Preview

Analyze Agamemnon’s Character from Homer’s Iliad and Aeschylus’s Agamemnon

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1365 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analyze Agamemnon’s Character from Homer’s Iliad and Aeschylus’s Agamemnon
Assignment of Classics in Translation ( ENG 1421 )

Topic: Analyze Agamemnon’s Character from Homer’s Iliad and Aeschylus’s Agamemnon

[pic]

Agamemnon is the son of King Atreus of Mycenae and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus and the husband of Clytemnestra. Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had four children: one son, Orestes, and three daughters, Iphigenia, Electra and Chrysothemis. He was the king of Mycenae. When Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was abducted by Paris of Troy, Agamemnon was the commander of the Greeks in the ensuing Trojan War. Upon Agamemnon's return from Troy he was murdered by Aegisthus, the lover of his wife Clytemnestra. But according to some later versions of the book, Clytemnestra herself does the killing, or they do it together.

Agamemnon inherited the role of king from his father, and his community expects him, as king, to stabilize society, arbitrate disputes, and call council meetings and assemblies. He is also commander-in-chief of the armies. Both Odysseus and old Nestor (two of his commanders) attempt to maintain Agamemnon's authority because they recognize that supporting Agamemnon is the only way to ensure an effective and meaningful policy of order. Agamemnon is, after all, the king and their leader.

Yet despite that Agamemnon is king and has enormous power and social position, he is not necessarily the best qualified for the role.

In Homer’s Iliad, old Nestor frequently advises Agamemnon because Agamemnon needs counsel. Almost immediately, the reader sees that Agamemnon often allows his over-wrought emotions to govern major, critical decisions. Nestor advises Agamemnon against taking Briseis from Achilles, but Agamemnon doesn't listen, thereby setting up a chain of events those results in the deaths of hundreds of Achaian soldiers.

Perhaps it would be true to say that Agamemnon is trapped within a role greater than his ability. While there are serious failures in Agamemnon's character he does show great devotion to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Athena calms Achilles down. She told him that he can criticize agamlmnon all he wants but don’t kill him. Agamlnon speaks to Achilles in an angry wa an even threatens hto take brise is away from him. Vestor appeals to both Agamlmnon and Achilles by complimenting tem but also by reasoning with them. He reminds Achilles that agamlmnon is the king and he reminds agomlmnn that Achilles is available as an…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the state of liminality, Agamemnon is given the choice of returning Chryseis back to the priest of Apollo, Chryses, who offered a ransom for his kidnapped daughter. The king of Mycenae is aware of the choices he makes: in one way if he returns Chryseis to her father he will be looked down as a coward who lost empowerment of beauty and in the other hand if he does so, he would become a good leader by not endangering the lives of his soldiers. However due to his character and pride, Agamemnon decides to keep the crucible of beauty as he believes nothing is more powerful than empowerment. His ugly decision showed that he wasn’t making any contributions to the community, which follows to the second phase of the king’s rite of passage.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This passage foreshadows not only the coming doom in the house of Atreus but also the intervention of the gods. The line “the first light rains are over-Justice brings new acts of agony” reflects that blood will no longer drizzle but pour from this house until justice is served. It is being implied that Agamemnon was only…

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Illiad Questions

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages

    This passage is effective in showing Agamemnon’s mood. Homer shows Agamemnon as trying to be conciliatory however even though it seems like he is apologising to Achilles, it’s not quite there. At first he addresses everyone positively “Friends, Greek Warriors”; this shows how Agamemnon is being civil and polite to the Greek Warriors around him. These words suggest a conciliatory tone. As well as this he states that the call of silence is now done. Agamemnon had to be silent while Achilles spoke, and now he is done, Agamemnon may say his peace instead of interrupting Achilles.…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Achilles: Modern Soldier

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Reacting to Agamemnon's threatened seizure of Briseis, Achilles grew angry, almost drawing his sword against the Greeks' military leader. His emotion was expressed as anger against violations of one's honor. There was a huge betrayal of trust between Agamemnon, the commander in…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The events surrounding Hamlet’s life are far more explored than those in Agamemnon. Though we learn that Agamemnon’s family members are traitors, Hamlet’s family members have sadder, more twisted intentions that we learn about in more detail. We don’t know that Agamemnon was a generally ‘good’ person because we do not delve into his personality the way we do with Hamlet. It is clear that Hamlet was indeed a ‘good’ person who had love for his father. The surrounding events where Claudius, his uncle, kills Hamlet’s father for power and his mother marries Claudius were alone enough to watch our protagonist’s quick and sudden downfall commence. As any ‘good’ person would, Hamlet’s responses to these events surrounding his life were painful, mad, and full of self-doubt.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The death of a child is traumatic especially for a parent. The pain and devastation they feel is overwhelming, as immediate emotions all come together. In the play, Agamemnon, Agamemnon makes this experience a reality. He has two options and he had to choose one: he either had to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia and if he didn’t do this, all his troops on board would die. In order to save the life of his troops on board, “he dared to sacrifice his daughter, a first offering to bless the fleet, to fight that woman-revenging war” (Agamemnon 225-7). Although Iphigenia pleaded to his father not to harm her he took the action and got his men to hang her up on the altar, like a goat about to get sacrificed. Agamemnon thought this was the best decision…

