Hortencia Angel

ENG 2800 – KTRB

November 28, 2017

Essay #2

Cover Letter

In this essay, I was hoping to prove that Clytemnestra was not Agamemnon’s villain. The actions she took were the effect of the loss of her daughter and long absence from her husband because they both impacted Clytemnestra. Agamemnon had his own choice of actions which affected not just him but also his family. The issue here is what is moral and justice and does its definition vary by person? And what does define a villain? Should Clytemnestra be judged as such because of her desire for justice and tranquility? To Clytemnestra justice was avenging her daughter’s death because she was sacrificed unjustly. Agamemnon had his share of wrongdoings, including not seeing the unjust action he took in accepting the sacrifice he was told to make despite having other options. My ideas developed from rereading certain passages from the book and trying to see the context of it in another perspective so as to get another understanding of it. I was hoping to find more thorough analysis of how Clytemnestra wasn’t to blame for the events that occurred after her husband came back and therefore did not make her a villain. As I revise this essay I should focus more on developing concrete ideas, and putting them in a more organized way. I should also try to work on finding more evidence on Agamemnon’s character.

Family Justice

In Agamemnon by Aeschylus, Clytemnestra kills her husband Agamemnon and is considered by the people of Troy to be his villain. Prior to his death he had killed his own daughter Iphigeneia giving her up as sacrifice for the war as was demanded. Clytemnestra was not Agamemnon’s villain because she was merely avenging her daughter’s unjust death caused by Agamemnon. As father Agamemnon had violated the humane law of family and love when he voluntarily sacrificed his daughter since the act was still murder. Clytemnestra was simply protecting herself and providing justice for her daughter because of the unrighteous way in which she died. Agamemnon chose loyalty towards the city rather than loyalty towards his family, by which the innocent life of his daughter was taken.

Agamemnon killed his own daughter without remorse. He sacrificed his own daughter despite the suffering or pain he would inflict upon the family and particularly on his wife, Clytemnestra, being her mother. As the sacrifice was about to occur Agamemnon ordered to the people, “Hoist her over the altar like a yearling, give it all your strength! She’s fainting – lift her, sweep her robes around her, but slip this trap in her gentle curving lips…here gag her hard, a sound will curse the house -” (pg. 661). The town was obliged to offer sacrifice in hopes of bringing wind that would let Agamemnon’s fleet sail back to Troy. The sacrifice entailed a virgin’s blood to which Agamemnon willingly offered Iphigeneia. Clytemnestra’s absence from this scene suggests that she may not have been aware or been consulted regarding the sacrifice which ponders one’s interpretation of this scene. If Clytemnestra wasn’t aware would things have been different or would the outcome still be the same. When addressing the Leader and Men of Argos Agamemnon states, “What comes next? I cannot see it, cannot say. The strong techniques of Calchas do their work.”(pg. 661) This makes one question Agamemnon’s actions, giving the impression that he wasn’t sure if the sacrifice would indeed bring the wind necessary to bring back the fleet from the war. His insecurity of not being able to foretell what’s next shows that his decision to kill his daughter was irrational and unjust because of the unknown outcome.

Iphigenia’s unconditional love for her father wasn’t sufficient enough to hold him back from sacrificing her. Despite her innocence he decided to follow through with the sacrifice and betray his family. As Clytemnestra said, “Only our daughter Iphigeneia, by all rights, will rush to meet him first at the churning straits, the ferry over tears – she’ll fling her arms around her father, pierce him with her love.” (pg. 698) Clytemnestra attempts to make the chorus see how unreasonable Agamemnon had acted upon offering his own daughter when Iphigeneia loved her father and would treat him as such at home. Iphigeneia was the person who would welcome her father with open arms. “This house will never mourn for him.” (pg. 698), she spoke to the chorus. Clytemnestra believes Agamemnon doesn’t deserve to be mourned after his actions because the one person who would have, he himself killed.

