To answer this question, we need to consider both Clytemnestra's and Agamemnon's sides in The Oresteia. Agamemnon was murdered by his wife as revenge for killing their daughter, Iphigeneia. However, Agamemnon felt that sacrificing his child was necessary; the goddess Artemis would not allow the Greek army to sail unless a sacrifice was made.
A sacrifice was necessary due to Artemis' anger at Agamemnon; he killed one of her sacred, precious deer, and as revenge, she will not allow winds of Thrace to blow until a sacrifice is delivered. The victim of the sacrifice is revealed to be Iphigeneia, and Agaemnon must decide whether to kill her or not.
"Pain both ways and what is worse?
Desert the fleets, fail the alliance?
No, but stop the winds with a virgin's blood,
feed their lust, their Fury?" (211-214).
His sense of duty overwhelms the love he has for Iphiagenia, and he determines that without the sacrifice, there will be no safe passage to Troy.
This decision to sacrifice his daughter provokes Clytaemnestra into wanting to kill her husband as a means for revenge. She states that his decision is unacceptable - he could have saved Iphiagenia - and she plans to strike back with vengeance.
"Architect of vengeance
with no fear of the husband
here she waits
the terror raging back and back in the future
the stealth, the law of the hearth, the mother -
memory womb of the Fury child-avenging Fury!" (150-156).
Clytaemnestra planned the murder of her husband for the ten years he was away at war. The queen believes that justice needs to be served for her daughter. The only justice that would appease Clytaemnestra is to kill her Agamemnon - "the law of the hearth." She points out the chorus after the murder that Iphigeneia did not deserve to die; Agamemnon, as the man responsible for killing their daughter, deserves to be murdered.
"I brooded on this trial, this ancient blood fued
year by year. At last my hour came.
Here I stand and here I struck
and here my work is done.
I did it all. I don't deny it, no.
He had no way to flee or fight his destiny -" (1395-1401).
"He thought no more of it than killing a beast,
and his flocks were rich, teeming in their fleece,
but he sacrificed his own child, our daughter." (1440-1442).
Thus, back to our question: Did Agamemnon deserve to die? Combined with the evidence against him as well as extensive reading of The Oresteia, Agamemnon received just punishment for his actions. Had he not killed Artemis' precious deer, had he not sacrificed his own child, Agamemnon would have deserved to live. Yet, his actions sealed his fate, and he paid the price.
A sacrifice was necessary due to Artemis' anger at Agamemnon; he killed one of her sacred, precious deer, and as revenge, she will not allow winds of Thrace to blow until a sacrifice is delivered. The victim of the sacrifice is revealed to be Iphigeneia, and Agaemnon must decide whether to kill her or not.
"Pain both ways and what is worse?
Desert the fleets, fail the alliance?
No, but stop the winds with a virgin's blood,
feed their lust, their Fury?" (211-214).
His sense of duty overwhelms the love he has for Iphiagenia, and he determines that without the sacrifice, there will be no safe passage to Troy.
This decision to sacrifice his daughter provokes Clytaemnestra into wanting to kill her husband as a means for revenge. She states that his decision is unacceptable - he could have saved Iphiagenia - and she plans to strike back with vengeance.
"Architect of vengeance
with no fear of the husband
here she waits
the terror raging back and back in the future
the stealth, the law of the hearth, the mother -
memory womb of the Fury child-avenging Fury!" (150-156).
Clytaemnestra planned the murder of her husband for the ten years he was away at war. The queen believes that justice needs to be served for her daughter. The only justice that would appease Clytaemnestra is to kill her Agamemnon - "the law of the hearth." She points out the chorus after the murder that Iphigeneia did not deserve to die; Agamemnon, as the man responsible for killing their daughter, deserves to be murdered.
"I brooded on this trial, this ancient blood fued
year by year. At last my hour came.
Here I stand and here I struck
and here my work is done.
I did it all. I don't deny it, no.
He had no way to flee or fight his destiny -" (1395-1401).
"He thought no more of it than killing a beast,
and his flocks were rich, teeming in their fleece,
but he sacrificed his own child, our daughter." (1440-1442).
Thus, back to our question: Did Agamemnon deserve to die? Combined with the evidence against him as well as extensive reading of The Oresteia, Agamemnon received just punishment for his actions. Had he not killed Artemis' precious deer, had he not sacrificed his own child, Agamemnon would have deserved to live. Yet, his actions sealed his fate, and he paid the price.
What were Agamemnon's options? Would he have been killed either way? If he had not killed his daughter, and Artemis' wrath was never sustained, how would the people of his land have reprecused against him? What is the real cause of Agamemnon's death: killing his daughter, or killing the deer? Did he reap the consequences of his real crime, or of the fall out of his wrong-doings? If his death was justified, then how would the results of Orestes' trial be explained? The web of this family is tangled to tightly to make sense to us. The deaths of all of these characters can be both justified and not in their own ways. Yet, all of this chaos is a direct result of a hunt's kill, and a couple of crazy Greeks.
ReplyDelete