Iphigenia

In "Iphigenia," there were many reoccurring motifs, but the central theme was violence against women. Women were targeted by those with power and are left either brutally scarred, both mentally and physically, or dead. No one protested these abuses or attempted to protect them. There were many illustrations of this theme throughout the play. In the opening scene, two women were dancing together. When one of them left, the other was confronted by a soldier and stabbed. Iphigenia was confronted by…

The University of Alberta’s studio theatre production of Iphigenia At Aulis, directed by David Kennedy was originally written by Euripides. The play is built around the conflict of the Trojan War. In the beginning of the play the audience witnesses Agamemnon distraught, about having to sacrifice his eldest daughter Iphigenia to the Greek god Artemis. In doing so Agamemnon believes the Greeks will win the war against the Trojans. In Euripides original version the play takes place during the…

The Divine Sacrifice Although it is believed that ancient Greeks did not practice human sacrifice, the concept itself occupied a large space of Greek drama, which raises questions about its meaning(s), function(s), and how it has contributed to the human-deity relationship in Greek Drama. Human sacrifice, as a thematic frame, is common within the works of the three Greek tragedians, who employ it as a mean to create a dilemma in their plays, add a layer of meaningful depth to the human death…

come back from war. The characters of Cassandra and Iphigenia represent the way women were viewed in Greek society as tools for the needs of men, and they also represent warfare’s effect on women. Clytemnestra subverts this stereotypical Greek role for women. While Iphigenia and Cassandra represent the norm, Clytemnestra represents an alternative possibility for a woman, thus upsetting the male-female power dynamic of Greek society. Iphigenia is the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra.…

but doom will crush me once I rend my child, the glory of my house - a father’s hands are stained, blood of a young girl streaks the altar. Pain both ways and what is worse” (Agamemnon, lines 206-213)? He is aware of the consequences if he spares Iphigenia but at the same time he knows guilt will haunt him if he kills her. He consciously chooses to “stop the winds with a virgin’s blood, feed their lust...feed their fury! - Law is law! Let all go well” (Agamemnon, lines 213-216). He is feeding…

the fact Agamemnon sacrificed their daughter, Iphigenia. However, Agamemnon had no choice but to sacrifice Iphigenia or face the wrath of Zeus, so Clytemnestra has no right to be angry. Protector of the guest, Zeus will do everything in his power to make sure Troy falls “Yea, so are the twin children of Atreus By the mightier Zeus Hospitable sent Unto Paris, to fight for a woman who knew many lovers” (Aeschylus 251). Had Agamemnon not sacrificed Iphigenia to summon the…

Eumenides (Kindly Ones) to satisfy both parties. In Euripides' play "Iphigenia in Tauris" in order to escape the Erinyes' persecutions, Orestes was ordered by Apollo to go to Tauris to carry off the statue of Artemis (fallen from heaven), and bring it to Athens. He went to Tauris with Pylades, they were imprisoned to be sacrificed, since it was custom to sacrifice strangers to Artemis. The priestess of Artemis, Orestes' sister Iphigenia performs the sacrifices. She offered to help one of them…

terrible task to conduct the sacrifices, not actually herself kill her countrymen, but consecrate them by long-established rites and deliver them to those who would kill them," (352). As such, Iphigenia was sorrowful to live on the island. After many years, two men were captured and were to be sacrificed. Iphigenia learned that one of them was her brother, and escapes from the island with them. People try to stop them, but the king ends the protest, figuring the goddess wanted them to leave.…

representations of the female form. Grace Cossington Smith’s The Sock Knitter (1915), celebrated as the first post-impressionist painting to be exhibited in Australia, Frederic Leighton’s idealized characterization of a reclining female figure in Cymon and Iphigenia (1884) and Henry Moore’s sculptural rendering Reclining Figure: Angles are all encapsulations of the worlds in which the were made. Through the manipulation of style and media, all works communicate a social understanding of the…

Patroclus serves as a person who is capable of humbling him to some extent. Their close relationship only makes Patroclus’s death more important in Achilles’s recognition of his own flaws. This same familial relationship exists between Agamemnon and Iphigenia, but in an even deeper sense due to their more direct connection. His close and well known bond with his daughter heightens the importance of his decisions, however he struggles to make any such concrete choices. As a leader, he is…