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Agamemnon aeschylus summary
Agamemnon aeschylus summary
Agamemnon as an aeschylean tragedy
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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.
* Scully, J & Herington, C.J., Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound (Oxford University Press, New York 1975)
Olsen, S. D. "The Stories of Agamemnon in Homer's Odyssey." Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-) 120 (1990): 57-71. JSTOR. Web. .
Hubris is defined as excessive, personal pride. As Oedipus is about to learn the devastating truth of his origin and destiny, the chorus observes “Audacity sires the tyrant…” Creon accuses Oedipus of being irrational, and for allowing his pride to lead him into a journey that will affect his life forever. The greeks held reason to be the greatest gift of man, therefore a tyrant’s actions should be governed by reason. Hubris was not the essential cause of Oedipus downfall because of Oedipus’ prophecy, and Religious Incest. Hubris was not the essential cause of Oedipus downfall because of Oedipus’ prophecy.
The difference in Agamemnon’s and Odysseus’s approach of their homeland is a reason for their differing fates. Agamemnon, the king of Argos, returns from Troy after a safe journey. Once he lands on the shores of his native earth, his false sense of security renders him unsuspecting of the possible danger that lurks in his own home. His naiveté leads him to approach his home directly to show his people that he has returned. Since his subjects were no longer loyal to him, his exposure leads to his demise. Their disloyalty is revealed when Aegisthus, the man who plots to kill Agamemnon, gathers the town’s best soldiers to ambush the king. Agamemnon meets Aegisthus, who organized a banquet where the king and his company are mercilessly slaughtered. Because he fails to assess the danger that exists in his homeland, Agamemnon meets his end soon after his return.
In Histories, Herodotus’ uses a variety of themes to narrate historical events and a common theme revolves around hubris. Extremely common amongst Greek literature and Greek mythology, hubris appears to be the infamous human trait. Greek mythology sees hubris as a great atrocity and results in an unrelenting punishment. The idea of hubris is that an individual with an authoritative position, a strong or influential leader, becomes extremely proud of his exceptional qualities and forms a delusion of his position to be on par with even the Gods. This blinds the hubristic individual into believing he can defy the Gods and elude ones inevitable fate. Herodotus’ Histories is no exception to containing individuals that display hubristic qualities similar to many other significant historical entities. In Histories, the theme of hubris assists the reader in making a connection between the excerpts from the end of book 1 (1-204-206) to other books and excerpts in Herodotus’ Histories.
The Odyssey by Homer is an epic about a man’s return home after fighting in war. The protagonist of the epic is Odysseus, but interactions with and stories of his fellow veterans abound. The story of Agamemnon’s death upon returning home is retold and referred to numerous times and serves as a warning to Odysseus of the dangers that could exist for him in Ithaka. The ghost of Agamemnon is encountered by Odysseus in the land of the dead and is quite changed from the friend he knew and fought with at Troy. Despite his high place in life and exploits in war, Agamemnon demonstrates the suffering of the returning veteran.
Homer’s Iliad is one of the oldest surviving Greek works. The story allows readers to see into the minds of a civilization that lived over two thousand years ago. The conflict in Homer’s Iliad between the power of a warrior and political power creates the basis of the story and shows how Greek society was evolving from a tribal society, power to the strongest fighter, into a more civilized society, power to the highest political office. By analyzing what warrior power is as portrayed by Achilles, then the power Agamemnon holds through his political station, and comparing the two ideals against each other, it is possible to see exactly how Homer developed both of these characters as a reflection of the changing Greek culture.
Grene, David, and Richmond Lattiimore. The Complete Greek Tragedies. Vol. 2. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969.
Agamemnon: “loud and ringing cry was of war, from anger, like vultures which in extreme anguish for their young wheel and spiral high above their nests […].
Virgil. “The Aeneid, Book IV”. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 974-95. Print.
The chorus sites hubris, the Greek word referring to mortal pride or arrogance, as being the cause of many bad fates. Someone guilty of hubris aspires to be more and do more than what the gods allow, resulting in severe punishment and a tragic destiny. As an example, the chorus recites the story of Ouranus in lines 168-175 of Agamemnon. They tell of his pride and arrogance, and how both ultimately led to his fall. They continue to list two of his successors who suffered the same fate. Hubris is also discussed in lines 461-470, explaining that, "The gods are not blind to men who... unjustly prosper." The chorus views this arrogance as a terrible offense to the gods, and warns all those who dare set themselves beyond Justice to limit their belongings to what they need and what the gods allot them. They offer this warning so that all people might "avoid this suffering," (Agamemnon, lines 370-381).
...ders are unable to adequately rule their people. It is evident to me that a tyrant need not be a particularly evil or dangerous leader, but merely one who cares more about his own power and honor than the people he leads, who lets his pride and greed overwhelm his responsibilities to the city or society he has been entrusted with. Agamemnon never tortured or killed his own men, but his judgment in protecting his men was compromised by his desire to gain honor in the sight of others. Tyranny can be overwhelming or subtle, but the very hint of its existence is sure to cause disharmony in the government, leading to the unjust, and thus unhappy society that Plato described.
In Aeschylus’ The Agamemnon, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra have to make tough decisions throughout the play, decisions they believe are justified. The actions of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra are not justified because they are caused by their blinding hubris and desire for power. Agamemnon makes the choice to kill his daughter just so he could lead his troops to Troy. Clytemnestra kills her husband, not just for revenge, but for his position and power as king of Mycenae. They make selfish choices and do not believe they will be punished for them. By exposing their true motives, Aeschylus makes it clear they are not justified in their actions.
Owen, E. T. "Drama in Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus." 20th Centruy Interpretations of Oedipus Rex. Ed. Micheal O'Brien. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968. 33-35. Print.