Mythology Paper 2

Dilisa V. Townsend Mythology Homework #2 11-18-2008 A Death in the Family As I searched for information on a successful marriage between an immortal and a mortal, I came across the story of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. What caught my eye was it was a play. A tragic play set in the time subsequent to the Trojan War. The play takes place in the palace of Agamemnon which is in Argos, Greece. The first instance of death is that of Tantalus. Not to be confused with Tantalus. It is important to research names in Greek mythology because many people have the same name; especially men. The Tantalus of which I speak is the son of Broteus and the first husband of Clytemnestra. Tantalus, along with their infant son, is killed by Agamemnon. Who in turn takes Tantalus’s wife, Clytemnestra, as his own. Together, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had four children – Chrysothemis, Electra, Iphigenia and Orestes. This brings us to our second instance of death. The second instance of death is that of Iphigenia. Because the winds were not blowing to take the ships of King Agamemnon to the city of Troy, Agamemnon was told by the oracle to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia and the winds would pick up. He tricked Iphigenia into coming to him by telling her she would be marrying Achilles. She was dressed in ceremonial marriage clothing, but understood because of her mother’s anguish that something else was happening. There are two versions of what happens next. In the first account, Iphigenia is whisked away by the goddess Artemis and a deer is left in her place to be sacrificed. She is then taken to Tauris where she is made a priestess at the Temple of Artemis. Her service is to ritually sacrifice foreigners who land there. This brings us to the third instance of death in this sequence. The third instance of death is that of Agamemnon. Agamemnon is arrogant and cocky but a heck of a warrior. He has killed his wife’s first husband and child just to have her. He even killed one of the children he and his wife have together in order to battle in the Trojan War. As keeping in line with keeping the spoils of war, he takes the prophetess Cassandra as his concubine and brings her home with him after ten years of fighting. His wife was not happy about this turn of evidents. His wife, Clytemnestra, had taken a lover and plotted to kill him because of past wrongs. She convinced him to walk along a purple or red silk runner. When he goes into the house, he is struck twice with a mortal blow. This brings us to the fourth instance of death in this sequence.

The fourth instance of death is that of Clytemnestra. She is killed by her own son, Orestes, along with his sister, Electra, in retaliation for their father’s death. I have to comment on these events. I read that the death of Agamemnon was an example of “and eye for an eye” retribution. I get that Clytemnestra was pissed. I get she wanted revenge. But I would ask her why she didn’t just kill herself before she married and had babies by a man who killed her first child and husband? If she was going to allow righteous indignation take over her good judgment, wouldn’t it have been more logical to have a call for justice when her first family was killed? What I was thinking as I read through the different commentaries on this play was how much Clytemnestra sounded like Hera; in the way of being affronted by her husband. “Hell hath no fury” went through my head as I was reading as well. It appears that Clytemnestra thought long and hard about this. In the play, you don’t really know who killed Agamemnon, but it implied to be Clytemnestra. I can see the scenario of her lover being the murderer. She needles his weakness – the fact that his family is a dispossessed sanction of Agamemnon’s family that wanted back the throne. In many cases, people will do whatever it takes to get revenge on others…even enlist others who have an ought against the person you are seeking revenge on. This way you can get what you want without getting your hands dirty. This still happens today. Calls to mind, “there is nothing new under the sun.”