Theme of Family in Agamemnon

Researcher Name
S.M. Shawlin
Abstract

This paper deals with the theme of family in Agamemnon. It is the most important theme in

Agamemnon, "Family" is up on stage, Aeschulus remarks how the murder of Agamemnon

convinces him that the gods are just remembered. There because it provides the context for

everything else. Let's not forget that everything in Agamemnon goes back to the generation before

the main action takes place, when Thyestes had an affair with Atreus's wife; in revenge, Atreus

killed Thyestes's children, butchered them and served them to him for dinner. Atreus, of course,

was Agamemnon's father; at the end of the play, when Aegisthus, one of Thyestes's remaining

children, shows how the plot take places. But Aegisthus didn't kill Agamemnon himself. The trilogy

of the story make most of the events with related to theme of family. At the very first page this

paper will discuss the theme of family with related events.

Keywords: Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Aeschylus, Chorus.

Agamemnon inaugurates with a Watchman on duty on the roof of the palace at Argos, waiting for

a signal announcing the fall of Troy to the Greek armies. A beacon flashes, and he joyfully runs to

tell the news to Queen Clytemnestra. When he is gone, the Chorus, made up of the old men of

Argos, enters and tells the story of how the Trojan Prince Paris stole Helen, the wife of the Greek

king Menelaus, leading to ten years of war between Greece and Troy. Then the Chorus recalls how

Clytemnestra's husband Agamemnon sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia to the god Artemis to

obtain a favorable wind for the Greek fleet. The Queen appears and the Chorus asks her why she

has ordered sacrifices of thanksgiving. She tells them that a system of beacons has brought word

that Troy fell the previous night. The Chorus give thanks to the gods but wonder if her news is

true; a Herald appears and confirms the tidings, describing the army's sufferings at Troy and giving

thanks for a safe homecoming. Clytemnestra sends him back to Agamemnon, to tell her husband

to come swiftly, but before he departs, the Chorus asks him for news of Menelaus. The Herald

replies that a terrible storm seized the Greek fleet on the way home, leaving Menelaus and many

others missing. The Chorus sings of the terrible destructive power of Helen's beauty. Agamemnon

enters, riding in his chariot with Cassandra, a Trojan Princess whom he has taken as his slave and

concubine. Clytemnestra welcomes him and professing her love and orders a carpet of purple robes

spread in front of him as he enters the palace. Agamemnon acts coldly toward her and says that to

walk on the carpet would be an act of hubris, or dangerous pride. She badgers him into walking

on the robes, however and he enters the palace. Here the family tree invokes the trilogy of the

event. Here Aeschylus overestimating the theme of family in several way.

Ancient Greek society’s expectations of men and women and the significance of these roles come

to the forefront in Agamemnon’s central characters and the theme of family. In this society men

were expected to be strong, decisive and honorable, while women were thought to be passive and

were expected to be subservient to men and silent. The Watchman, the Chorus and the Herald laud

Agamemnon for fulfilling the duties expected of a man and for being a solid and fair leader, yet

his actions don’t always align with societal expectations for men. Agamemnon shows signs of

weakness before the play has even begun. According to the mythology upon which the play is

based, Agamemnon at first decides not to sacrifice his daughter but is then convinced by a prophet

to do so. We see a similar situation unfold when Clytemnestra convinces the supposedly steadfast

king to walk on the purple cloths when entering the palace. Even though Agamemnon senses that

the gods will be upset by this action. Agamemnon’s indecisiveness is not considered manly and

consequently leads his downfall. The background of the study denotes the Greek mythology, the

origin and development of Greek drama.

Statement of the Problem

The historical context and political climate in Agamemnon revolves around the Trojan War, which

comes to an end in the first moments of the play. Each of the characters is eventually forced to

grapple with how the outcome of this colossal war has affected their lives. The Chorus not only

provides us with key historical information about the war but also offers important emotional

perspective that guides the audience’s understanding of the war’s personal effects. Although the

Chorus is sometimes unsure of the central characters thoughts and feelings, they give us an

essential window into the morale of the citizens of Argos known as the Greek city of which

Agamemnon is king and after the war. The statement of the problem we find how Aeschylus
portrays the development of Greek mythology with the modern art of Drama. The religion and the

conflict of the character are the sole problem of this drama. Greek tragedy was basically serious

and oriented towards religious problems. Like the nature of the divine, man`s destiny and relation

of the man towards God and himself.

