Deceitful Clytemnestra of Euripides Electra Essay -- Euripides Electr

Deceitful Clytemnestra of Euripides ElectraAgamemnon returns from Troy, a victorious general, bringing home spoils, riches and fame. He is murdered on the same day as he returns. Clytemnestra, his adulterous wife, has laid in wait for her husbands homecoming and kills him whilst he is being bathed after his long journey. During the Agamemnon, large proportions of the Queens words are justifications for her action, which is very much(prenominal) concerned with the sacrifice of Iphigenia to the gods, in order for the fleet to set sail for Troy. Aegisthus, the new husband of the Queen Clytemnestra, and partner in the conspiracy to murder the warfare hero, had reasons, which stemmed from the dispute between the Houses of Atreus and Thyestes. Was the murder justified retribution for a callous and dispassionate murder of an innocent girl, as well as the exigency demanded by the family curse? Or was the death of Agamemnon an unjust action by the traitorous woman Clytemnestra and her lover carried out in aspirations of his wealth and power? If we sell the former of the argu handsts as the correct one, then the sacrifice of Iphigenia must be considered. For this, the only sources we have are those of the Chorus songs and the highly biased accounts by Clytemnestra, who has been left to elbow grease on her hatred for over ten years. The account given by the Chorus is full of pathos and pity gentle curving lips...gag her hard...her glance...wounding every receiver (235-239). They remember with sorrow, a flashback to her innocent life, and recount how she once sang to Saving Zeus - transfixed with joy 245. Emphasis is very much on the justice of the girl and how she did not deserve to die. However, no reference is made by the Chorus that it was Agamemnons... ...ght have been a sponge. It is ironic I suppose that Agamemnon, lord of men was brought down by the one thing that neither of the two sons of Atreus were able to control - Women. Works Cited Adkins, A.W.H., Merit and Responsibility. A Study in Greek Values, capital of the United Kingdom Oxford University Press, 1960. Euripides. Electra. Trans. Philip Vellacott. Medea and Other Plays. Baltimore Penguin Classics, 1963. 105-152, 201-204. Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy. Trans. Clifton Fadiman. New York Dover Publications, 1995. Perseus Encyclopedia. Revised 1999. Tufts University. <www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia?entry=Euripides>. Powell, Anton, ed. Euripides, Women, and Sexuality. New York Routledge, 1990. March, Jennifer. Euripides the Mysogynist? Euripides, Women, and Sexuality. Ed. Anton Powell. New York Routledge, 1990.