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Comparing the Portrayal of Clytemnestra in Agamemnon and Electra
In both Electra and Agamemnon, Euripides and Aeschylus have chosen to represent Clytemnestra as a complex character being neither all bad nor all good - the signature of a sophisticated playwright. In Agamemnon, Clytemnestra is a morbidly obsessive woman, utterly consumed by the murder of her daughter for which the audience cannot help but sympathise; she is capable only of vengeance. In the Electra, Clytemnestra is placed in an even more sympathetic light, victimised by her own daughter who in turn is driven by an obsessive desire, similar to that of her mother's, to avenge her father's death.
In ancient plays and epics, the name of
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Clytemnestra's power was respected but may nevertheless have been seen by the chorus as beyond her role as a woman. The watchman also compares Clytemnestra to a man in the first description of her given to us, "That woman - she manoeuvres like a man."
Clytemnestra's ability to 'manoeuvre' is also an attribute dwelt upon. Clytemnestra obtains what she wants by devious means, relying upon herself to manoeuvre around others, "I'll gather all I need." Another example of her guile is her system of beacons she invents so that she may be the first to know the end of the Trojan War. She clearly delights in her own cunning and makes sure that everyone appreciates her ingenuity, "I ordained it all." Clytemnestra's intellect is clear throughout Agamemnon but especially clever is her idea of persuading her husband to walk upon the sacred tapestries which would incur the gods' wrath and justify her murder. This method Clytemnestra thought of may however indicate more than her intellect. Clytemnestra's need to incur the gods' wrath may expose the first and last instance of self-doubt in the Agamemnon. Clytemnestra must feel deep down
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This is clearly Electra's view of her mother's actions displayed in Electra.
Electra tells us that Clytemnestra is a cruel, pitiless, woman; a killer of her own husband who deserves to be punished for her actions. All of these assertions hold truth; she is indeed a cruel and pitiless killer, plotting for years and then finally rejoicing over Agamemnon's death. However, Clytemnestra arouses more pity than terror in Euripides' Electra. She displays none of the dominant qualities of Aeschylus' queenly murderess and is even portrayed as being weak and scared of public opinion; a far cry from Clytemnestra's defiant words of "Praise me, blame me as you choose. It's all one," to the men of Argossymbolised by the chorus. In Electra Clytemnestra reveals that the repercussions of the murder do emotionally affect her, "I know my tongue is sometimes bitter; that's because I'm spoken of as a bad woman." We are told in this way that she is often bitter, but in every instance, Clytemnestra's speech is gentle and sets a contrast
All throughout the Roman comedy Cleostrata’s power over her husband Lysidamus and her ability to embarrass him is painfully obvious. In the beginning of Act II, when Cleostrata is going to visit Myrrhina her slave Pardalisca informs her that Lysidamus wants lunch ready for when he returns home. Cleostrata’s responded “I will not get things ready, and not a thing shall be cooked this day, either … I’ll punish him, the gallant – with hunger, thirst, hard words, hard treatment, - oh, I’ll punish him” (Casina, 150-155). Clearly, Cleostrata accurately illustrates the type of “unmastered creature” Marcus Porcius Cato
10. And indeed Clytemnestra could be seen as a physical agent of the principle of revenge in her killing of Agamemnon.
When a person is accused of a crime they are either found innocent or guilty. This is the basic idea of justice and it is what many feel needs to happen if someone has done something controversial. In the play The Oresteia by Aeschylus, the story of Clytemnestra guilt or innocents is questioned. She does many things that people are not too happy with and those controversial actions throughout the story, mainly in the first part Agamemnon get her into the trouble. As we explore the case that builds against her innocents by exploring the killings of Agamemnon and Cassandra and the boastful expression about the killings.
Lysistrata is portrayed as a typical commander of war that gives orders and does not take part in the war. While being the mastermind behind the sex strike, she is able to separate her self from the other women in her ability to resist her attraction for men. The women are used as pawns by this cunning and powerful, Lysistrata, who is victorious in establishing peace in Greece.
Clytemnestra is portrayed in the Oresteia as a heavily emasculated character, with male traits such as ambition, cunning and strong manipulation of language, and a lack of the traditional female traits of submissiveness and modesty. She seeks to defend
For as long as humans have roamed the Earth, misogyny has been an everyday part of life. Some countries have handled it better than others, but misogyny faces every community. In Euripides tragedy Medea, the main character Medea struggles with the misogynistic views constantly facing the society in which she resides. Euripides uses Medea to convey misogyny.
