A Modern Heroine In today’s society, women have overcome many hardships to become able to vote, able to run for public office, and even able to hold high business positions. Some people believe that such accomplishments are because of literary examples that have, over the years, lead women to believe in themselves, motivate them-selves, and stand up for themselves. In Aeschylus’ infamous Greek tragedy, The Oresteia, Clytaemestra, the leading woman, overcomes the Greek society’s slighting attitude towards women, grasping the most powerful position attain-able in Argos. Even after gaining power, Clytaemestra clutches this leadership desperately, unrelenting in her hopes to keep it forever. Although Clytaemestra uses intellect, inner strength, and self-motivation to capture power, she does it evasively and by hurting others. Therefore, Clytaemestra is not a respectable woman role model. In Agamemnon, the first book of The Oresteia, Agamemnon, Clytaemestra’s husband and the King of Argos, returns from ten years of fighting the Trojan War to find treachery reigns in Argos. Clytaemestra greets Agamemnon with a facade of exuberant tidings, claiming “a love [she] has for her husband”, while secretly she plans his murder (Oresteia 1.857). As the queen, she has a beautiful and expensive crimson carpet brought out to welcome her soon dead husband. Rolling out the carpet, she asks Agamemnon “step from your chariot [and] let not your foot/...touch the earth” (Oresteia 1.906-907). The wise warrior, knowing it would be wrong for a mere mortal to walk on such a Murray 2 priceless tapestry, argues with his vengeful wife, but is eventually convinced to walk “where Justice leads him” (Oresteia 1.911). As he walks on the carpet, ruining it, he asks that “no gods’ hatred strike [him] from afar” for acting higher than mortals should (Oresteia 1.947). His hope is in vain, because shortly after entering the house, Clytaemestra catches of the war hero at his weakest moment—in the bath. Taking advantage of a heroic figure, who is loved by all, is both cowardly and unfair, but Clytaemestra only worries with her pursuit of power. Soon after the murder, Clytaemestra appears again, proudly showing the slain King of Argos. All of these actions grant Clytaemestra the power she yearns, but are done in a very unrespectful and deceitful way. In the next book of The Oresteia, The Libation Bearers, Clytaemestra again tries to hold her power and, this time, to escape death.
10. And indeed Clytemnestra could be seen as a physical agent of the principle of revenge in her killing of Agamemnon.
While Clytemnestra’s crime would be violent and shocking to the Argive men and to the Greek audience, her motivations for murdering her husband are not completely incomprehensible and are not without some roots in justice. After stabbing the king, Clytemnestra draws the chorus’ attention back to the other murder witnessed earlier in the play: the...
The most complex and compelling character in the three plays is Clytaemnestra. Clytaemnestra is consumed with thoughts of revenge. She seeks vengeance on Agamemnon for the loss of their daughter, Iphigeneia whose life was forfeited in order to appease the goddess Artemis so that Agamemnon's troops would be allowed passage to the Trojan shore. Clytaemnestra displays more intelligence than any other character in The Oresteia in the way she manipulates the events leading up to Agamemnon's execution in the play "Agamemnon." Her scheming ways and clever word play make her intimidating in the eyes of the people of Argos. She is looked upon with revulsion because of the manly way she acts. The chorus leader states in line 35 "spoken like a man, my lady, loyal, full of self-command." (Aeschylus 116). Odysseus of the quick wits was held in high esteem for such craftiness, yet intelligence and wit, while exulted in a man, are threatening characteristics in a woman. In the kingdom, Clytaemnestra has been having an open affair with Aegisthus. The chorus, who acts as the voice of the common man, and therefore the voice of morality, condemn her for this affair even though it is common practice for men in ancient Greece to have many extramarital affairs themselves. In this way Aeschylus condones the double-standards thrust upon the...
Aeschylus' The Oresteia features two characters burdened by seemingly hopeless decisions. First is Agamemnon, king of Argos, whose army was thwarted by the goddess, Artemis. Agamemnon was faced with the decision to call off the army's sail to Troy, and thus admit defeat and embarrassment, or to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, to satisfy Artemis whom had stopped the winds to delay Agamemnon's fleet. Second is Orestes, son of Agamemnon, who was given the choice by Apollo to avenge his father's murder, thus committing matricide, or face a series of torturous consequences. Although both Agamemnon and Orestes were faced with major dilemmas, their intentions and their characters are revealed through their actions to be markedly different.
