Preview

Clytemnestra Duty In Agamemnon's Sacrifice

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
200 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Clytemnestra Duty In Agamemnon's Sacrifice
The taking one life for another is not justifiable. Despite the fact that it is wrong for Agamemnon to sacrifice Iphigenia to gain favorable winds for his battleships, it is not Clytemnestra duty to take it upon herself to rectify the situation by murdering Agamemnon. Although Clytemnestra truly believes her act of vengeance is “...the fulfillment of Justice...”, (line 998) she is incorrect. Justice is served blindly and should be distributed objectively and impartially. Though Clytemnestra is a grown woman, capable of telling right from wrong, she is unable to clearly judge the situation due to her clouded emotions. Rather than acting upon careful judgement, she acts upon instinct, to punish Agamemnon. Ironically, by taking Agamemnon's life,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    People suffer for many different reasons, and they cope with the suffering the only way they know how. In addition, sometimes people seek their own justice for their suffering. There is always controversy about what is justified and what is not. In Oresteia, Aeschylus portrays suffering for many characters; however, Clytemnestra suffers the most. Therefore, Aeschylus illustrates Clytemnestra’s suffering when her husband is at war, and then to add to that suffering, the sacrifice of her daughter, so she murders Agamemnon claiming it was justifiable in avenge for…

    • 894 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Following this, Odysseus killed him. He was justified for the acts that he did. As well this is in ancient Greece where people killed each other and thought nothing of it. A man’s life is not precious and valued as it is today.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    that her extreme family loyalty drives her to sacrifice herself, but her dialogue with the other…

    • 1310 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is Eratosthenes Guilty

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages

    1b. In 1b it sates “If so, were the actions of Euphiletos of Oea, resulting in the death of Eratosthenes of Oea, justified by Section 11 of the Laws of Athens?” The act of Euphiletos was not justified because he should have not killed Eratosthenes. Euphiletos says he did this in the heat of the moment and that he felt that Eratosthenes had corrupted his wife and brought shame to his family and insulted him but in fact this did not happen in the heat of the moment. This is a case of premeditation. Euphiletos has hated Eratosthenes from the beginning. The old women who had spoken to Euphiletos had said, “The person who is disgracing you and your wife happens to be our mutual enemy.” Notice that the women had said “mutual enemy” meaning that Euphiletos had…

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the state of liminality, Agamemnon is given the choice of returning Chryseis back to the priest of Apollo, Chryses, who offered a ransom for his kidnapped daughter. The king of Mycenae is aware of the choices he makes: in one way if he returns Chryseis to her father he will be looked down as a coward who lost empowerment of beauty and in the other hand if he does so, he would become a good leader by not endangering the lives of his soldiers. However due to his character and pride, Agamemnon decides to keep the crucible of beauty as he believes nothing is more powerful than empowerment. His ugly decision showed that he wasn’t making any contributions to the community, which follows to the second phase of the king’s rite of passage.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Very few things in life are entirely one-sided, with the clear and unbiased result being obvious. Life in general is much more complex, with multiple viewpoints and intricacies being required in order to have a grasp on the reality of a situation. In Sophocles’s Antigone this fact still holds true. Antigone and Kreon are locked in an argument over the burial of her brother, Polyneices, with Antigone going against the law set up by Kreon and burying her brother. Both have their views and reasons for the way they act. Despite this, Antigone deserves more sympathy for her actions. She bases her actions on honor and dignity, while Kreon appears to play the role of an overbearing and cruel leader.…