Literature Review

In the immediate aftermath of the fall of Troy, the play opens at King Agamemnon's palace in

Argos with the lonely Watchman's soliloquy. From the roof of the palace, the Watchman begs the

gods for respite from his interminable watch. The stars, his sole, plentiful and steadfast,

companions seem to him like so many dynasties revolving in endless cycles, waxing and moving

out of winter into summer and back again. What he wishes, in short, is rest. The literature review

part will show the theme of family in a significant way which many scholar forecast how the theme

of family inter-linked with the origin of Greek drama. According to E. D. A. Morshead (February

4, 2009) “In his study Aeschylus seems to place a certain amount of emphasis on the natural

weakness of women in his plays. In “Agamemnon” .For example, it is notable that Helen,

Clytemnestra and Cassandra are all three adulterous women. The more traditional Aeschylus does

not make any attempt at the more balanced male-female dynamics sometimes shown by Euripides.

The family tree is the originator of Greek mythology.”

According to The Harvard Crimson (June 12, 1906), “In their article the first 800 verses of

Aeschylus' poem, most of them in the form of choral odes, make a kind of moral prologue. It may

sometimes seem to us that the plot does not advance with sufficient rapidity; at other moments the

author seems to bridge over the past and present, disregarding the unity of time. Family is the root

trilogy of this Aeschylian drama.”

manipulating audience expectations has been well-documented, with the exception of his use of

silent characters, Aeschylus’ has not received the same attention. Portrayal of Agamemnon and

Clytemnestra in Agamemnon and argue that Aeschylus uses his characters to play with tradition,

to manipulate expectations, to generate suspense through deliberate ambiguity, and to orchestrate

shocking revelations. He pays particular attention to how Aeschylus achieves these effects and

attempt to demonstrate in Agamemnon a more sophisticated approach to character-drawing than

has previously been recognized in Aeschylus.”

Research Gap

In this paper there are some research gap found while no one has worked so far on the topic the

theme of family in Agamemnon. While maximum scholar and articles used to described the

character of their own style but no one ever work on this topic.

Research Objectives

As the discussion will proceed the paper will happen to have two objectives. These are:

a) To find the theme of family in Aeschylus Agamemnon

Methodology

In this research paper qualitative method used. Data are collected from several articles, book
review and so on. Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an
understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the
problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research and the theme
of family Agamemnon shows the qualitative research work.
Result

In this way this research work will find the process how the theme of family portrays in
Agamemnon. Findings will be compares with characterization of the Drama. Here character will
be denotes the theme of family in The House of Atreus. The chronology are Tantalus, Pelops, and
these are two kinds Atreus and Thyestes. Thyestes are related to Aegisthus. Agamemnon with
Clytemnestra and Menelaus with Helen. Clytemnestra has three daughters. They are Iphigenia,
Electra and Orestes.

Agamemnon – He is known as the King of Argos, the husband of Clytemnestra and the
commander of the Greek armies during the siege of Troy. Agamemnon is the older brother of
Menelaus, whose wife Helen was stolen by a Trojan prince, thus igniting a decade-long war. A
great warrior and he sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia in order to obtain a favorable wind to carry
the Greek fleet to Troy. During the ten-year conflict, his Queen has plotted his death in order to
avenge the killing of their daughter. He appears on stage only briefly and behaves arrogantly. He
goes to his death unaware of his fate. There are several moments when his deeds and especially
the sacrifice of his daughter are considered too daring by other characters. Daring is used
synonymously or euphemistically in the play to mean ambitious.

Clytemnestra – She is known as the play's protagonist, Clytemnestra is Agamemnon's wife and
has ruled Argos in his absence. She plans his murder with ruthless determination and feels no guilt
after his death. She is convinced of her own rectitude and of the justice of killing the man who
killed her daughter. She is a sympathetic character in many respects, but the righteousness of her
crime is tainted by her entanglement with Aegisthus. Even so, Aeschylus makes it clear that
Agamemnon's death must be avenged. During her ten year wait, she has constructed a terrible
"snare" for her husband. In that time, her heart has spoiled and died within her. Eagerly, she offers
herself to Zeus as the instrument of Agamemnon's inevitable downfall. She strikes him three times
and lustily retells how the blood spattered on her clothes. But she denies responsibility for the
murder on grounds that she truly was fate's instrument. Her guilt is announced. However, with the
appearance of Aegisthus, she seems to be her lover.

