Euripides Iphigenia At Aulis

The story Iphigenia at Aulis by Euripides starts with the main character Agamemnon having second thoughts about going through with the sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia to get the winds to move to go to Troy. He decides to write a second letter to send to her telling her to go back home and that her supposed marriage to Achilles would be another time. Before the letter can get to Iphigenia, Agamemnon’s brother Menelaus intercepts the letter and is outraged that his brother would damage Greece and put not only his wife in danger but his soldiers as well. For a while, Agamemnon and his brother go back and forth on this issue until Menelaus agrees with Agamemnon and Agamemnon decides to take on Menelaus view and go through with the sacrifice. …show more content…
Upon arrival, Clytemnestra and Iphigenia were excited about Iphigenia’s marriage to Achilles, until Clytemnestra and Achilles both learn that Agamemnon lied about Achilles marrying Iphigenia. After learning of Agamemnon’s deceit Achilles claims that he will try to protect Iphigenia and convinces Clytemnestra to go to her husband to make him see reason. When Iphigenia learns the reason why she came to Aulis, she and her mother try in vain to convince Agamemnon not to go through with the sacrifice. Unfortunately, Agamemnon believes that he does not have a choice in the matter for if he does not go through with it the soldier will go after the rest of his family and kill them. When Achilles tries to defend Iphigenia from the crowd that wants her to be sacrificed she stops him and tells both him and her mother that she would rather go willingly to save Greece than unwillingly to the alter. Later on, a messenger comes to tell Clytemnestra of the miracle that occurred when it came time to sacrifice Iphigenia. When the priest was about to slice the throat of the young girl she disappeared and in her place was a