Punishment In Agamemnon

Agamemnon, the first play in the Oresteia trilogy by Aeschylus, tells the story of what happens to after Agamemnon returns from the Trojan War. In the play, Agamemnon returns from the war after having sacrificed his daughter, Iphigenia, to insure a safe voyage to Troy. When Agamemnon returns with his mistress Cassandra, his wife Clytemnestra welcomes him declaring how much she missed him and that she was faithful all this time. However, soon after his return, Clytemnestra avenges her daughter’s death by murdering her husband and his new concubine. The audience soon finds, though, that Clytemnestra not only killed her husband for revenge, but so she could be with Aegisthus whom she had been cheating on Agamemnon with. The reason for all the
But Ancient Violence longs to breed new Violence comes when its fatal hour comes, the demon comes to take her toll – no war, no force, no prayer can hinder the midnight Fury stamped with parent Fury moving through the house (131). are an accurate description of why death and punishment that are portrayed in Agamemnon. These lines reflect the entirety of the play because they tell why death must happen and why it could not be stopped. Throughout Agamemnon, death often happens because the murderer is avenging another person. After Atreus boiled his brother’s children, Aegisthus, Thyestes’ only living son, was determined to avenge the death of his siblings. Aegisthus used his relationship with Clytemnestra to ensure that Agamemnon would be punished for the crimes his father committed. In the play, the chorus states “only reckless act can breed impiety, multiplying crime on crime,” referring to the multiple crimes that have streamed from the ones committed by Atreus. The Greeks believed they should retaliate for the murders that we committed to their loved ones. This belief would cause many to go to the grave because of the original murders committed by