Clytemnestra In The Oresteia

To a certain extent Clytemnestra would have been a better title for the first play of the Oresteia as she is featured more in it but there are reasons that say that Agamemnon was the right title for the play.

A major point that could mean that calling the first Oresteia Agamemnon was wrong was that Clytemnestra is on the stage for the majority of the play. She first appears lighting the altar for a sacrifice when the Watchman has finished speaking and the Chorus start their first Ode. Agamemnon first appears near the end of the play and he has a conversation with Clytemnestra and then he just storms of into his house and leaves Clytemnestra praying outside. Soon after he goes inside he is killed by Clytemnestra and so is Cassandra. The fact that Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon shows that she is powerful and shows that she …show more content…
There is a lot of death in the play like Clytemnestra killing Cassandra and Agamemnon and Agamemnon killing his daughter Iphigenia and all of the men that he killed in Troy. The revenge factor is Clytemnestra seeking revenge on Agamemnon for killing their daughter Iphigenia. As the play is mainly based on the fact that Clytemnestra wants to kill her husband for killing their daughter it maybe should be called Clytemnestra as Agamemnon doesn’t really have much tragedy in his life and he doesn’t really want to get revenge on anyone. Meanwhile Clytemnestra adds more to the play in terms of tragedy and revenge throughout the play. That is a reason that the play should be called Clytemnestra and not Agamemnon.

It seems that the main event in the play is the death of Agamemnon which shows the importance of Agamemnon in the play which is a good reason for the title of the play to be Agamemnon. However as that act was carried out by Clytemnestra it shows that she is a key figure in the play and that she is brave and confident which could be a reason to call the play Clytemnestra instead of