Presumptuous is Agamemnon's Note

THESIS STATEMENT

In Aeschylus’ The Agamemnon, as well as other literary works, Agamemnon suffers from the sin of hubris.

PURPOSE STATEMENT

Through the play The Agamemnon, as well as research and other literary works based upon the play, evidence shows that Agamemnon suffers from the sin of hubris.

INTRODUCTION

Imagine thousands of people cheering for you as you return from battle victoriously. Upon your arrival a parade is being held in your honor. Your spouse is so excited to see you and there is a huge dinner prepared. That life sounds pretty prodigious. Safe to say anyone would be honored to have this happen to them in a lifetime. In modern times we would think that someone who got that type of attention would be one who is famous. While the attention they get may seem phenomenal, some get caught up in all of the fame and don’t know how to handle it. Not knowing how to handle this pride could lead to dangerous situations.

This is precisely what happens to Agamemnon. His hubris allows him to believe that he is preeminent. He allows his self-dignity to rise when he hears compliments about himself from the citizens of Argos. Agamemnon condones his presumption to justify his deplorable actions. He runs into several problems in the play as his admiration for himself increases. Had he been more cognizant and less egotistical, many of those problems could have been avoided.

AGAMEMNON----KING OR GOD?

In Aeschylus’ The Agamemnon, Agamemnon reckons that his kingly role entitles him to more than what it veritably entails. He thinks the gods will make an exception for him because he is atop everyone else. “Give me I say the worship not of your god but of your lord” (Aeschylus 34). Agamemnon thinks he is deserving of the idolizatio...

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...ffers from the sin of hubris.

Works Cited

Aeschylus. "Agamemnon." The Complete Greek Tragedies. Ed. Richard Lattimore. Vol. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1959. 35-90. Print. Aeschylus.

Aeschylus. "Agamemnon." Nine Greek Drama. Ed. E.D.A Morshead. Vol. 8. New York: P.F. Collier & Son Corporation, 1937. 7-75. Print. The Harvard Classics.

Aeschylus, and A.W. Verrall. "The Agamemnon." Greek Drama. New York: Bantam, 1982. 16-50. Print.

Clarke, Lindsay. The Return from Troy. London: HarperCollins, 2006. Print.

Gere, Cathy. The Tomb of Agamemnon. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2006. Print.

Homer, Robert Fagles, and Bernard Knox. "The Rage of Achilles." The Iliad. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Viking, 1990. 77-98. Print.

Pearson, Anne. Ancient Greece. New York: DK Pub., 2007. Print.

Unsworth, Barry. The Songs of the Kings. New York: Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2003. Print.