Agamemnon

One of the more interesting stories told in the course was the play Agamemnon. In it, Agamemnon's wife schemes to kill her husband over the death of their daughter. The wife, Clytemnestra, plans her revenge very carefully, and when she executes it she does it with brutal efficiency. The chorus, played by all older males, reviles her for this act, and yet come to terms with her actions by the end of the play. She kills Agamemnon in a very ceremonial manner, via 3 dagger strikes, the third while praying to Zeus. Undoubtedly, she tried to emulate the same manner that her daughter was struck down. He quest for vengeance has blinded her to all other thoughts and concerns, only worrying about how she will kill Agamemnon. After the deed is done, she shows no remorse or hesitation to announce the grim results of her actions. Clytemnestra is a character who planned and schemed, until she achieved what she wanted to all along: she is portrayed as a cunning and brilliant, if somewhat deviant, woman who can be seen as a role model as to how women can be equal to men.

Agamemnon

The tragedy of Agamemnon begins with his back from Troy and ends with his murder by his wife Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra is created to be a viperous,dislikeable and vicious woman in the story. She murdered Agamemnon for fulfilling her revenge. Clytemnestra could not forgive Agamemnon because he sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia ten years ago in order to placate the goddess Artemis who had been sending contrary winds to prevent the Greek Armies from sailing to Troy. Agamemnon's behavior was improper and Iphigenia was an innocent girl. At this point, the murderer may win sympathy. However, if Agamemnon deserved to die because he was the murderer of Iphigernia, Clytemnestra also deserved "Payment of blood for blood". Thus, the tragedy is not only of Agamemnon, but also of his family.

Agamemnon

Agamemnon appears both in Iliad and Agamemnon. The Iliad deals with his quarrel with Achilles during the Trojan War where as Agamemnon tells the tragedy that goes around Agamamnon upon his return from Troy. This poem deals with the tragic backgrounds that was set up by adultry, revenge and death. And these events eventually leads to the pathetic death of Agamemnon. Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia in exchange for favourable wids in front of Greek Army. When his wife, Clytemnesrta, knew what Agamemnon had done, she seeks to avenge her daughter's death. Meanwhile, Aegisthus looks for a chance to punish Agamemnon for the crimes of Agamemnon's father Atreus against his own father Thyestes. When Agamemnon was away to the war, he seduced Clytemnestra and planned with her to murder Agamemnon when he returns. While Agamemnon was in Troy, he took a concubine named Cassandra who is the captive daughter of King Priam. Eventually, Clytemnestra ends up killing Cassadra as well as Agamemnon, describing them as lovers. Her murder was justificed as a mother who lost her daughter and seeks for revenge or a wife to punished her husband who took a mistress. She wasn't aware of her own fault of having adulterous relationship with Aegisthus...

William Chiu

The story of Agamemnon truly lives up to the genre tragedy. Throughout the story characters constantly betray one another and scheme to kill each other. Most evident of these traits would be Agamemnon's wife Clytemnestra who kills her own husband. However one cannot blame her angry for Agamemnon failed to demonstrate qualities of a father nor humanity when he decided to allow the sacrificing of his daughter for his own personal gain. His inhuman act places the story's value of women in question. We are at opposing ends when we compare the emphasis placed on the power of Clytemnestra and the lack of importance placed in the life of Agamemnon's daughter. One suggest the author values the respects the ability of women to take charge and give orders. While the other shows how women can be killed almost at will. However despite the man-like qualities exhibited by Clytemnestra, she stills demonstrates the qualities that are very stereotypical of women with her reasoning for killing her husband. One cannot help but assume that she murdered her husband and husband's lover out of angry jealousy. Agamemnon a very interesting because it did not have excessively long soliloquys. It focused on the human aspect of the characters by allowing the readers to see the emotional conflicts occurring thorughtout the story.