... She was powerless to act otherwise. She was not a respected military leader like her husband. She couldn't bring him to court or change destiny in any other way. So, as a mother, she did what she felt she had to do. She acted for the justice of her child and her sex. When Agamemnon ordered the soldiers to put the bit in Iphigeneia's mouth before her sacrifice, it was because he didn't want to hear the cries of his daughter dying. Clytemnestra, however, forced her husband and the rest of Greece to hear the cries, the cries of the pained women and deal with the situation he did nothing to mend. For this she would be condemned, but because of her powerlessness, for this she was justified.
Medea and Lysistrata are two Greek literatures that depict the power which women are driven to achieve in an aim to defy gender inequality. In The Medea, Medea is battling against her husband Jason whom she hates. On the other hand, in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the protagonist Lysistrata plotted to convince and organize the female gender to protest against the stubbornness of men. In terms of defining the purpose of these two literatures, it is apparent that Euripedes and Aristophanes created characters that demonstrate resistance against the domination of men in the society.
Killing the person responsible for one of your family member's deaths is Athenian justice. This type of lethal justice is executed by Orestes and Electra. Before proceeding to the house of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, they plot the murder of their father's murderers. They decide Orestes will murder his mother, and Electra will dispose of Aegisthus. Orestes is the most focused of the two; but Electra, although timid in the beginning, is the most masculine. Both of these personality traits are key to their plan coming to fruition. Once her brother devises the plan, Electra verbally encourages him to follow through with it. After thrusting his blade into Clytemnestra only once, Electra cries that "[i]f thou beest a man, [s]trike twice!" (Sophocles 5...
SHAHRAZAD: Please join us Griselda; I am glad you could come to the party. I heard about the current events between you and your husband; I am glad that everything worked out in the end.
After coming out of the house with blood stained hands while announcing her murder, all the Chorus can do is talk about what a great loss they suffer. They accuse Klytaimestra for being a backstabber, and tell her she should be punished. When Klytaimestra defends her actions by pointing out how Agamemnon killed her daughter, they ignore her and keep mourning. Even though they can see with their own eyes that Klytaimestra killed her husband and Cassandra, they still refuse to really listen to her, as if they do not want to believe that a woman committed the murder of their almighty king.
Euripides and Sophocles wrote their own versions of the Electra story. The basic plot is as follows: Agamemnon is killed by Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus after he returns from the Trojan war to reclaim his sister-in-law Helen from the Trojans. Electra and her brother Orestes. plot to kill their mother and her lover to revenge his death. Both authors wrote about the same plot, but the story built very. differently. Sophocles focused on Orestes, and Euripides focused more.
In Aeschylus’ Agamemnon there are many different opinions about what kind of king and commander Agamemnon was. Some argued that he was good, while others dispute that his motives were wrong. Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife, gained a strong hatred for him, after he sacrificed his own daughter so he could go to war. Many believe that this was not necessary and could have been overcome. The chorus seems to agree with this to an extent, and feels that Agamemnon could have prayed and requested that he not sacrifice his daughter.
After Agamemnon’s death, Aegisthus is next in line to become king and Clytemnestra is his queen. Her desire for power is hidden by her claims of justification. She challenges anyone to take her power. “[H]e who conquers me in fair fight shall rule me” (45). She threatens the Chorus to a fight for power. She knows she has all the power now the king was dead and she is his queen. Clytemnestra is aware she killed him for his power, but her arrogance makes her put the deed on the curse of the House of Atreus and vengeance for
In the play Agamemnon, Aeschylus depiction of gender roles are both typical and atypical of a standard male or female behavior in the culture and era because male characters in ancient Greece resemble the powerful nature of a warrior. They are seen as the head of the household where the male role is to go out and do hard labour to provide for the family and bring honor to the country, while females are to stay home to tend the kids and do house chores. This is most typical when looking at the gender role in Ancient Greece. Female characters are dependent to the status of the male characters. In the play, Clytemnestra hold great power because of her title as the queen of Greece and wife of Agamemnon. Although male characters are significant in the play, female characters such as Clytemnestra and Cassandra depicted by Aeschylus are complex for numerous reasons. First, Cassandra is a very different character, since she was given the ability to tell and predict the future. Her role in the play is symbolic because of her given ability and her constant struggle in the Trojan War. Cassandra went through rape, war, losing her family and abducted to a kingdom cursed by the Greek gods. Her persistent characteristic make her a powerful female character as equal and symbolic as other male characters in the play. However, the reader must understand that in ancient Greece, the cultural mythology of Greek gods and goddesses is primary to understanding the text. The gods hold the greatest power of all. Apollo is a popular god in Greek for his passion to give unnatural power to humanity. Cassandra was chosen by Apollo to inherit the ability of comprehending prophecies. When Apollo has fallen in love with Cassandra, but she refuses, he cursed her ...