Agamemnon by Aeschylus

[grllopez]

The first play for The Well-Educated Mind Reading Challenge is Agamemnon by Aeschylus. I knew nothing about the plot ahead of reading.

Following are spoilers:

The setting was Argos, Greece, Atreus' palace, where a watchman waits for news from Troy, to see if Agamemnon, king of Argos, will return. It has been ten long years that he has been away, and he is eager to see the king.

The Chorus, made up of twelve elders, recited the narrative of how Agamemnon had been pressured to choose between victory or shame by sacrificing his own daughter, Iphigenia, to appease Zeus and earn his favor.

Agamemnon "...rather than retreat, endured to offer up his daughter's life to help a war fought for a faithless wife and pay the ransom for a storm-bound fleet."

Soon, news arrived that Argos had captured Troy and the king was on his way home. His wife, Clytemnestra, prepared for his arrival, to welcome him home. When the king arrived, he had with him the young Trojan princess, Cassandra, who was also a prophetess.

While alone, she began a conversation with the god Apollo. (Obviously, very troubled she was, and I don't blame her because...) She saw the ghosts of "children butchered...by their own kindred..." who carr[ied] in their hands "their own flesh....food their father ate!"

She also revealed that Agamemnon was cursed! There was going to be a murder..."Female shall murder male..." Agamemnon was going to "lie dead."

Near the end of the play, Aegisthus, Agamemnon's cousin and now lover to Clytemnestra, told the horrid story of how Atreus, Agamemnon's father, sought revenge on his brother Thyestes for committing adultery with Atreus' wife. He then roasted his brother's children and served them to Thyestes during a feast. When Thyestes realized what Atreus had done, he cursed his whole household, which fell upon Agamemnon.

Aegisthus claimed to have plotted the whole "evil deed" from afar, but it was Clytemnestra who stabbed both the king and Cassandra. For Clytemnestra, it was revenge for the murder of her daughter Iphigenia.

However, it was Zeus who punished Agamemnon (for his father's wicked deed against his brother) by forcing the horrible choice to either disobey the gods and go home to Argos in shame or sacrifice his daughter and earn victory in Troy.

The play Agamemnon is about revenge and man's idea of justice. (Which is more like injustice.) Much like reality, when one seeks revenge to settle what he thinks is injustice against himself, he only perpetuates more injustice. As for the Greek gods, they were the last ones to know anything about justice. They thrived on bloodthirsty revenge.

[Jeanne]

You do know something about this--the Latin students performed the 3rd part of this trilogy in 2011--the basis for a juried court in Western civilization. Also, J.K. Rowling quotes from the second of the trilogy, The Libation Bearers, as a preface in her Deathly Hallows, if you've read that.

One more thing about this trilogy. This story seems to permeate every Greek tragedy. In one way or another, most Greek tragedies connect to this trilogy. It's a great one to begin as the backstory to most everything else.

[Jeanne]

Two more things:

1) I never liked Greek tragedy in college, but love it now. Two things changed my opinion: I heard a professor say that the Greeks thought that children and youth are too young for the tragedies. Why? because they hadn't experienced life enough yet, meaning they hadn't had enough tragedy in their own lives to help them really understand. I think that's true. I love Shakespeare tragedies now too, but hated them when I was young. I guess I've had enough life experience, and truly the tragedies, especially the Trojan Women, helped me heal through some of my own tragedy.

2) Last year I read an impactful book that opened my eyes to what the Greeks were trying to do. This enhanced my love and appreciation for the tragedies and how they can help us today. The book is: The Theater of War: What Ancient Greek Tragedies Can Teach Us Today by Bryan Doerries. I highly recommend it.

[grllopez]

Hi, Jeanne,

Thank you for your insight.

For TWEM, I only have to read Agamemnon, but I definitely want to continue the story when I am done with all of the plays.

I remember the teens performed Everyman and the adults performed Antigone during our Greek/Roman year. But I cannot remember the third part of the trilogy.

Anyway, I do want to read Antigone. I had read a version some years ago, which was written for very young children, and it was very well done.

It does make sense that tragedies may not be fit for kids because they do not have the maturity to understand. Some have very difficult topics. I read some Shakespearean tragedies to my kids over the years, and you should have seen their artwork after. LOL.

Thank you for the book recommendation.