Agamemnon

Agamemnon's death in his self-titled play seemed very fitting to me. It was satisfying in that he was punished (in my view) fairly for his murder of his own daughter as a sacrifice to the gods. The appearance of one murder to avenge another murder fits into the pattern of "violence begets violence" quite well. I liked that Clytemneptra had the courage to avenge her daughter's death, but it didn't make me like her any more. The descriptions of her character in general didn't particularly endear her to me, especially when the chorus describes her as having masculine aims and ambitions.
As depressing and tragic as the story is, however, it is definitely clear that Aeschylus achieved his aim in making the play extremely cathartic. There are no truly happy or joyful moments in the play at all, the action and plot of the story all focuses on murder and violence. Setting up the background with Iphigenia being murdered gives a reason for Agamemnon to be murdered but also helps the viewers/readers get involved with the story by wanting him to be punished. The only emotions that the audience is supposed to feel are anger and dislike, and that's what I felt reading the play.

Agamemnon

Agamemnon is a really depressing play, which i guess is a common characteristic of a tragedy. It was hard for me to decide whose side I was one between Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. How is it fair that killing a King is so much more of a crime than killing an innocent girl. I was already a little negative towards Agamemnon from the Iliad when he was so obnoxious to Achilles. It is also understandable Clytemnestra's rage at losing a daughter at the hand of her own husband. There was no other possible revenge other than killing him, because he murder was not deemed a crime.

It is interesting how different authors take on the same characters to write about. Agamemnon shows up in the Iliad and has his own tragedy. His wife is also mentioned in the Iliad. How did these characters remain constant through different stories?

Agamemnon

The Greek Tragedy that we read this week was Agamemnon. It is about the events that take place at the Royal Palace at Argos after Agamemnon’s victory of the Trojan War. I found the use of the Chorus as the main commentators interesting. They expressed the social attitude and morals of the people in a given situation and acted as a voice for the audience on stage. Cassandra, the war prize from Troy for Agamemnon, is a peculiar character in the play. She was Apollo’s lover, and was given the gift of prophecy, but was punished by Apollo when she refused to have his child. Her punishment was that no one would believe her predictions, and this holds true when the Chorus did not believe her vision of the death of Agamemnon and herself. Overall, I enjoyed reading this tragedy and found the storyline to be entertaining.

Agamemnon

Agamemnon is a tragedy i found very interesting to read. It is about the events that happened to Agamemnon after the Trojan war. He is killed by his wife as vengeance for sacrificing their daughter in the Trojan war. One thing i found interesting in this story were the roles the women played. The women in this story unlike the epic are very strong, outspoken, very important to the stroyline and are also the main characters of the story. Cassandra can see visions and sees her and Agamemon's demise before it happens while Clytemnestra actually kills her husband. She is deceptive and plans the whole murder even before Agamemnon comes back from war. I love the roles of the two women in this story and how they stand out of the social norms of their time. However i do not really get how or why Cassandra was killed because it is not really explained in the story.

Courtney Lum

Immediately following the war, Agamemnon is a Greek tragedy that tells the story of the war hero, Agamemnon and his murder that occurs when he return home. One of the more intriguing aspects to this story is the complete lack of compassion and remorse from Clytemnestra after she murders her own husband who she hasn’t seen in 10 years. I understand that his murder was due to Agamemnon’s family curse, as well as his sacrificing his daughter for favorable conditions in the war, but what I find troubling is Clytemnestra’s defense for murdering her husband was due to infidelity, when she was cheating on him as well. I also don’t understand why Clytemnestra felt it necessary to kill Cassandra as well, I suppose it’s due to the fact that she was in a sense, the other woman. Overall, Agamemnon was a great Greek play in which the characters explored the ideas of revenge and tragedy.

Agamemnon

Agamemnon is a Greek tragedy that takes place in the time period immediately following the Trojan war. The story opens with the chorus describing the events of the past 10 years, which refers to the story in the Iliad. In the tragedy, Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter, Iphigenia, to the god Artemis in order to obtain his favor for the greek fleet. Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, is completely angered by this decision and is determined to seek revenge on her husband. She pretends to be happy upon his arrival, which is just a front until she kills both Agamemnon and Cassandra. Aegisthus also sought revenge on Agamemnon and joins Clytemnestra once she commits the murders. The entire tragedy occurs in the same place so that the drama or action can be as concentrated as possible. The tragedy also employs the use of dramatic irony, since the audience already knows what will happen before it actually occurs. Agamemnon is essentially a story of revenge prompted by the sacrifice made by Agamemnon.

