How Does Agamemnon's Actions Influence The Actions Of Antigone

6) A. Clytemnestra / Vengeful
B. “She proclaimed…’Here likes my husband dead, struck down justly by my hand,’...It was his blood that stained her dress and face and she was glad.” (Hamilton 356)
C. Ten years had passed since the start of the Trojan war, but Agamemnon’s murder of his daughter had not been forgotten. Ever since the fateful day when the king of Mycenae had his own child slain to appease Artemis, his wife had waited to take her vengeance. She had taken a lover and all the people of the land knew it save her husband himself. When news of the King’s return reached Mycenae, the elders of town were filled with wary unrest, for they knew not what actions the Queen would take. As his chariot pulled up to the palace steps, Clytemnestra
The sons of Oedipus, Polyneices and Eteocles, both asserted their rights to the throne when their father had been expelled from the city. Although he was the younger, Eteocles managed to win control and banish his brother from Thebes. After their father’s death, Ismene and Antigone returned to the city to find their brothers at war and the nearby chieftains taking sides. Unsure of who to give support to, the sisters decided to stay inside the palace and wait out the fighting. The power-hungry brothers ended up killing each other, and Polyneices last words to his brother were a plea to be buried in his homeland. The combat eventually ended, with the regent Creon taking control once more and proclaiming that all who had fought against Thebes would be left unburied, including Polyneices. This did not sit well with the two sisters, for they knew that the dead who were left unburied would be stranded on the banks of the River Styx, left to wander aimlessly without rest. Creon decreed that he who buried Polyneices would be put to death, yet this did not stall Antigone. To ensure her brother’s peace in death, she informed her sister of her intent and went to do what she saw as the justice of the gods. Burying her brother as he rightfully deserved, Antigone seemed unconcerned when as a result of her actions Creon was greatly angered. She went to her death proudly, knowing she had done what was just. This example of Antigone’s courageousness is significant at this point in the myth because it allowed her to save her brother from hundreds of year of aimless wandering and restlessness in the land of the dead. She knew that if she proceeded with her plan her death would surely follow, but she went forward with her task regardless. Standing up to authority can be a frightening prospect, but Antigone had a strong sense of right and wrong and knew that the gods would have wanted her to bury her brother. Her courage allowed her to do what her sister could not, and because of