What is the role of Clytemnestra in Agamemnon?
The play’s protagonist, Clytemnestra is Agamemnon’s wife and has ruled Argos in his absence. She plans his murder with ruthless determination, and feels no guilt after his death; she is convinced of her own rectitude and of the justice of killing the man who killed her daughter.
What kind of person is Clytemnestra?
Clytemnestra is shown as an independent woman, with the strength and intelligence of a man, who has ruled a country in her husband’s place for 10 years. It is only fitting that her act of vengeance be completed with a man’s weapon.
What is Clytemnestra known for?
Clytemnestra is one of the main characters in Aeschylus’s Oresteia, and is central to the plot of all three parts. She murders Agamemnon in the first play, and is murdered herself in the second. Her death then leads to the trial of Orestes by a jury composed of Athena and 12 Athenians in the final play.
What sort of woman is Clytemnestra?
Electra tells us that Clytemnestra is a cruel, pitiless, woman, a killer of her own husband who deserves to be punished for her actions. According to Electra, Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon so that she could be with Aegisthus.
How would you describe Clytemnestra?
Clytemnestra is decisive, resolute, and aggressive, and her femininity is often called into question. However, she is able mask her anger in public moments in order to carry out her revenge plot. The nobility of her revenge is complicated by her affair with Aegisthus.
What is Clytemnestra The Queen of?
Clytemnestra Queen of Mycenae By marrying Agamemnon, Clytemnestra would become Queen of Mycenae, for Tyndareus and his Spartan army aided Agamemnon and Menelaus in forcing Thyestes off of the throne of Mycenae, in whose place Agamemnon became king.
Why did Clytemnestra marry Agamemnon?
Clytemnestra’s First Husband Tyndareus would have killed the murderer of his son-in-law and grandson, but when the king of Sparta came upon Agamemnon, Agamemnon was on his knees praying to the gods, and taken by the piety, Tyndareus decided not to kill Agamemnon, and instead Agamemnon and Clytemnestra were wed.
How does Clytemnestra act like a man?
Nearly every male character in the play criticizes Clytemnestra for exhibiting qualities associated with men, and in the end, these very qualities—decisiveness, aggression, and sense of justice—are in fact what allow her to carry out her revenge plot.
Did Agamemnon cheat on Clytemnestra?
Clytemnestra never forgave Agamemnon for sacrificing her daughter, and at the time Agamemnon was fighting in the Trojan War, she was cheating on her husband with Agamemnon’s cousin, Aegisthus.
Why did Clytemnestra hate Agamemnon?
In Aeschylus’s play Agamemnon, part of his Oresteia trilogy, Clytemnestra is driven to murder Agamemnon partly to avenge the death of her daughter Iphigeneia, whom Agamemnon had sacrificed for the sake of success in the war, partly because of her adulterous love for Aegisthus and partly as an agent for the curse on …
How did Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon?
The doors fly open, revealing Clytemnestra standing triumphantly over the bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra. Without a hint of shame, the Queen describes how she killed Agamemnon with an ax, after using heavy robes to trap him in his bath. She tells the Chorus that he was evil and deserved to die.
What is the plot of Agamemnon by Aeschylus?
by: Aeschylus. Agamemnon begins with a Watchman on duty on the roof of the palace at Argos, waiting for a signal announcing the fall of Troy to the Greek armies. A beacon flashes, and he joyfully runs to tell the news to Queen Clytemnestra.
What does Clytemnestra do to help Agamemnon?
Clytemnestra explains how awful it is to be the wife of a man away at war. She addresses her attendants to fete her husband and strew his path with a royal cloth. Agamemnon doesn’t want to make a feminine entrance or one more suited to the gods. Clytemnestra persuades him to step on the royal cloth, anyway.
How does the chorus welcome Agamemnon?
The Chorus details how Helen incited the fall of Troy. Finally the Chorus welcomes Agamemnon, who enters riding in a chariot with Cassandra, Paris’ sister—a prophet of the god Apollo, and Agamemnon’s new slave. Clytemnestra meets Agamemnon outside the palace and implores him to enter into the palace walking on a carpet of purple tapestries.
How does Clytemnestra react to the news of Troy’s Fall?
The Chorus implores Clytemnestra to tell them what has happened, and she gives them the good news that Agamemnon’s army has taken Troy. Although overjoyed, the Chorus can barely believe the news. They ask Clytemnestra multiple times if the news is true, leaving her feeling belittled.