    • 266 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Clytemnestra Deception

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Clytemnestra, a very prevalent character in Aeschlyus’ play Agamemnon, stands as a center point among the most famous speeches in the history of Greek literature. Breaking with the traditions of other plays written during this time period, Clytemnestra wields considerable political power during the time period in which women were sidelines from affairs of the state. Possessing a “male strength heart,” as stated by the watchmen in the beginning of the play, Clytemnestra not only is able to attain political control but she also has the ability to deceive those that surround her. The chorus makes the queen’s deceiving ways apparent to the audience when noting to the Herald not to take everything Clytemnestra says at face-value, for they have learned…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is Clytemnestra Innocent?

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Agamemnon is the husband of Clytemnestra, father of three and the leading general in the Trojan War. The prophet Calchas approaches Agamemnon and tells him that sacrifice of a virgin will send wind to allow his troop’s ships to get off to battle. Agamemnon decides to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, to get…

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Agamemnon vs Hamlet

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Agamemnon and Hamlet both have high status. They are both from a royal family. Agamemnon makes and error in assuming that his wife is still in love with him and his trusts her, even though he was told by his people that his wife is…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pride In The Iliad

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The conflict began because Agamemnon was unwilling to give up his treasure, Chryseis, and believed that he should be “owed another prize” so he “wouldn't be the only Argive left without a gift” (Homer, Iliad 1. 126-127). Tensions began to rise between Achilles and Agamemnon as each of the powerful men voiced their opinions about the fairness of Agamemnon's demands. Eventually, the argument got to a breaking point when Achilles decided to “return home now to Phthia…” because he didn't “fancy staying here unvalued, to pile up riches, treasures just for you [Agamemnon]” (Homer, Iliad 1. 185-188). Achilles attempted to deliver revenge on the king for his disrespectful behavior by refusing to fight for him. His refusal to fight reinforces the importance of combat in Greek society and how not choosing to fight is seen as a big deal. Pride wounded by Achilles’ act of defiance, Agamemnon lashed out one last time by claiming to “take your [Achilles’] prize, fair-cheeked Briseis” (Homer, Iliad 1. 200-201). By wounding man’s pride, the need to get revenge was established through the dialogue exchanged between the two rival…

    • 924 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Diomedes

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Since Agamemnon refused to return the daughter of a priest of Apollo, Agamemnon agrees to release Helen only if Achilles gives him his prize of honor. This is when Achilles found it unfair and withdraws from the battle including all his soldiers. Achilles then asks the gods to grant him revenge. Agamemnon the had attacked because a dream had encouraged him to. Paris flees the battle with the help of a divinity and Menelaus rages on with his brother demanding the release of Helen.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Supplication in the Iliad

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The first scene occurs at the very beginning of Book One, and in effect gets the whole thing underway. Agamemnon has captured a girl, Chryseis, the daughter of the priest Chryses, and he intends to keep her. He says in fact that "I rank her higher / than Clytemnestra, my wedded wife" (1.132-133). Despite the fact that he is married, and he is taking the girl to make a slave of her, he is clearly besotted with her and refuses to give her up. Her father, who is a priest of Apollo, begs Agamemnon to release her, and even offers him gifts as ransom, but Agamemnon still refuses to let her go. The two characters involved here, Chryses and Agamemnon are very different in stature. Chryses is a priest and Agamemnon is a king, so they are unequal in rank. But in The Iliad, the gods are a real, tangible presence and we would think that Agamemnon would know better than to anger them. Agamemnon says that he will give her up if it's absolutely necessary, but then he wants something in return, because if he does lose her it's a matter of honor. Achilles tries to reason with him and they quarrel, and Agamemnon says he'll take…

    • 1300 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I believe that Agamemnon is a protagonist character with selfish intentions in the play, Agamemnon. Although, he does make a few errors in his period of ruling. Overall, I believe he is a hubris person as he holds great pride in himself, his actions and his decisions. I believe that his intentions of his actions are only meant for his own benefit and that he believes no one else’s value should be more than his value. He has very little effect but, a very important role in the storyline. He could not have changed or effected any actions that occur from the moment of his victory from Tory to his death because of the mistakes he had committed early in his life, such as the sacrifice of his daughter. Despite his previous mistakes, he continued to make decisions for his personal advantage, such as bringing Cassandra as his Trojan princess.…

    • 554 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Agamemnon Essay 7

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages

    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.…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics