Agamemnon by Aeschylus is an ancient Greek tragedy set in Argos. It begins with the homecoming of Agamemnon from the war in Troy and his wife’s Clytemnestra desire to kill him. The Herald begins a speech on line 493 on page 121 after returning from Troy. He is addressing the chorus and he reports about Agamemnon’s safe homecoming and tells the chorus what happened in Troy during the ten year duration which they were at war for. Aristotle’s theory of ancient Greek tragedies inspiring of both pity and fear is immensely seen throughout this passage. Pity, for the Herald because he is so loyal to Agamemnon and he is so happy to be home and alive and fear for Agamemnon by the way the Herald describes what occurred during the war.
Throughout this passage the message at surface is essentially the Herald recounting the struggles in Troy and his delight to be back home in Greece. And by the Heralds overwhelmed gratefulness to be home safe, Aeschylus exposes the audience to the feeling of pity towards the Herald throughout this passage. Aeschylus creates this feeling of pity by his choice of dialogue and the tone of the Herald. Aeschylus’ diction is this passage consists of emotion-full words, which create the feeling of pity towards the Herald. In particular, he uses “dreamed, hopes, light, salute, loving, shining, warm, [and] cherish.” This diction corresponds to the tone of this passage. For example, in the first five lines of the passage the audience is introduced to the Herald as a very sympathetic character because of the way he is describing how proud and happy he is: “I’m home at last./Never dreamed I’d die in Greece.” This, in effect shows the audience how he is a passionate character. Punctuation, especially exclamation points i...
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...exclamation marks are used significantly throughout this passage. For example, in line 518 the Herald says, “and the high altars. Gone!” This exclamation point adds emphasize to this line, as this line is a reference to the altars that were first introduced at the beginning of the play. These altars also represent Agamemnon’s choice to sacrifice his daughter. This all relates back to how the deeds Agamemnon committed during war in Troy created a negative impression of him from the audience.
The Herald’s speech fits into the Aristotle’s broad ranging categories as seen above. Aeschylus uses the notion of pity and fear for the audience to develop feelings towards the Herald and Agamemnon and for the audience to consider different sides of the story. A side is loyal and passion for Agamemnon as the Herald experiences and another is fear and horror towards Agamemnon.
The basileus finds himself entirely humbled by his misadventure of a speech. Agamemnon is drowning here and does what good leaders do, uses his teammates’ strengths. His commander Odysseus is known for his silver tongue. With the help of Agamemnon’s scepter, Odysseus is able to get the men to return, and list to their leader once more. By putting his pride aside for a moment to allow Odysseus to help him Agamemnon does what’s best for his community. In the eyes of the ancient Greeks, his action is one of the most beautiful things a person can do. By accepting help Agamemnon is able to understand and admit his own flaws; he tells his men “Achilles and I are quarrelling about this girl, in which matter I was the first to offend”(Gutenberg). In showing his humility, and being able to speak so soundly he gains a “roar of applause” from the men who just deserted him shows that Agamemnon has once again returned to his full glory as a Basileus
Homer’s moral exemplars in the heroic tragedy, The Iliad, can be analyzed to further understand warrior ethics. Agamemnon, a powerful warrior king, was proud and arrogant. These qualities made him an excellent warrior and the Greeks respected him. However, Agamemnon demonstrated excess pride and arrogance, as well as stubbornness. The Greeks believed that people must face their destiny with pride and nobility.
Aeschylus, was a master dramatist - he liked to portray conflict between persons, human or divine, or between principles.1 His trilogy of plays, the Oresteia, develops many conflicts that must be resolved during the action of the Eumenides, the concluding play of the trilogy. The central theme of the Oresteia is justice (dike) and in dealing with questions of justice, Aeschylus at every stage involves the gods.2 The Oresteia's climactic conflict in the Eumenides revolves around justice and the gods - opposing conceptions of justice and conflicting classes of gods. This essay will describe and discuss these conflicts and, more importantly, the manner in which they are resolved so that the play, and indeed the entire trilogy, might reach a satisfactory conclusion.
Each of these displays of rage are ended with reconciliation that changes Achilles as a man. The epic opens with a plague on the Greek army and a soothsayer reveals that the plague has been caused Agamemnon. To end the plague Agamemnon must give up his war prize, a girl named Chryseis. Agamemnon protests but
Odysseus and Agamemnon are heroes who fought side by side to take down the city of Troy during the Trojan War. In Homer’s The Odyssey, why is Agamemnon slaughtered when he arrives home while Odysseus returns to find his loved ones still waiting for him? The reasons for the heroes’ differing fates are the nature of their homecoming and the loyalty of their wives.
