Agamemnon by Aeschylus

Agamemnon by Aeschylus


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.
Clytemnestra, after Agamemnon was at war for a few years, began to cheat on Agamemnon with his cousin, Aegisthus. When the two got word of Agamemnon’s return from Troy they began to plot against Agamemnon. Clytemnestra prayed to the Gods to let Agamemnon make it home because she wanted to punish him herself. Even though most of the other ships did not make it home after the storms, Agamemnon’s did. Many believe this is because of the prayer that was prayed by Clytemnestra.
Clytemnestra first set Agamemnon up by placing a purple carpet on the ground for him to walk on. By doing this Clytemnestra was hoping to get Agamemnon to upset the gods so it wouldn’t be a sin for her to carry out her plan. Agamemnon even acknowledges that he shouldn’t walk on the carpet saying that, were he to walk on it, he would display unseemly pride and incur the wrath of the gods: “Such state becomes the gods and none beside. / I am a mortal, a man; I cannot trample upon / these tinted
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splendors without fear thrown in my path”(922-924). Then, contradicting what he said, he walks on the carpet. Clytemnestra knew he was very proud, and knew that he would walk on the carpet if provoked. She knew that by saying “If Priam had won as you have, what would he have done?”(935) would cause Agamemnon to commit an ultimate act of hubris, an act of mortal pride or arrogance.
Clytemnestra knew that Agamemnon was a very weak person and could easily be provoked into doing wrong. The Chorus, made up of mainly older, more respected men in Argos, didn’t know Agamemnon as well. They...

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