Clytemnestra's Revenge In Oresteia

Aeschylus’ trilogy, Oresteia, presents the audience with one of Clytemnestra’s reasons for murdering Agamemnon: as revenge for the sacrificial murder of her daughter, Iphigenia. Clytemnestra’s revenge is rooted in her motherly love for her children however, readers of the trilogy notice there is a strange confliction between her actions and intentions towards her children. For example, she vowed to avenge her daughter’s murder, but later goes on to put a curse on her son, Orestes. Likewise throughout the trilogy, especially in Agamemnon and The Libation Bearers, Clytemnestra is criticized for her masculinity by overstepping her womanly boundaries, by acting as a king, while Agamemnon was abroad. Clytemnestra’s actions towards her children along
with the metaphors about motherhood, seem to portray her motherhood as convoluted, and through further analysis suggest that her masculinity interferes with her ability to perform the very basic duties as a women in Greek society.