragedy 458 B.C. Written by Aeschylus His works are the earliest surviving documents of the Western theatre Tells the story of the royal house of Atreus Won first prize at the Dionysia Festival Aeschylus 524-456 B.C. Began producing plays in the beginning of the Fifth Century B.C. Often considered the Creator of Tragedy Wrote 90 plays Only seven survive Playwright, soldier Fought the Persians at Marathon Fought in the battle at Salamis The Oresteia Agamemnon The murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra The Libation Bearers The murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes The Eumenides The trial of Orestes where the curse on the House of Atreus ends and the Furies are appeased Would already have been well known to the audience Iphigenia s Death While in Aulis, gathering for the Trojan war, Agamemnon accidentally kills a deer that is sacred to Artemis Artemis retaliates by making the winds blow so that the army can never sail. Unable to sail away, the men start to get anxious One day they see two eagles attack and kill a pregnant hair Calchas interprets this sign The two eagles represent Menelaus and Agamemnon, and the hare represents Troy; Menelaus and Agamemnon will destroy Troy, thus killing Trojan offspring However, Calchas also warns that Artemis must be appeased Agamemnon sent for Iphigenia for a supposed marriage He then sacrifices her to change the winds View of Women Blames Helen for everything, especially the Trojan War o Helen s dowry to Paris is death o The name Helen contains the Greek root hele-, which means destroy Her name is essentially a pun! The Chorus mocks Clytemnestra for jumping to the conclusion that Agamemnon is coming home: just like a woman to fill with thanks before the truth is clear (519)
Clytemnestra s Faithlessness Clytemnestra has taken Aegisthus as a lover in response to Iphigenia s death and Agamemnon s prolonged absence Cassandra s role as mistress could also have been a factor Why were the signal fires ordered by Clytemnestra? To warn her when Agamemnon is on his way home! Gondor calls for aid The chorus indicates that the house knows what is going on between Clytemnestra and Aegisthus: but the house and these old stones, give them a voice and what a tale they d tell. And so would I, gladly I speak to those who know; to those who don t my mind s a blank. I never say a word (507) Chorus also indicates that they know what is going on but won t talk about it to those who don t know Clytemnestra claims to her people that she has been faithful to Agamemnon: And for his wife, may he return and find her true at hall, just as the day he left her, faithful to the last. A watchdog gentle to him alone In love with a new lord, in ill repute I am as practiced as I am in dyeing bronze (522) Claims she is no more capable of adultery than she is of using a bronze weapon She will end up killing Agamemnon with a bronze blade When Agamemnon comes home the Chorus tries to warn him Search, my king, and learn at last who stayed at home and kept their faith and who betrayed the city (527) Agamemnon assumes incorrectly that the Chorus is referring to their own members, old men who are jealous they could not join Agamemnon in his glorious war Clytemnestra claims to Agamemnon that she is not ashamed to tell you how I love the man (528) Clytemnestra and Agamemnon go into the house to make sacrifices to the gods for his safe return Clytemnestra plans to make Agamemnon the sacrifice Cassandra prophecies Agamemnon s death as well as her own it s growing, massing, deep in the house, a plot, a monstrous thing to crush the loved ones, no, there is no cure, and rescue s far away (535) someone plots revenge. A lion who lacks a lion s heart, he sprawled at home in the royal lair and set a trap for the lord on his return (538) Compare with Penelope s faithfulness to Odysseus Clytemnestra s Manliness The Chorus tells Clytemnestra her words are spoken like a man (516) Seems to have threatened the Chorus into silence Clytemnestra says she has been making many sacrifices to the gods for a fruitful end to the Trojan war and the return of Agamemnon Claims that this is a woman s way (522) Clytemnestra requests that Agamemnon walk on red tapestries rather than on the ground because it would suit the glory he has won at war Agamemnon seems surprised that Clytemnestra is so worried about his glory: And where s the woman in all this lust for glory? (531) It is not the woman s place to seek after glory Rather, her worry for glory should only be in her care of the household Cassandra claims that Clytemnestra killing Agamemnon is an outrage because it is the woman kill[ing] the man (539) Clytemnestra stabbed Agamemnon with a sword twice Third blow when he was already down Clytemnestra claims that this is an ancient blood feud (543) She sees the death of Agamemnon as her responsibility and that it is just for the death of