Chorus - The elder citizens of Argos, who were too old to fight in the Trojan War. They serve as
advisors to Queen Clytemnestra during Agamemnon's absence and provide commentary on the
action of the play. Their speeches provide the background for the action and for they foreshadow
the King's death when they describe the events of the Trojan War and discuss the dangers of human
pride. Chorus play a very significant role in the play since the opening line describes how the
characters drawn.

Aegisthus – He is known as Agamemnon's cousin, and Clytemnestra's lover. His father and
Agamemnon's father were rivals for the throne. Agamemnon's father boiled two of his rival's
children--Aegisthus' brothers--and served them to him for dinner. Since that time, Aegisthus has
been in exile awaiting a chance to seek revenge for the terrible crime. He is the son of Thyestes,
cousin of Agamemnon enters at the end of the play and after Agamemnon's death he is to be his
tyrannical successor. Aegisthus takes credit for weaving the murder plot.

Cassandra – He is known as the Trojan priestess, captured by Agamemnon and carried to Argos
as his slave and mistress. She was Apollo's lover. Apollo gave her the gift of prophecy but when
she refused to bear him a child. He punished her by making all around her disbelieve her
predictions. She sees the ancestral curse afflicting Agamemnon's family and predicts both his death
and her own as well as the vengeance brought by Orestes in the next play. The trespass she
perpetrated against her husband with Apollo earned her the gift of incomprehensible prophecy.
Her character can be usefully compared with Clytemnestra, who appears to Cassandra alone
transparent and depraved from the very beginning.

The Herald - He brings the Chorus news of Agamemnon's safe homecoming. An ardent patriot,
he is ecstatic to see the home he thought he had left forever and provides vivid descriptions of the
horrors of the war against Troy. The Herald was presumably a youth when he sailed for Troy and
now he is a man. He is inordinately grateful to be able to die on his home soil, something of which
he had almost lost hope. He brings word of Menelaus, lost at sea. His meeting with the Chorus is
a kind of father-son reunion. The Herald probably represents the return of Argive youth. He can
be usefully contrasted with Iphigeneia, symbol of premature death.

The Watchman - The man assigned to watch for the signal of Troy's fall from the roof of the
palace. He is joyful at his king's return but also he is with a sense of foreboding. A man thoroughly
weary of awaiting the bonfire that will signal the fall of Troy, the Watchman entreats the gods for
respite. His soliloquy opens the play. On the roof of the palace, staring up at the stars which he has
watched changed from day to day and season to season, the Watchman longs for the end of the
Trojan War and the return of his king. He spies the fire and rushes to bring word to the queen.
Introduced in his speech and character are several major symbols: seasonal cycles, transience,
vigilance, weariness, Clytemnestra’s manliness, the fire as sunrise and a disturbance in the royal
house. The watchman plays an important role in the play throughout the journey.

Conclusion

In the conclusion part it can be said that this research work ended with the characterization of
Greek mythology. This paper shows the importance of family through the old age to new age.
Upon Agamemnon's return from Troy, he was killed and according to the oldest surviving account,
Odyssey by Aegisthus, the lover of his wife Clytemnestra. In old versions of the story, the scene
of the murder, when it is specified, is usually the house of Aegisthus, who has not taken up
residence in Agamemnon's palace and it involves an ambush and the deaths of Agamemnon's
followers as well. In some later versions, Clytemnestra herself does the killing or they act together
as accomplices and killing Agamemnon in his own home. This events shows the theme of revenge
in the act of family and the theme of family here portrays the Greek mythology in this own way.
Recommendation

This research paper strongly recommend the readers to read this article the theme of family in
Agamemnon and it will be not a waste of time. This research work will show the reader a great
memory of Greek mythology through the portrayal of family. It will increase the knowledge of
characterization in the guise of Greek architecture.
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