“Character of Agamemnon as Father, Decision Maker and General”

 “Character of Agamemnon as Father, Decision Maker and General”

Introduction:

                       Agamemnon is the play's "tragic hero" (great man whose cut down to size), he doesn't appear onstage until halfway through the play. Then, he disappears and isn't heard from again. Well, that's not quite true; actually, he's not heard of except for two bloodcurdling cries – but we think anybody who was being murdered would probably act the same way, so they don't really tell us much about his character.

Firstly his character introduced in Watchman's speech:

Our earliest picture of Agamemnon comes in the Watchman's speech that opens the play. The Watchman tells us that Agamemnon has been gone for ten years fighting against the Trojans; when he complains that the household isn't managed as well as it used to be, and says he can't wait to shake his master's hand again, this tells us that Agamemnon must be a pretty competent king.
Complicated:
                 Our picture of Agamemnon becomes more complicated, however, during the first song of the Chorus. The Chorus starts off by saying that Agamemnon and Menelaus were just in making war against the Trojans; in fact, they explicitly say that Agamemnon was sent by Zeus. "Agamemnon = Good Guy"

But things get trickier after bad winds keep the Greek fleet at Aulis, and Agamemnon learns from the soothsayer Calchas that the goddess Artemis wants him to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia.

Critical opinion:

We mean, sure, Agamemnon found himself in a bad position and all, but did he really have no choice but to slaughter his own daughter? Even though this is kind of ambiguous, were going to put it in the "Agamemnon = Bad Guy" .
Obedient of gods:
                         When Agamemnon first arrives, he makes a big speech about how the gods must be thanked. Basically, he's trying to appear like one pious dude. Then, when Clytemnestra tries to get him to walk on the purple fabrics, he's still in piety mode, saying,

"Oh, the gods wouldn't approve of that, I shouldn't do it…"

It isn't like her arguments are very convincing – at least they shouldn't be to a sensible person without a huge ego problem. But as soon as she says,

"King Priam of Troy would have done it if he had the chance,"

 Agamemnon is like, "Well, I'm sure not going to let him get the last laugh!"

So, based on this scene, we'd have to say that Agamemnon, despite his claims to piety, is actually pretty arrogant and foolish.

Conclusion:

                  In short Agamemnon is a good general whom tried his best for saving Tory and his brother’s wife. He scarifies everything, 10 years of his life, his daughter, he lost the faith of his wife but he gains nothing.

Critic:

“Agamemnon was a good general but not good father, he lost his daughter just because of his blind faith. “   (By Jandran)