Margaret Yoon

Agamemnon, a Greek tragedy by Aeschylus, became more intriguing as the plot unfolded. I liked the character of Cassandra because she was a little mysterious, for her prophesying abilities, granted by Apollo, told of her and Agamemnon’s fates long before in dialogue before the Clytemnestra actually kills them. This however, strangely did not take away from the suspense and tension that heightens towards the impending murders. Revenge is a recurring theme, for Agamemnon goes to war to avenge the abduction of Helen, his brother’s wife; Clytemnestra kills her husband because Agamemnon is stained by the blood of their daughter’s death; Aegisthus plans Agamemnon’s death to avenge the wrongs Agamemnon’s father, Atreus, committed by tricking Aegisthus’ father, Thyestes, into eating his own children; and Cassandra foretells Clytemnestra that her son Orestes will avenge her for Agamemnon’s death.

When the Chorus fears a flood, evident in its dread that “the deluge is in store” (line 1535), I saw a parallel to the creation myths, especially Genesis, for God brings about the flood to cleanse man’s sin. I interpret the Chorus’ dread as the gods potentially destroying Clytemnestra for killing her husband, as well as delivering punishment to undue sin in general.

I did not like how Aegisthus is so cold-hearted and rude to the elders, for he threatens to punish them for chastising him in planning Agamemnon’s death. I think he is too strong-headed and blind in his desire for revenge.

Agamemnon

In the play Agamemnon it is obvious that the chorus plays a vital role in the development of the events. The chorus spends a lot of time sharing the details of the actions, much more than what is spent actually acting out the play. Also another obvious detail of the play is the portrayal of Clytemnestra as a very strong, almost male-like, character. I found this to be unusual considering women’s words and feelings are often times suppressed within texts and are presented as inferior to men. I feel because of her depiction as such a strong individual with such a vengeful purpose throughout the play, she steals the attention from many of the other characters. The play consists of drama that I found myself eager to see unveil as I read.

Agamemnon

I liked reading the Greek tragedies that I read in high school, I read Oedipus and Antigone. Agamemnon is hard to get through because the chorus talks for longs periods of time. Even a live performance of this play would be difficult to keep paying attention to because there would be no action happening on stage, basically just the chorus lecturing the audience on past events. I'm not sure how I feel about Clytemnestra. She is a strong character, and is continually compared to a man, which is seems in Greek history and social society would be a positive thing, however, she is head strong and selfish and will do anything to get what she, regardless of whether or not it is good for the country. It is crazy to think though that Agamemnon, he husband, was gone for 10 years! Most people would have moved on, but i guess during ancient wars it was more common for men to be gone long periods of time.

William Chiu

I found this poem to be the easiest read of all the poems we have encountered in the semester so far. It was also very convenient to have had read the other stories before concerning the details of the war in Troy. This gave me much needed insight into any parts that I found slightly confusing considering how the story actually begins with dialogue that requires prior knowledge to be aware of the happenings. The story also contains the names of many Greek beings such as the stories before. It becomes frustrating at times to try to remember all of the characters and their role and importance to the plot. Despite the appearance of so many characters, the spotlight is on Clytemnestra in a poem that is titled Agamemnon. The poem gives much needed support for women during the Greek times. Contrary to the depiction of women as weak and inferior to men in every way, Agamemnon shows us a wife who is clearly a man in all her characteristics if sex is not taken into account. This role reversal in addition to the well written translation makes the story a very enjoyable read in comparison to Ramayana.

Agamemnon

Agamemnon was an interesting play. It was definitely different from any of the modern plays I've seen in that the chorus has such a large part explaining and narrating. It seems like the play is more dependent on the chorus than on the actual characters to expound everything. The play seems very short, especially when you consider that no sooner does Cassandra get to Agamemnon's palace and realize the history of the place and her impending death, than it happens. She arrives and prophesizes her own death and Agamemnon's at the hand of Clytemnestra for revenge of the daughter sacrificed, then immediately goes into the palace and is killed. I felt a lot of pity for her since she knew what was going to happen. I didn't feel a lot of pity for Clytemnestra. Yes, Agamemnon killed her daughter, so I understand why she killed him for that, but it seems hypocritical that she also murders Cassandra because she was sleeping with her husband when she herself is friendly with Aegisthus.

