Agamemnon example essay topic

Agamemnon's Return In GreekAgamemnon's Return Essay, Research Paper In Greek poetry, the story of Agamemnon's return from the Trojan War is dramatized by Aeschylus in the Oresteia. Agamemnon has gone to war to fight for the return of Helen, who was taken by Paris, the Prince of Troy. All of the Greeks leave to wage war on Troy, and Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife, is left at home to await the return of her husband. In his triumphant return to the city, there is a speech given by Clytemnestra that allows a critical reader to decipher the queen's intentions toward her husband, as well as the future outcome of the play.

In the beginning of the play we learn that Agamemnon had sacrificed his own daughter in order to give the army of Greece sailing winds that would bring them to Troy. Ten years have passed and Clytemnestra, who was heart broken over it, has brooded and plotted over her husband's betrayal. Her seething hatred of her husband for killing her daughter has driven her to plan for his overthrow and his death. The King has come home and Clytemnestra has given a long speech to welcome him back. Agamemnon acts as though he is suspicious about her speech saying, "your speech was like my absence, too long' (35). This is strange to me because he has not seen her in ten years and is immediately suspicious of her.

Perhaps she is trying too hard and her husband sees through it and wonders why. He could remember her anger at the murder of his daughter and for that reason he is being cautious. Or perhaps Agamemnon is just being overly concerned with what the people will think. He later says that the "voice of the people carries enormous power' (36). If he were to accept her false accolades it might upset the people and the Gods, for she would like him to do something that is taboo: walking upon a tapestry. This too could account for his strange response to her homecoming speech.

For Clytemnestra's part in this, she is obviously lying to her husband blatantly. She talks about her love for him and says that she has laid out this great tapestry for him to walk in on because of his greatness. It is clear to the audience that she does not love her husband, and that the tapestry is merely to fool him, to make him think that he is safe at home. This is not entirely the case though. Clytemnestra does not succeed in fooling Agamemnon completely, as his suspicious response indicates. In her speech Clytemnestra sneaks in a number of well placed and telling clues about her true feelings and intentions.

She tells everyone that she feels no shame of her love for "the man'. This could say two things: that she feels no shame about her adultery with Aegisthus, or that she feels no shame for what she is about to do. Clytemnestra also comments that if all the rumors of Agamemnon's death were true then he would "have more holes in him than a net' (33). This is curious because in a few moments she is about to give kill her husband by stabbing him to death. Likewise, Clytemnestra states that she has been crying constantly and has no more tears. While this is true, it has not been for her husband but for her dead daughter.

In addition to this, she adds that their child is not with her but gone (with someone else). She makes Agamemnon think that she is talking about their son Orestes, but this could be read also to suggest Iphigenia. There are many clues that can be read to foreshadow that she is angry, and intent on revenge. What is particularly interesting is the conversation where Clytemnestra is trying to convince Agamemnon to walk on the beautiful tapestry. Agamemnon says "the thought of stepping / on these beautiful embroideries fills me with dread' (35).

She responds with "Then trust your judgment ' (35). While she may have intended to communicate a different meaning, the audience would not be amiss if they were to take her words to intimate a warning to Agamemnon to heed his feelings of dread. Along with these peculiar words are the concession by Agamemnon to walk on the tapestry in spite of his feigned resistance. Agamemnon: You really want your victory in this contest?

Clytemnestra: Be persuaded, you have the power, surrender of your own free will, to me. Little did Agamemnon know that the contest that Clytemnestra was intent on winning was a lot more threatening to him that whether or not to walk on a tapestry. In addition to this, her appeal to him to give in to her, and to surrender of his own free will was meant to imply that he should surrender his very life to her. There were numerous different insights into the plot of the queen of Argos.

She was cunning enough to weave hints throughout her conversation with her husband, and still convince him that she was welcoming him home with arms wide open. Much like a movie where you can see the bad guy behind the door and you want to yell "look out' to the characters on the screen, you could see this coming and could only wait to see how Agamemnon would respond to Clytemnestra's hints. Yet in this, I almost feel as though Agamemnon deserved it for the murder of his own daughter. Agamemnon should have paid more attention to the warnings about the fury of a woman scorned.