Agamemnon shed a lot of light on his death, but the most disappointing fact to me is how much the Odyssey misled me. In the Odyssey Clytemnestra is portrayed as a villainous traitor to Agamemnon, but here it is revealed that Agamemnon is not innocent either. Not only has he sacrificed his daughter, but he also brought home another woman. Whereas in the Odyssey I agreed with Agamemnon's ghost of cursing Clytemnestra and praising Penelope, I now realize how much the husband's actions before leaving may have determined the faithfulness of the wife. Penelope and Odysseus had the hope of each other to hold onto, but I highly doubt Clytemnestra had any hope of returning to the man who sacrificed her daughter.
I commented on Collin's blog.
I agree, but did Clymenestra react appropriately? Penelope did not turn on Odysseus and kill him after he told her about his journey which includes Calypso and Circe being his lover.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Ag is excused because he is a man and he went off and won a war...???
ReplyDeleteMaybe he was excused? During that period actions such as these were typically expected of men, especially ones who went off to war.
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