The Achaeans are more concerned with personal glory and achievement rather than the well-being of the city. Two Characters who definitely display this characteristic are Agamemnon and Achilles. Agamemnon is selfish and is only concerned with his own honor. This is seen almost immediately in the poem. In book one, during the tenth year of battle, Chryses visits Agamemnon and offers ransom for his daughter, Chryseis who was taken as plunder early in the war. Although the ransom is attractive, Agamemnon refuses the money because the girl represents power and glory and that is far more important than wealth. Plunder represents victory; therefore, the more women Agamemnon possesses, the more glorified and powerful he feels. Eventually, Agamemnon returns the girl to her father; however, he insists that someone give him a female to compensate for his loss and restore his honor. He views the situation as a challenge to his authority and complains, "I alone of the Argives go without my honor. That would be a disgrace" (1.139-40). Agamemnon demands, the "Argives will give me a prize, a match for my desires, equal to what I have lost, well and good. But if they give me nothing I will take a p...
Homer's Iliad is replete with "bitterness," a term employed for its absolutist depictions of the ferocity and prolonged spite of ancient Greek warriors. The weight of this term is made apparent in the opening passage: "What god was it then set [Achilleus and Agamemnon] in bitter collision?" (I. 8). The seeds of bitterness have been planted and this story--an epical account of the Greeks pillaging the land of Troy in the final year of the Trojan War--is narrated not to recreate history, but to furnish a backdrop of wartime valor that brings to fore the struggles of pride entertained by Achilleus vis-à-vis Agamemnon. Their fueled interactions form the basis of The Iliad, advancing the plot-line and revealing peculiar insights into their self-absorbed and selfish natures--the ultimate focus of The Iliad.
Agamemnon survived the ten year long Trojan War, even as other great warriors such as Achilleus fell. Tales of the war are widespread and it is described by both its veterans and non-participants in glorified terms. Agamemnon is often singled out for leadership and accomplishments. Demodokos sings of the “famous actions/ of men on that venture” and “that lord of men, Agamemnon” while performing for Odysseus on Alkinoos.(VIII, 73-74, 77). Agamemnon stands out as one of “the leaders of the bronze- armored Achaians” who fought at Troy and is recognized as a major hero of the war (IV,496).
Clytemnestra has the ten years of the Trojan War to plan her revenge on Agamemnon. Upon his return Clytemnestra shows him some love. That love she showed quickly changes to rage and hatred when Clytemnestra she’s Agamemnon with his mistress Cassandra.
Agamemnon tries to use Achilles rage and fury to get him to give up and retreat back to the army he left. Even though Achilles felt rage and sorrow, he keeps to his word. He wants to obey Athena’s orders of to not fight back. Although he is sad, he will not let Agamemnon’s threat get to his
This essay will illustrate the types of characters depicted in Sophocles’ tragic drama, Oedipus Rex, whether static or dynamic, flat or round, and whether protrayed through the showing or telling technique.
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.
The Chorus, in this play, guides the audience. In the end, it is up to the individual as to what reaction they have to the play, but the Chorus is there to, in a way makes this reaction more complicated. One could leave the play totally condemning Medea, but the Chorus display’s Medea in a way that makes the audience sympathise with her, and so the moral conclusions that need to be come to side, become more complex. The audience has to base their reaction to Medea on what crimes they have seen her commit, and on what they have heard of her through the Chorus. Their integral part in the play acts in many ways, to follow, revise, and extend the plot of the play, and to influence the opinions and sympathies of the audience. It is a literary, and dramatic device that Euripedes uses, and uses well, to help portray a tragedy, and also a moralistic play, in which the Chorus is the voice that provides the morals.
Agamemnon is the first part of the trilogy known as the Oresteia. Agamemnon is a story where the main character sacrifices his own daughter to a God, Artemis to win a battle and then his wife revenge him for the sacrifice. The concept of fate plays an important role in the tilogy Agamemnon which led to the tragic endings of the play. According to the meaning of fate it means the development of events outside a person’s control, regarded as predetermined by a super natural power. Fate is what send Agamemnon to the war with Menelaus to fight against Paris, fate is what predetermined Agamemnon to sacrifice his own blood for the sake of his ship and companions and fate is what determined Cassandra his wife to plot to kill him and to revenge him for her daughter.