    • 1054 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “I intend to give my brother burial. I’ll be glad to die in the attempt,-if it’s a crime, then it’s a crime that God commands.” Antigone wishes not to allow her brother to go without burial. She is a brave woman, enough to attempt the burial herself even if it is against the laws of Creon. Antigone was the daughter of Oedipus, and the sister of Ismene, Polyneices, and Eteocles. She chooses to live under the laws of the gods rather than her living king and father of her fiance. She wishes not to overrule the king, but to show respect for the dead if they were to be respected while living or not. There should always be someone to show respect and to be respected equally because the people chose to, not because they have no other choice. Antigone…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The events surrounding Hamlet’s life are far more explored than those in Agamemnon. Though we learn that Agamemnon’s family members are traitors, Hamlet’s family members have sadder, more twisted intentions that we learn about in more detail. We don’t know that Agamemnon was a generally ‘good’ person because we do not delve into his personality the way we do with Hamlet. It is clear that Hamlet was indeed a ‘good’ person who had love for his father. The surrounding events where Claudius, his uncle, kills Hamlet’s father for power and his mother marries Claudius were alone enough to watch our protagonist’s quick and sudden downfall commence. As any ‘good’ person would, Hamlet’s responses to these events surrounding his life were painful, mad, and full of self-doubt.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The death of a child is traumatic especially for a parent. The pain and devastation they feel is overwhelming, as immediate emotions all come together. In the play, Agamemnon, Agamemnon makes this experience a reality. He has two options and he had to choose one: he either had to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia and if he didn’t do this, all his troops on board would die. In order to save the life of his troops on board, “he dared to sacrifice his daughter, a first offering to bless the fleet, to fight that woman-revenging war” (Agamemnon 225-7). Although Iphigenia pleaded to his father not to harm her he took the action and got his men to hang her up on the altar, like a goat about to get sacrificed. Agamemnon thought this was the best decision…

    • 266 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It seems as though, as soon as the gods introduce and permit a certain illegal action, the actors dutifully carry out the crimes, which often include very personal domestic violence, in the name of the “greater good.” For Agamemnon, it is almost understandable – I could see how he, as a ruler, may need to prioritize the survival of his empire over his daughter and make the utilitarian choice for the “greater good.” But does he consider his wife, the mother of his child? He acts with impunity because a god said his ships would perform better, and that was apparently all he needed. But for Orestes, his decision to kill his mother in order to restore some type of honor for his father is extreme. Apollo said it was okay, then Orestes decided to murder her because he was convinced it was the right thing to do, which Athena agrees with. Her vote results in an overall split vote and Orestes is acquitted, even though the Chorus says he “is meddling in matters of blood, and it is not your…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sophocles and Euripides have provoked audiences for centuries to question what constitutes ‘justice’. Watching the various events onstage, spectators are led to ask if a definitive form of justice exists in these plays, or whether notions of justice in a world such as mankind’s are absurd. Furthermore, by presenting cases where ‘justice’ is claimed to be enacted by a character or force (generally the gods), the playwrights encourage speculation as to whether the punishments delivered are reasonable. In this essay I intend, through an analysis of the two works (focusing especially on the characters Creon and Antigone), to emphasise how both playwrights address similar themes and concerns on the subject, yet arrive at different conclusions. Sophocles’ Antigone concludes on a note of hope, demonstrating some belief in the existence of a definitive, at least partially rational (if mysterious) system of justice and punishment. Conversely, Euripides’ The Bacchae is deliberately shaped so that what is emphasised is the possible conclusion that life contains an…

    • 4322 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Helen In The Odyssey

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It has been said that Agamemnon is the most unfortunate character in the Odyssey, but truthfully, Clytemnestra had to witness her husband’s death, and suffer the consequences for the murder her lover…

    • 900 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wild Revenge in Medea

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Revenge is a kind of wild justice. Throughout many texts, the notion of justice has been debated on whether it is an act that vindicates those who have been wronged or an excuse to pursue revenge. Through Medea, Medea’s actions have been judged and criticised whether her murders are an act of justice that she deserves or simply the idea of inflicting pain on those she loathes.…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Clytemnestra Deception

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Her speeches play out deep ironic deception, intending the opposite of what is said, while simultaneously revealing a deeper and more complex layer in her manipulation of Agamemnon. Strange as it may seem that Clytemnestra’s words ring true, but that is because there is truth in them. When she wishes her husband find her faithful to the house as she was the day he left, she is not lying. When she describes herself as a “watchdog” of the house she truly means that. But none of this directs towards Agamemnon.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In Euripidies play, Medea, Although both Medea and Jason committed wrongs, Medea’s acts of revenge ultimately make her more guilty than Jason. Medea, in a desperate act for justice, acted out in many murders, killing the ones closest to her. Jason, blinded by his desire for power, left Medea, leading to the series of events that followed. There is a evident difference in audience opinion, the traditional audience would have seen Medea far guiltier, whereas the modern audience could see guilt in both of them.…

    • 291 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays