Clytemnestra Essays

strong and took the roles of their husbands while the men left to fight in the Trojan War. These two women were Penelope, wife of Odysseus, and Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon. These two women were different in how they chose to rule while their husbands were at war and how they acted once they got back. Penelope is considered to be the good wife and Clytemnestra is portrayed as the bad wife, for several reasons. Although it may be not be clear, the differences between being a good wife or a bad wife

shows the never ending cycle of violence within the house of Atreus. The cycle acts as a “net” entrapping Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Orestes, and many other characters. This net has not only encapsulated characters but it also produces actions throughout the play provoking the audience to think of several different conflicted loyalties. Specifically, the rendezvous between Clytemnestra and the chorus highlights right versus wrong, self-help justice (in the form of revenge) versus justice by trial, and

he play begins with a peasant’s brief recap of some of the background story: how the vengeful Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon on his return from the seige of Troy, and now rules over Argos with her lover, Aegisthus; how Electra’s brother Orestes was sent away by the insecure Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, and put under the care of the king of Phocis, where he became friends with the king's son, Pylades; and how Electra herself was also cast out of the royal house and married off to a farmer, a kind man

support who was more justified in avenging their father. Going over the characters stories is important in deciding on whose vengeance is more justified. First events in The Oresteia, in Agamemnon, Orestes father, Agamemnon was killed by his wife Clytemnestra and her new lover Aegisthus. The reason Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter, Iphigenia, was to help himself and troops

Clytemnestra is the wife of Agamemnon and Queen of Argos. Agamemnon is a play by Aeschylus that tells of her deathly plot against Agamemnon, who murdered their daughter, Iphigenia. Along with her lover, Aegisthus, Clytemnestra takes revenge for her daughter and claims the throne of Argos. She is tormented by disrespect, betrayal, and grief, which combine to be the driving force for her actions. While Agamemnon is off fighting the Trojan war, Clytemnestra rules Argos in his place. However, throughout

To begin, Clytemnestra demands for the crimson tapestries to be spread between the king and the palace doors, note that these are tapestries only fit for deities. Thankfully, Agamemnon notices this and begins to rebuke his wife for doing such a thing as if setting him up to commit a hubris act. Thus, he says, “Give me the tributes of a man and not a god, a little earth to walk on, not this gorgeous work” (lines 918 - 920). As he takes his stance against Clytemnestra she even begins to question

play was first written in 458 B.C. it was a time where the male was shown as the superior role over females. Even though they are portrayed as the better gender in this play, the women make it interesting and are shown to have more intelligence. Clytemnestra is very interesting in the trilogy; she wants to avenge the loss of Iphigenia. The daughter of Agamemnon was lost due to the King trying to please Artemis so him and his troops can pass to Troy. She later kills Agamemnon for this by strategically

Would Clytemnestra have been a more appropriate title than Agamemnon for the first play of the Oresteia? In the play 'Agamemnon', both Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra his wife, are the two essential characters that depict the most strain and energy throughout the play. The ruler of Argos being Agamemnon is a great deal less present as his part in the play is fighting in Troy and along these lines far from the genuine primary spot of activity, being in Argos where Clytaemnestra plots the killing of her

The purpose of this essay is to argue why Orestes’ situation is tragic and how does Apollo affect it. I am going to argue that Orestes’ situation is tragic because is stuck in a cycle of violence whilst being influenced by Apollo’s power. Orestes puts his faith in Apollo declaring that “Apollo will never fail me, no, his tremendous power, his oracle charges me to see this trial through.” It is not necessarily through free will that he decides to trust Apollo but through fear of what will happen

sacrifice of his daughter. This sacrifice would later turn his wife, Clytemnestra, against him, hunting him down for slaughter for justice and revenge just as he did his daughter (Aesch. Ag.). In the story of Choephoroi, that follows years after the death of Agamemnon continues the theme when the son Orestes returns from exile due to Apollo’s quest for justice and revenge against the murders. This story then turns the hunter Clytemnestra and his lover into the new prey as the children seek this