The Trojan War was a war that lasted many years and led to many deaths including Iphigeneia’s. Her death, though sacrifice, was also caused by the Trojan War. As the chorus described the war, “War, War, the great gold-breaker of corpses holds the balance of the battle on his spear! Home from the pyres he sends them, home from Troy to the loved ones, weighted with tears, the urns brimmed full, the heroes return in gold-dust,…” (pg. 667) Iphigeneia was a victim of the war and Agamemnon and as such Clytemnestra wanted justice. This conveys a double standard, of what is morality and the definition of justice. To Agamemnon morality lied in helping his fleet team return which showed lack of belief in the morality of not killing one’s own family member particularly within the home itself. The Trojan War had caused chaos, death, losses, and impacted lives of many people and families including but not only Agamemnon’s. It brought tragedies at home and overseas to those involved in the war such as the well-known mayhem that awaited Odysseus upon his return home. In this case Clytemnestra’s daughter was sacrificed for the sake of it. The fleet that Agamemnon saw as necessary to return to Troy had been out for the Trojan War, which brought about the betrayal of Agamemnon to his daughter. His sacrifice of her was a betrayal not only to her but also to Clytemnestra.

Agamemnon had the choice of not sacrificing his daughter but chose to follow through with it for the cause of the war. Through these words he clearly states his loyalty, “- a father’s hands are stained, blood of a young girl streaks the altar. Pain both ways and what is worse? Desert the fleets, fail the alliance?” Though Agamemnon did initially hesitate and recognize the action he was about to commit, he valued failing the alliance more than his daughter’s life. When he states, “pain both ways” he acknowledges that either choice he makes will bring pain and doom, death. Knowing the possible outcome of either decision he makes he chooses to place a higher importance on the fleet’s return. This brings the question if society itself values a person’s loyalty to others over the sacrifice of an innocent girl, as it happened in Agamemnon.

Clytemnestra suffered years of loneliness being left behind by her husband who went to Troy to fight in the war. The years of being at home without Agamemnon were impacted more when their daughter was sacrificed. As she states, “First, when a woman sits at home and the man is gone, the loneliness is terrible, unconscionable…” (pg. 678). She describes how Agamemnon’s absence affected her. Furthermore, she later describes how the absence of their son had already caused her pain as well, “And so our child is gone, not standing by our side, the bond of our dearest pledges, mine and yours; by all rights our child should be here…” (pg. 678) In these lines she is referring to Orestes who had been gone and away from home just like Agamemnon. The absence of one child inflicted suffering upon Clytemnestra and Iphigeneia’s death only added to it because of both children’s absence. Her long suffering is described when she states, “For me, the tears that welled like springs are dry. I have no tears to spare.” (pg. 679) referring to the endless tears she has let out. This leads to the dilemma of how much should Clytemnestra as a woman suffer and endure after having gone through a significant loss.

Clytemnestra is seen as a villain in Troy to the point that the town wants to banish her. But what defines a villain? Should Clytemnestra be judged as such because of her desire for justice? If Iphigeneia had not been sacrificed Clytemnestra may not have killed Agamemnon because her death may have been the trigger for her actions. If seeking justice could make her a villain then Agamemnon could be considered his family’s villain because he gave Iphigeneia as sacrifice. Agamemnon caused harm upon Clytemnestra by eliminating a member of their family, which brings the notion of what is and what isn’t deemed as acceptable in society. If killing one’s own daughter is deemed as right then should Clytemnestra killing her own husband be seen as right as well?

The household tranquility of Agamemnon’s home was stable prior to Iphigeneia’s death. Clytemnestra may have never had the courage to act against Agamemnon if her daughter’s death hadn’t happened because it could have been a motive for her to construe her plans. If Iphigeneia being Agamemnon’s daughter wasn’t enough to stop the sacrifice then if the roles were reversed and it was Clytemnestra that had to be sacrificed, Agamemnon would not have hesitated. It would be Clytemnestra dead, being sacrificed, as a result of the Trojan War.  Another key point to point out was Agamemnon’s betrayal as a husband. When Agamemnon returns from the war he brings along Cassandra, who’s regarded as a concubine. A concubine is a woman who lives with a man but has inferior status than his wife. Agamemnon in principle had committed the same betrayal of infidelity. Though Clytemnestra may be accused of having killed Agamemnon because of her affair with Aegisthus making her a villain, Agamemnon had also had an affair and which he brought the lover to his family’s home upon his return. His infidelity and willful daughter’s sacrifice led Clytemnestra to take matters into her own hand, seeking justice for her and her daughter.

Works Cited

Fagles, Robert. “Agamemnon.” The Norton Anthology: World Literature (Volume A), edited by Martin Puchner, et al., W. W. Norton & Company, 2012, pp. 655-701. Print.