Agamemnon

(OED 1). The rape results in the literal impregnation of Leda, which is in reference to her daughter, Helen of Troy. Once this allusion is recognized, he outlines the consequences of the assault: “the broken wall, the burning roof and tower/And Agamemnon dead” (11-12). A metaphorical impregnation of the Trojan War is depicted in these lines since Leda births the reason for the bloodiest conflict known in Greek…

The relationship between the gods and the men in the Odyssey is a unique relationship. Sometimes the way the gods treat the men make the gods seem mortal although most of the time they grant help and wisdom to certain people. In a way, the change in the behavior of the gods between the two stories is extremely significant. The gods and the men in the Iliad and the Odyssey help each other most of the time and they both have similar traits and views. In the Odyssey Homer portrays the gods as…

The Prettiest Woman on Earth Many greek myths were based on either the ugliest, the scariest, or the prettiest person in all of Greece. These stories have been told throughout history and in many different ways. One very widely known myth is that of a girl named Helen. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and sister of Dioscuri and Clytemnestra. She became very well known as being the prettiest woman in the whole world. Many artists, poets, and writers have made many pieces of art or poems…

In the Iliad, written by Homer, the Greek god Zeus can be compared and contrasted with the character Oedipus in Oedipus Tyrannus, written by Sophocles. Zeus can be characterized as the father figure, the leader, and very powerful. In the Iliad, his motives center on remaining impartial but also aiding the Trojans at the same time. Zeus’ actions are usually the focal point in the Iliad because he is the one who usually determines the winner on the battlefield. Oedipus can be characterized as the…

Greeting his sister Electra, he reveals that the oracle of Apollo require that he avenge his father. He kills his mother and her lover similarly to how she killed Agamemnon, and afterwards seeks Delphic council to purify himself. Later departing to Athens, his mother Clytemnestra’s ghost spurs the Furies to seek revenge against Orestes. These Furies, as they exist in the Athenian mythological culture, represent the…

and general of Achaea, Agamemnon is an extremely important character in The Iliad. One major characteristic as well as flaw of his character is how he is quick to anger and arrogant. While Agamemnon feels pressured to fulfill the role of a great Achaean general, his anger, selfishness, and strong sense of pride affects and even kills many Achaeans, nearly causing them to lose the war, which demonstrates how rageful and stubborn actions can cause utter catastrophe. Agamemnon, upon refusing to…

characterization within Aeschylus’ Agamemnon. In order to properly assess the protagonist within this play, first the thoughts of Aristotelian theory of tragic heroes will be overviewed, and their involvement in plot development. Next, this theory, and a specific main character approach by Aristotle, will then be applied to The Agamemnon, determining who the tragic hero is according to Aristotle. Finally, the modern interpretation of the protagonist of The Agamemnon will be inspected, comparing…

predicament Agamemnon faces before the start of the Trojan War echoes the essential question of whether or not humans have free will and if it can be limited. After the omen of the eagles sent by Apollo, Agamemnon faces a dilemma—should he slay his daughter in order to please the goddess Artemis and reclaim Helen from Troy? Or should he abandon all possibility of sailing to Troy and risk further punishment by the goddess? Aeschylus creates an extremely difficult scenario for Agamemnon that…

At heart, Agamemnon is little more than a confused and self-centered child. The Achaean king refuses to acknowledge let alone accept that the authority-type position he finds himself in requires responsibility and that his desires and personal whims should be secondary to the needs of his community. We can see that, even in the beginning of The Iliad, Agamemnon often allows his emotions to govern major, country-altering decisions. Multiple times he refused to return Chryseis to her father. He…

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…