Iphigenia Revenge was typically a male role and not the female Could also reference the curse of the line of Atreas from when Tantalus killed his son and served them up to the gods as a meal Clytemnestra is outraged that the city turns against her for killing Agamemnon and not against Agamemnon for killing Iphigenia And now you sentence me? you banish me from the city name one charge you brought against him then didn t the law demand you banish him? hunt him from the land for all his guilt (544) Clytemnestra often used as an example in Greek society for why a woman should be subject to a man Women have a role in Greek society but not as a leader or in official public life The Furies Serpent-haired, female gods of vengeance Also known as the Erinyes Typically three of them: Alekto (endless), Megaera (jealous rage), and Tisiphone (vengeful destruction) They avenged those who had no one on earth to avenge for them Clytemnestra invokes the furies in her revenge These furies hunt down and ravage Orestes when he kills Clytemnestra Fate Fate Almost every character in the play claims to know Zeus will and boast that their actions are its fulfillment (504) Paris was born to play his role in the Trojan War: Paris born and groomed for the bed of Fate (525) Clytemnestra claims, O the ecstasy, to flee the yoke of Fate (530) Fate compared to a yoke, thus indicating the Fate is almost like slavery Cassandra s enslavement by Agamemnon is supposed to be Fate the bedmate, deathmate, murder s strong right arm (536) The Chorus asks how she can go forward knowing her own fate: how can you go to your own death, like a beast to the alter driven on by god, and hold your head so high? and Cassandra replies, No escape, my friend (541) Clytemnestra claims that Agamemnon s death is fate: he had now ay to flee or fight his destiny (543) She also says, I coil him round and round in the wealth [in] the robes of doom (543) Justice brings new acts of agony, yes, on new grindstones Fate is grinding sharp the sword of Justice (547) The gods Agamemnon s Herald believes that now that the war is over no pain can tip the scales (521) Zeus has scales where he weighs souls and determines their fate Angering the gods is never a good idea because they can retaliate by making your life difficult (523) The Greek did in fact anger the gods when they sacked Troy and destroyed many of the gods temples, disrespecting them; thus, they made many of their trips home difficult Agamemnon says the gods helped him with the Trojan War Free Will Agamemnon slipped his neck in the strap of Fate when he killed his daughter, Iphigenia (512) Cassandra is the only character who truly sees all truth
Justice The Chorus is afraid that Agamemnon will be paid back for the death of Iphigenia: But Justice turns the balance scales, sees that we suffer and we suffer and we learn (513) When he is being killed the Chorus reiterates this: Justice comes to birth (532) Aegisthus and Clytemnestra view their actions as the agents of Justice: the weaver of Justice (549) Justice lead him in (530) She sees Agamemnon s death as just because of Iphigenia s death Again, when the Chorus tries to condemn Clytemnestra, she points out that Agamemnon should have been punished for Iphigenia s death Furthermore, Clytemnestra is upholding the integrity of the family in avenging the loss of the parent-child bond; it is the parents job to protect their children Aegisthus sees Agamemnon s death as just because his brothers were killed by Agamemnon s father, Atreus Describes the transition from a tradition that demanded that a murdered person s next of kin avenge the death to a system requiring settlement of the private quarrel by a court of law (503) In the Eumenides, Orestes will take part in one of the first courts of law Athens becomes the center for justice found in a court of law Respect the Gods If only they are revering the city s gods, the shrines of the gods who love the conquered land, no plunderer will be plundered in return. Just let no lust, no mad desire seize the armies to ravish what they must not touch overwhelmed by all they ve won (515) We already know that the Greeks do not honor the gods as they sack Troy and are punished for this Call no man blest until he ends his life in peace (530) Humility is important Weddings and Death Paris wedding is a wedding of death: the wedding, wedding of Paris, death to the loved ones (536-7) Death of Troy, Hector s death, Paris own death, Priam s death, the rest of his family s deaths Cassandra s own wedding to Agamemnon is a sign of her death hymns for the kinsmen doomed to the wedding march of Fate (525) Death They knew the men they sent, but now in place of men ashes and urns come back to every hearth (518) Call no man blest until he ends his life in peace (530) King as Shepherd It is the role of the king to shepherd his people: But the good shepherd knows his flock. When the eyes seem to brim with love and it is only unction, he will know, better than we will know (527) Slavery No one chooses the yoke of slavery, not of one s free will (531) Cassandra has not chosen to be a slave However, the Chorus and Clytemnestra encourage her to accept her slavery and not to fight against it because it will make it much more difficult But if the yoke descends on you, be grateful for a master born and reared in ancient wealth (534) She should be grateful to be a slave of such a wonderful and wealthy master
References to Odysseus Compare the similar relationship between Clytemnestra-Agamemnon-Orestes and Penelope-Odysseus-Telemachus Clytemnestra is unfaithful while Penelope is utterly faithful Agamemnon desired to go to war while Odysseus had to be dragged off to war Only Odysseus: I dragged that man to the wars (528) Orestes kills his mother for revenge for his father s death; Telemachus fights beside his father to save his home and house Style Time Extended Metaphors: Extreme in the violence These images recur throughout the trilogy, building upon previous descriptions Ex: the net of Zeus The net is symbolic of Zeus justice Used by Clytemnestra when she is binding up his corpse: our never-ending, all embracing net (543) All of the characters are ultimately caught in the net of Fate Ex: the lion, lioness, and wolf Agamemnon often compared to the lion, Clytemnestra to the lioness, and Aegisthus to the wolf pretending to be a lion A lion who lacks a lion s heart, he sprawled at home in the royal lair (538) She is the lioness [who] beds with the wolf when her lion king goes ranging (539-40)