Compare And Contrast Agamemnon And Clytemnestra

In Aeschylus’ The Agamemnon, Agamemnon and his wife Clytemnestra both took controversial actions. Though their actions were made due to unorthodox circumstances, neither of their actions could be justified. Both Agamemnon’s and Clytemnestra’s actions were made to benefit their own hubristic agendas, despite their claims otherwise. Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia so he could gain glory for both him and his army. Later, Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon due to a thirst for power, not as an act of retribution for her late daughter. In addition to their tainted motives, both Agamemnon and Clytemnestra possessed the presumptuous notion that their actions would go unpunished. Aeschylus clearly explicated the idea that both Agamemnon and

Clytemnestra were guilty of their crimes.
When given the choice, Agamemnon is not hesitant to chose the respect of his army of the life of his daughter Iphigenia. Due to the initial spilt blood of the innocent, Agamemnon was able to sail his army to Troy, where he tactlessly killed many more innocent people in battle. Through the Chorus, Aeschylus expressed his disapproval of Agamemnon’s actions, saying that “to put faith in the shedding of blood is an obstinate delusion, whose base suggestion is the beginning of sin” (Aeschylus 20). Agamemnon claimed to have no other choice in a meager attempt to justify his pusillanimous actions. Though Agamemnon returns to Argos victorious, his good fortune is simply masquerade of reality. No good was able to come from the evil act of killing his Iphigenia.
Clytemnestra rose above her stations as a woman when she assumed the position of a man during Agamemnon’s absence. To maintain her status, Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon, using the slaughter of their daughter as a false motive. She said that the killing of Agamemnon was rationalized because she was an instrument of the blood feud, therefore had to avenge her daughter’s death.