[Kimberly] Intro + Outline

INTRODUCTION

Agamemnon, the commander-in-chief of the Greek forces, returns from the Trojan War to discover that Aegisthus, a coward who remained behind while the Greeks fought the Trojans, had seduced and married his wife Clytemnestra. Aegisthus, against the gods’ advice, kills Agamemnon, with the help of Clytemnestra, at a banquet. Orestes, Agamemnon’s son, avenged his father’s death by killing Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, his mother. The story of Agamemnon, the infidelity of his wife, and the vengeance by his son Orestes is repeated several times in The Odyssey by multiple narrators such as Zeus, Athena, and Agamemnon himself. The storytellers present the story of Agamemnon’s death in a variety of versions, which reflect their purpose and different interests. However, Homer presents multiple versions of the same story throughout The Odyssey in order to provide a foil and suspense for the successful return home of Odysseus to his loyal wife.

BODY

• Zeus version of the story to the Assembly of Gods
  1. Zeus tells a brief initial summary of Agamemnon’s story, and complains to the other gods about human beings who foolishly blame the gods and, through their own folly, bring destruction upon themselves.
     1. Zeus’ purpose for telling the story of Agamemnon was to highlight the mortal folly of human beings.
  2. Zeus leaves Clytemnestra out of the picture, which suggests that The Odyssey will be a tale of men.
  3. There’s an implied comparison of Telemachus taking action about the situation that has occurred during his father’s absence because of the parallels drawn between Telemachus and Orestes, and Odysseus and Agamemnon.
     1. This foreshadows  the punishment the suitors will receive in return for similar attempts (like Aegisthus destroyed Orestes’ household) to destroy Odysseus’ household.
     2. This comparison/ parallel leads the audience to infer that Telemachus will be the one to protect his household and kill the suitors. (When it was Odysseus who protected his household and killed almost all of the suitors.
• Athena’s version of the story to Telemachus
  1. Athena tells the story of Orestes’ murder of Aegisthus and uses the story to present Orestes as a heroic model for the cowardly Telemachus, who is coming of age.
     1. Athena uses the story to persuade Telemachus to take action to preserve his household in the absence from his father and to remind Telemachus of the glory Orestes won when he killed Aegisthus, glory which he can receive too if he acts as he is told by Athena.
  2. Homer once again makes the audience believe that Telemachus is the one that will exact revenge. However, she makes it seem as if its possible that Odysseus has died and leaves the audience on suspense on the ending of The Odyssey.
• Agamemnon telling his story to Odysseus in the Underworld
  1. Agamemnon devotes particular attention to Clytemnestra’s role in the killing, insisting that Aegisthus did not do the deed alone in order to warn Odysseus of the threat of a backstabbing housewife and hostile suitors.
  2. Homer uses Agamemnon version of his own story and his focus on his wife’s infidelity to deceive the audience into having uneasy foreshadowings of the role Penelope may have in future events on Ithaca.

CONCLUSION

The story of Agamemnon repeated function in the epic is to provide a foil and suspense into making the audience believe that there is potential for a tragic ending for Odysseus. Homer’s audience is led to believe that Odysseus will be murdered, and that revenge will have to ultimately be taken by Telemachus. Through deceptive foreshadowings and deceitful leads, Homer is able to make even a traditional and predictable story, unpredictable.