The most complex and compelling character in the three plays is Clytaemnestra. Clytaemnestra is filled with thoughts of revenge. She seeks vengeance on Agamemnon for the loss of their daughter, Iphigeneia whose life was sacrificed in order to appease the goddess Artemis so that Agamemnon's troops would be allowed to continue their journey to Troy. Clytaemnestra displays more intelligence than any other character in The Oresteia in the way she manipulates the events leading up to Agamemnon's death in the play "Agamemnon." Her scheming ways and clever word play make her intimidating in the eyes of the people of Argos. She is looked upon with repulsion because of the manly way she ac...
Aristophane’s Lysistrata is a flawed classic filled with the power struggle between man vs. woman. It is entirely focused and written from the male perspective, in which male-privilege dominated and disregarded the women’s outlook entirely. This “classic” is full of misogynistic perspectives, and should be disregarded as a great piece in Athenian literature.
With Lampito returning to Sparta to secure the agreement of the Spartan women, Lysistrata and the other women remain with her to make plans to join the w...
The Chorus states, “Oh, does Orestes haply live, that by the grace of fortune he may return to this land and slay the pair victoriously?” (49). The Chorus states that Orestes will return to Argos and they foreshadow Clytemnestra and Aegisthus’ death. The Chorus then says, “Not if heaven guide Orestes back to the land” (50). Heaven in this case refers to divine retribution. Orestes seeks retribution from the gods, especially Apollo. Unlike Clytemnestra, who was an instrument of the curse, Orestes is an instrument of the gods. Orestes acted passively, unlike Clytemnestra. He was divinely directed by Apollo to commit matricide, bringing the vendetta to an end. He then sought purification
Clytemnestra first set Agamemnon up by placing a purple carpet on the ground for him to walk on. By doing this Clytemnestra was hoping to get Agamemnon to upset the gods so it wouldn’t be a sin for her to carry out her plan. Agamemnon even acknowledges that he shouldn’t walk on the carpet saying that, were he to walk on it, he would display unseemly pride and incur the wrath of the gods: “Such state becomes the gods and none be...
Throughout the “Oresteia”, Aeschylus depicts gender as a social issue that causes harmful effects within the House of Atreus. Aeschylus draws the cultural significance behind these plays by showing gender-based competition among people who feel intimidated when others do not act within their expected gender identities. Also, in the book Aeschylus indicates that even though women do act appropriately, they are still scorned by men and other women. Through Aeschylus’ depiction of sexist double standards and society’s bias on diverse gender expression, Aeschylus reveals the unjust belittlement towards women, who in the ned, ironically possess authority.
Medea and Lysistrata are two Greek literatures that depict the power which women are driven to achieve in an aim to defy gender inequality. In The Medea, Medea is battling against her husband Jason whom she hates. On the other hand, in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the protagonist Lysistrata plotted to convince and organize the female gender to protest against the stubbornness of men. In terms of defining the purpose of these two literatures, it is apparent that Euripedes and Aristophanes created characters that demonstrate resistance against the domination of men in the society.
After Agamemnon’s death, Aegisthus is next in line to become king and Clytemnestra is his queen. Her desire for power is hidden by her claims of justification. She challenges anyone to take her power. “[H]e who conquers me in fair fight shall rule me” (45). She threatens the Chorus to a fight for power. She knows she has all the power now the king was dead and she is his queen. Clytemnestra is aware she killed him for his power, but her arrogance makes her put the deed on the curse of the House of Atreus and vengeance for
...onounces a winner? Clytaemnestra gives great justice for her doing, claiming Agamemnon not being the saint the town believes. The town still has no grip on the rope but keeps the torn strings on their side as the leader exiles Clytaemnestra.
Comparing the Portrayal of Clytemnestra in Agamemnon and Electra In both Electra and Agamemnon, Euripides and Aeschylus have chosen to represent Clytemnestra as a complex character being neither all bad nor all good - the signature of a sophisticated playwright. In Agamemnon, Clytemnestra is a morbidly obsessive woman, utterly consumed by the murder of her daughter for which the audience cannot help but sympathise; she is capable only of vengeance. In the Electra, Clytemnestra is placed in an even more sympathetic light, victimised by her own daughter who in turn is driven by an obsessive desire, similar to that of her mother's, to avenge her father's death.
... husband, she would’ve had to abdicate her throne, something she wasn’t ready to do. Instead, she took a man, Aegisthus, and used him to maintain her position as queen. Without a man by her side, she would’ve had to pass the throne down to Orestes. So rather than give up her last vestige of power, she gets in bed (literally and figuratively) with a rather obnoxious man. From her actions, one can conclude Clytemnestra knew what a handicap her vagina was