Willie Ho

I discovered Agamemnon to be an enjoyable play. It is hard to believe we use this as a form of education when it was previously, at the time it was written, wrote for the purpose of entertainment. The play was filled with duplicity and many turns of events. What I like most about the Greek tragedy was the chorus. The chorus never failed to supply me with the information needed to understand the next scene completely. Sometimes the chorus went on for pages and it got rather annoying because I often wondered whether I missed a name somewhere in the middle because maybe someone else could have been saying the lines. While the chorus remained informative, the individual lines of the characters were much more entertaining because it was more like a conversation than the monotone chorus.

I would also like to note some oddities of the play. For a play titled "Agamemnon," Agamemnon himself does not appear as much as I thought. Rather, Clytemnestra appears the most. Clytemnestra and Agamemnon don't seem to match as husband and wife. They speak to each other so formally. Clytemnestra seems to be more affectionate to Aegisthus.

On a random note, it was kind of funny when Agamemnon was being killed and he says, "Help! I'm struck again!" But then T realized that violence was not shown on stage so he probably had to narrate it and it wasn't funny after that.

Courtney Lum

What was most confusing about the play Agamemnon was remembering the names of each character and their relationships to each other, but besides that I found Aeschylus’s play to be an enjoyable and interesting read. One of my favorite things about all Greek (more so Athenian) literature is that each text connects to one another to tell a collective tale about one significant event. For example, the Iliad focuses on Agamemnon and Achilles’ quarrel during the Trojan War, Aeschylus’s play Agamemnon actually deals with the king coming home from the Trojan War and his murder, while the Odyssey begins after Agamemnon’s death and his son, Orestes has avenged his death. These are three different texts from two different authors that all cover the same range of a time period, which therefore creates a complete, detailed collection of that time period that is extremely thorough.

agamemnon

After I read Shakespearian Play during my high school year, I never had chance to read any other types of Plays such as Greek Tragedy. As the title suggests, this play is about Agamemnon who is the king of Argos and has a wife named Clytemenestra. From Iliad that I previously read in class, Agamemnon was already known as the commander of the Trojan War which was caused by the abduction of Helen. I could have find some overlapping plots between Iliad and Agamemnon as the chorus talks about abduction of Helen by Paris and the beginning of the ten years of war between Greece and Troy. Although stories are told in similar form as other epical poems, it was easier for me to imagine the scenes and enjoy reading the play more. I haven’t finished the chapter yet but I can’t wait to find out what tragic events that Agamemnon will face.

Felicia Ooi; Agamemnon

Agamemnon was an interesting read. It gave me more insight into Agamemnon's story. I did not like his character in the Iliad and this tragedy did not portray Agamemnon in a more favorable light. The Chorus basically narrates the story starting from how Paris stole Helen from Menelaus and started off the Trojan War. What I don't understand is why Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon for being "unfaithful" cheating on her with Cassandra when she herself was having an affair with Aegisthus, who is Agamemnon's cousin. Once again, the gods are shown to play a very big part in the struggles between mortals.

Agamemnon

Agamemnon was an enjoyable Greek Tragedy to read. I thought the translation was very easy to understand and simple to decipher its meaning. The main theme seen throughout the play is the idea of justice, and how it’s served to those who transgress. The Chorus questions whether it was just for so many Greek lives to be lost over the sake of one woman. Also, later on in the play, the Chorus has accepted the attack of Troy, but feel the Greeks must moderate how badly they damage the city, because if they are too destructive, their acts become unjust and will be punished for their excess. Gender is another theme seen in Agamemnon. Ancient Greece is a patriarchal society, and the Chorus frequently refers to women as irrational, deceitful, and inattentive of the facts. However, her careful and rational planning of the murder of her husband disproves the irrational stereotype, while reinforcing deceit.