During this semester, we had read about Clytemnestra and her want of either justice or revenge against Agamemnon due to the fact that he killed Iphigenia, their daughter. Clytemnestra wants to then kill Agamemnon because of this hideous crime that he committed. After stabbing Agamemnon to death, she claims that the only reason that she did this was not for revenge, but in the name of justice for what he had done. Clytemnestra feels that Agamemnon must pay for what he has done, and this is the only fair way to handle this situation. When first analyzing this topic, one must first distinguish the difference between revenge and justice. Revenge is the act of retaliation against someone or something normally to make themselves feel better. …show more content…
Why are you handing out this punishment? Is it because you believe that it will rehabilitate the person who committed the crime, or because you are mad at them? Intent is one of the hardest things to quantify or make sure it is true or not. Clytemnestra can spin her reasoning two different ways. She can either claim that her intent was to get back at Agamemnon for killing their daughter and this was the harshest penalty she could think of, or Clytemnestra can claim that this was done to possibly prevent others from attempting to murder their children as this is what will …show more content…
Although her punishment for murder was not something farfetched, my thought is that her intent was not to fix the situation. She just wanted to get back at him for killing their daughter. It may have relieved her build up, but it was uncalled for.
Would she have acted the same way if it was a different father killing their daughter? We will not know that, but one can assume that there would be a lot less passion involved in the decision making process. This might lead to a clearer mind and possibly thinking of a better punishment that not only gives Agamemnon what he deserves, but also sets a standard as to what happens when a brutal crime like this occurs.
We can examine the difference between revenge and justice and make mark of differences and similarities. Both are a form of punishment, but only one is used in a morally ethical way. It is very easy to act out of revenge, but takes tremendous self-control to display acts of justice. One must take a step back from the situation, and try as hard as they can to view it from an unbiased vantage
... She was powerless to act otherwise. She was not a respected military leader like her husband. She couldn't bring him to court or change destiny in any other way. So, as a mother, she did what she felt she had to do. She acted for the justice of her child and her sex. When Agamemnon ordered the soldiers to put the bit in Iphigeneia's mouth before her sacrifice, it was because he didn't want to hear the cries of his daughter dying. Clytemnestra, however, forced her husband and the rest of Greece to hear the cries, the cries of the pained women and deal with the situation he did nothing to mend. For this she would be condemned, but because of her powerlessness, for this she was justified.
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...
Women usually are the most unfortunate roles in Greek tragedies. As women, particularly as mothers, family is the most important factor of their lives. While men are after honor and glory in warfare or in politics, women are after honor and protection for their families. In Agamemnon, Clytaemnestra encountered a situation no woman should ever have to face: she had to welcome the murderer of her daughter, who was also her husband, back into her home (Agamemnon, Lines 897-899). Instead of showing reluctance, she welcomed Agamemnon with sweet words and open arms. The reason for her actions was to weaken Agamemnon to the point where she could kill him without his retaliation. Through deliberate planning, she succeeded in killing him to avenge her daughter; she exclaimed after the deed was done, "Here is Agamemnon, my husband made a corpse/ by [my] right hand - a masterpiece of Justice" (Lines 1429-1430). By murdering Agamemnon, she claimed justice for her daughter. The story,
Revenge is defined as harming someone for the wrong doings that they commit. Revenge is the key ingredient to hundreds of the most loved and action packed movies, books, and shows of today. Because of the fact that there is so much vengeance played out in entertainment media, society encourages revenge as necessary to those seeking retribution. Works of art such as Kill Bill and “Killings” are prime examples of stories that are about revenge.
This action causes a great deal of rage in Clytemnestra. One could very well understand why she would act this way. Clytemnestra see’s the killing of her daughter as just being killed for her husband’s gain. She also feels that he could have chosen a different virgin to sacrifice. One the other hand, if one looks at Agamemnon’s problem they could be otherwise. Agamemnon was the general of his army and the leader that his men looked up to. So when the profit came to him saying I will give you wind for a virgin sacrifice he took it as sacrificing someone close to him. He thought along the lines that he was asked for a reason to be the one doing the actual sacrifice. So Agamemnon chooses his daughter the virgin and sacrificed her with good judgment for what was best for the army. The issue is that Clytemnestra does not see it this way and that is what causes the future events that make us to question her innocence.
Meir Kahane, an American-Israeli politician, said “No trait is more justified than revenge in the right time and place” (Kahane). Is it really? Will you heal yourself by hurting another one? When there was no more pain to make them feel will you feel satisfied, are you going to smile like a Cheshire cat? Feel yourself, feel and understand what you want to do and what is revenge. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, revenge is “harm done to someone as a punishment for harm that they have done to someone else” (“Revenge” --Cambridge Dictionary). Mahatma Gandhi, who is the leader of Indian Independence Movement said “an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind” (Ghandi). If there would be punishment for punishment,
It is the idea of revenge that sends a cool shiver down the spines of justly men when they begin to question as to why someone would stoop to such a level. But yet it is still more than an idea for revenge has been carried out in various forms along all the eras of history side-by-side of that of novels and tragedies. Even so, revenge is still a dark scheme; an evil plague of the mind per se. It is such a plague that will turn even the greatest persons of the brightest, optimistically capable of minds into lowly, as well as lonely, individuals. Thus, revenge will, and can, only end in despair and agony of the mind. Therefore, provided that all that has been said is true, revenge would appear quite unseemly to the observant onlooker. However, taking an in-depth insight into revenge you can uncover quite a compelling feature, which is best summed up into one word. Pride. Pride is the one clear motivational proprietor needed to push a protagonist into the downward spiral of personal vendetta. Without pride, revenge is no more than a mindless massacre of flesh and bone ending in the obliteration of any hope for reconciliation.
