Wednesday, February 26th, 2014...1:54 am
Agamemnon – Female Characters
When we look at the story of Agamemnon it’s easy to recall the tragic sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia, the heroic return of the king from a destroyed Troy, the enslavement of Trojan princess Cassandra, and the vengeful murder of Agamemnon and Cassandra by his wife Clytemnestra. However one interesting and recurring theme is the role of women throughout these events. In ancient Greece it would have been fairly strange to have such a fearsome and vigilant female character like Clytemnestra. Thus one would assume that the creation of this character attested to Aeschylus’ protests against female stereotypes. However looking both holistically and closely at each female character and the manner in which she is depicted, it’s difficult to tell exactly what message this story is intending to tell with regards to gender roles.
As a class I would like us to look at the following female characters:
1. Helen – “the face that launched a thousand ships”
2. Iphigenia – the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, sacrificed to the Goddess Artemis for better ship sailing weather.
3. Clytemnestra – The wife of Agamemnon, who murders her husband and Cassandra to avenge her daughters death. She has been ruling Argos while her husband is away and maintains an affair with her husbands cousin.
4. Cassandra – Taken captive by Agamemnon but fearless of her circumstances. Prophesies her and Agamemnon’s death.
In an article by Florence Mary Bennett Anderson, the character of Clytemnestra is analyzed. The author discusses whether or not Clytemnestra was “possessed” or in control of her emotions as she went about essentially planning her husband’s murder. Anderson touches upon the psychological and emotional needs of Clytemnestra as a mother and wife, left alone for ten years, and the belittling she undergoes by the chorus, herald, and king for her role as women. And though dramatic, the article establishes that her actions were self-justified and rational given her circumstances.
Understanding all of this, consider the following questions:
Given the context, what message do you think Aeschylus was intending to get across with the creation of these female characters? What message does the text in itself give about women? Does the role of these characters aid or work against female stereotypes? What effect does this have on the overall story?
Thanks,
Manna Samuel
5 Comments
February 26th, 2014 at 1:57 am
Article Citation:
The Character of Clytemnestra in the Agamemnon of Aeschylus
Florence Mary Bennett Anderson
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association , Vol. 60, (1929) , pp. 136-154
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Article DOI: 10.2307/282814
Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/282814
March 3rd, 2014 at 3:58 pm
I really enjoyed your presentation on Wednesday. In my theater class we were recently talking about the fact that although women were not allowed to act in these plays or even attend these plays, they were given such complex parts.
I think Sophocles (Antigone) and Euripides (Medea) are also good examples of creating highly complex female characters. Perhaps even more so then Aeschylus.
Many of these characters are down right feminist. In fact one of Medea’s speeches was used by the suffrage movement. So I think it’s extremely interesting that in a time where feminism was not even a thought, and were women had no status, that playwrights portrayed them as such complex characters, with some truly feminist ideas.
Of course it can also be argued, as we discussed in class, that women in these stories are portrayed to extremes. They are either evil, or they are innocent and sweet and only regarded in terms of their beauty. Although they are played to extremes, I think the complexity of the motivations behind Clytemnestra make her more then just a outright villain or a damsel in distress. But rather a fully formed character in her own right. Who is fully independent, she kills her husband with her own plot and her own hands. Perhaps she is extreme, but she certainty does prove that a women can step out of her traditional boundaries and assume a role of power.
March 3rd, 2014 at 4:19 pm
I agree. That was sort of the conclusion I came to when I was dissecting this topic. It seemed so strange that during a time period that was dominated by males and women were expected to remain submissive, you had these artistic portrayals of such complex and ‘masculine’ women. We saw in Agamemnon how after the king left for war, Clytemnestra essentially took over the state and remained ruler for a year, crossing that line that divided women and men in the home and in government respectively as we discussed in class. And looking from an entertainment perspective, I think authors or play writers knew that these characters captivated audiences. Women like Clytemnestra and Medea were different and thus exciting.
On the other hand one could also argue that the intent behind these characters were less aesthetic, and served to be more of a warning. If you look at all the major female characters, they have fairly tragic and violent stories. Thus perhaps the creation of strong and powerful women in a fictional setting was to warn of the possible consequences should society allow them to exist in real life.
-Manna
March 9th, 2014 at 10:33 pm
Manna, I enjoyed your informative presentation the other day.
I recently thought of what the message Aeschylus was trying to send out through his female characters. Is it possible that Aeschylus didn’t really see women as powerful and dominant characters? Perhaps Clytemnestra was more erratic and emotional than dominant.
While I do not really believe this I am trying to think differently.
-Max
March 12th, 2014 at 12:49 pm
Manna, I really enjoyed your presentation. I also thought that the message through this play was to show the masculinity and power that the female characters possessed. However for Clytemnestra I can see that she was one of the more powerful character in this play, but I feel that it was the actions of Agemmemnon that caused Clytemnestra to kill him. She waited 10 years for her husband to come back and bring back another women, on top of that her husband killed their daughter that she carried for nine months. Only a mother has true bond with their child, and Agemmemnon did not even care.
-Alicia Ng