“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. “ (ByM. Jandran)
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