Revenge is viewed in a different way by almost everyone, meaning that there is no definite answer as to if it is beneficial or not. The act of revenge has seen some drastic changes in perspective throughout history. During the Middle Ages, conflicts would not be regarded as resolved until they were avenged. In fact, many long-established justice systems (similar to the one that the Samurai class held in Japan's feudal past, that consisted of “revenge for honor”) are confined to only revenge. (Ikegami 1995) Even Modern Western legal s...
In Aeschylus’ The Agamemnon, Agamemnon and his wife Clytemnestra both took controversial actions. Though their actions were made due to unorthodox circumstances, neither of their actions could be justified. Both Agamemnon’s and Clytemnestra’s actions were made to benefit their own hubristic agendas, despite their claims otherwise. Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia so he could gain glory for both him and his army. Later, Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon due to a thirst for power, not as an act of retribution for her late daughter. In addition to their tainted motives, both Agamemnon and Clytemnestra possessed the presumptuous notion that their actions would go unpunished. Aeschylus clearly explicated the idea that both Agamemnon and
Although in some cases vengeance is thought to be calculated action, it is a truly dangerous force because the need for revenge can over take one’s life. Revenge acts like addiction, the need to be have the last word becomes an uncontrollable compulsion.
In Agamemnon, Aegisthus did not physically commit the acts of slaying Agamemnon or Cassandra but acknowledges that death may very well be a punishment he will have to face, “death you said and death it shall be; we take up the word of fate” (1653). Aegisthus is aware that his actions may come full circle and result in his demise, but justifies that it had to be done to justify the wrongs committed by Agamemnon 's father. In The Libation Bearers, Orestes claims that Apollo “said that else I must myself pay penalty with my own life, and suffer much sad punishment” (276-277) should he not succeed in avenging his father 's death. This implies that if Orestes did not follow through with the murders the curse would continue onto the next generation and Orestes himself would become a victim of the curse on worse terms than presently. Orestes explicitly says to Clytaemnestra when he confronts her, “how shall I escape my father 's curse, if I fail here?” (925). Orestes knows that he will be plagued with the curse if he does not follow through with Apollo 's instructions. In the same play, the chorus too believe that with the killing of Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus the curse will come to an end as they say, “the bloody edges of the knives that rip man-flesh are moving to work it will mean utter and final ruin imposed on Agamemnon 's house” (859-863). The chorus in The Libation Bearers is
Revenge is best served cold or so says the well-known expression. This idea of revenge that they seek is usually to restore a balance and take an “eye for an eye” as the bible says. Revenge, if by chance everyone were in Plato’s perfect utopia, would be in a perfect form, where justice and revenge would be one, and the coined phrase an “eye for an eye” would be taken literally. By taking an eye for and eye, and punishing those who did wrong equally as they did wrong, there is justice. However, this revenge sometimes goes to far and is consequently not justice. This notion of Revenge and justice is often in literature, one of the better-known being the novel The Count of Monte Cristo, written by Alexandre Dumas. However, literature is not the only time that revenge and justice is discussed in. Works and Rules and real-life events that took place like the Bible, Hammurabi’s code, Twelve Tables, and others each have something different about the topic. More religious texts seem to forbid violence, while laws, such as the Hammurabi’s code, recommend revenge, but equal revenge. By judging from literature, it can be concluded that most authors have different opinions on the matter at hand, and revenge is sometimes justice, but usually not, and tends to lead to violence that was not intended.
Agamemnon kills his daughter, Iphigenia, for power and respect. This power is more important to him than his daughter, thus he sacrifices Iphigenia instead of stepping back and letting someone else lead the armies to battle. The Chorus emphasizes this when they recall his words before he sacrifices Iphigenia “However he did not shrink from slaying a victim daughter in aid of war raged” (Aeschylus 20). He is more worried about losing respect than his own daughter. His lust after power and respect made him insensitive to fair judgement. He tries to justify himself by saying there is no other way but to sacrifice her. He does anything to fulfill the public’s desires to gain him their praise, up to and
The concept of revenge is commonly portrayed in everyday life. Many find the need to inflict pain in different forms, whether it be physical or emotional, on another for wrong doings experienced at their hands.
When a child's life is taken away the mother is willing to do anything to bring justice to its place. In Aeschylus' Agamemnon, Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter (Iphigenia) to win a war. This brings great agony to his wife, Clytemnestra, and knowing that she is not happy with his decision, he also brings a new mistress (Cassandra) into the household. Before he husbands return home, Clytemnestra starts to contemplate