The actions of the play Libation Bearers by Aeschylus occurred in Argos after Clytemnestra killed her husband Agamemnon. Libation Bearers is like Sophocles’ Elektra regarding using the same myth and plot but differs with character development. Libation Bearers expands more on Orestes killing his mother rather than on Electra’s life after her father is killed like in Elektra. The play starts with Orestes calling out to the god Hermes asking him to protect him on his journey to carry out the deed to

Date Aeschylus Agamemnon The play Agamemnon is set with a watchman who is on duty at the Aragon’s place which is waiting for a signal to that announces the fall of the Troy as the sign of beacon flashes; he moves to pass this message to Queen Clytemnestra. The queen is seen to appear at the chorus when ordered to offer some thanksgiving sacrifice as she passes the beacon’s message on the fall of the Troy (Macintosh 234). The play has a protagonist, Agamemnon who is the King of Argos, as well as

On the surface we see Clytemnestra as a strong feminist character, taking on male characteristics, shocking at the time, and acting with purpose and justification. However, then we see Clytemnestra as an individual woman’s rebellion punished by death, reflecting Athenian restrictions on the role of women and unfortunately - although not as literally, seen in

ustice, fairness, and decency, abstract concepts that are innate in society and human nature. However, despite their near universal status in humanities mid, they often have different meanings for individuals. Aeschylus uses The Oresteia in order to explore these issues as characters in the play try to determine what it means to be just, what ought a just actor do, and what is the best model for achieving justice. The characters discuss ideas such as vengeance, reciprocity, balance, moderation, and

There are several instances throughout the play when Electra displays both determination and passion. In Electra's first appearance in The Libation Bearer, she is portrayed making a speech to the chorus of slavewomen telling them "We nurse a common hatred for the house" (101). Her appearance at the tomb of Agamemnon demonstrated not only where her loyalty lies, but also her fearlessness in doing what she thought was right. As Electra continues talking with the leader of the chorus of slavewoman

A grand feast, a loving wife, and glory unlike that which anyone had yet seen. These are the things that Agamemnon had expected when he returned home from the Trojan War. Instead, as the odyssey details, all that Agamemnon received was betrayal at the hands of those he had trusted. These are the tales told to readers, as well as to Odysseus himself, by Agamemnon. A cautionary tale of sorts, one that Odysseus took to his very heart. In the odyssey, the story of Agamemnon and his homecoming affects

In The Eumenides, Orestes’s crime of killing his mother is unfairly punished by the Athena and her men, and it reveals the injustice done to Orestes’s mother Clytaemnestra. The story starts off by Lord Apollo and the Furies arguing for the justice Clytaemnestra’s murder. Both of them have completely different view of the situation, Apollo and Orestes both argue that what the latter did was just, since Clytaemnestra killed Orestes’s father unjustly. On the other hand, the Furies wholly disagree to

It is very common for myths to have a character who is either blind, mad, or acts impulsively. From some of the most ancient works such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, through Shakespeare, and even the most common fairy tales, these common character types appear. In works such as The Oresteia, “Oedipus the King”, and the Grimm Brother's telling of “Rapunzel”, there is at least one character whose blindness, whether metaphorical or physical leads to the downfall of either themselves, or others. In The

course not, but thats the luxury of fiction. As I read the Orestes I was introduced to Clytemnestra. While trying to portray the role of the loving wife, she sat on the throne of Argos plotting her husband, Agamemnon, demise. Through the trilogy we see her character transform from the intelligent trickster to the personification of the phrase, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” But she didn’t

An archetype is an image, a descriptive detail, a plot pattern, or a type of character that occurs multiple times in myth, literature, religion, or folk lore. Archetypes often provoke emotion in the reader as they awaken an image, calling illogical responses into play. Many novels, legends, and myth are made up of archetypes which causes similarities in the plots of many novels. For example, the Helper God, the golden place, seasons and metamorphosis are archetypes that make up modern literature