Gender Roles In Agamemnon

In ancient Greece, the world in which Agamemnon takes places, the genders have very specific roles that have to be followed. In this world, the men makes the decisions, the men lead, and the men go to war, while the women stay at home and long for their men while they are away at war, caring for them greatly when they return. The roles that both genders have are very important to dike, the “law of the land” so to speak. There are many instances in the play Agamemnon where different people violate these set in stone rolls, the most prominent being Clytemnestra and how she basically ruled the kingdom while Agamemnon was away fighting in the war, also killing Agamemnon and Cassandra herself, something women were not thought of to do. Also, especially according to the chorus, Aegisthus, Clytemnestra’s lover, does not confirm to his gender roles by letting Clytemnestra kill Agamemnon and Cassandra, instead of doing it himself. These are two people who went against the way things are in Greece; they committed what is called adike.
During the first few lines of the play, it is explicitly stated by the watchman how Clytemnestra has been acting while her husband was away at war. To say shortly, not as she should be. “That woman-she maneuvers like a man” (line 13) is said by the watchman. It can be inferred from …show more content…
There are so many different ideas and customs of ancient Greece that it makes it very interesting to read and analyze. The concept of the gender roles that is drawn out in this play is carelessly broken by many different characters, as if they give no thought about disrupting dike. Clytemnestra thinks only about her own vengeance and measure in this play, her need to avenge her daughter, and not how she should be acting as a proper woman. By doing this she disrupts dike greatly, and also causes a long line of vengeance in her house, as her son now must come back to kill her to avenge his dad