The Reasons Behind Agamemnon's Murder

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Authored by Frank Redmond, 2006

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In Aeschylus’ play Agamemnon, there are three major reasons why Agamemnon, after returning from Troy, is murdered at the hands of Clytaemnestra. These three reasons happen to be Agamemnon’s sacrifice of their daughter Iphigeneia, Clytaemnestra’s love for Aegisthus, and the curse upon the House of Atreus. These three reasons are the major motives behind the crime itself, and these reasons also enrich our understanding upon how such a tragedy could commence in the first place. Without a doubt, one of the major motivations behind Clytaemnestra's murder of Agamemnon is Agamemnon's sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia. This horrific act haunts the whole of the Agamemnon from the outset and proves to be fuel for Clytaemnestra's vengeance. Aeschylus adumbrates the sacrifice of Iphigeneia best and most completely in the first choral ode, which is, amongst other things, a reiteration of the circumstances surrounding the sacrifice of Iphigeneia and the reaction of Clytaemnestra to this act. Aeschylus tells us through the mouths of the old men of Argos that they see:
“Pure Artemis bristle in pity
yes, the flying hounds of the Father
slaughter for armies … their own victim … a woman
trembling young, all born to die” (135 - 138; my emphasis).

Through a retelling of this episode, Aeschylus is not only asking us to remember the cruelty and horror of the sacrifice itself, but he is also reminding us of the reason for the sacrifice. It is due to Artemis' anger at Agamemnon, he having killed one of her sacred, precious deer. In revenge, she wants a “victim” for this indiscretion, and until this victim is sacrificed the winds of Thrace will not blow. This victim turns out to be Iphigeneia and Agamemnon finds himself in a dilemma: either sacrifice or not sacrifice :
“Pain both ways and what is worse?
Desert the fleets, fail the alliance?
No, but stop the wind's with a virgin's blood,
feed their lust, their Fury?” (212-215).

In the end his duty overwhelms his love for his daughter; he feels he has no choice but to sacrifice his daughter in order to gain safe passage to Troy. This decision to sacrifice provokes Clytaemnestra into wanting to kill her husband out of revenge. She believes Agamemnon's decision is unacceptable, for he could have chosen the other alternative, and thus she strikes back with vengeance. She is described in the first choral ode as such:
“Architect of vengeance
growing strong in the house
with no fear of the husband
here she waits
the terror raging back and back into the future
the stealth, the law of the hearth, the mother -
Memory womb of Fury child-avenging Fury!” (150-156).

As is evident, she has been brooding over the sacrifice for an extended period of time, just waiting to unleash her passionate fury upon Agamemnon. She has been constructing the perfect plan over the last ten years to murder Agamemnon. Clytaemnestra feels that she needs to do her daughter justice, but it has to be Clytaemnestra's brand of justice, namely “eye for an eye”, “Fury child-avenging Fury!”. To hold a trial against Agamemnon, a trial like those found in fifth century Athens, would not adequately bring her daughter justice. Only direct, blunt justice can serve her daughter right. To her, the decision to kill Agamemnon is a simple one. It is merely “the law of the hearth” to kill Agamemnon; Clytaemnestra feels she is following the ancient blood law; no other thought crosses her mind.

Much later, right after the murder of Agamemnon, Clytaemnestra, as she stands over her dead husband's corpse, declares that his death is “a masterpiece of Justice”. It is evident that Clytaemnestra is proud of her accomplishment, her fulfillment of the ancient blood law. She declares in triumph: “My heart is steel … Praise me!”. Moreover, she is proud that her much brooded-over plan has come to perfect fruition. In her defense, she makes sure to point out that Iphigeneia did not deserve to die and that Agamemnon, as the man responsible, deserves to be murdered, for:
“He thought no more of it than killing a beast,
and his flocks were rich, teeming in their fleece,
but he sacrificed his own child, our daughter”.

Once again Clytaemnestra stresses the fact that Iphigeneia is innocent of all wrongdoing, and that certainly there must have been other alternatives Agamemnon could have chosen instead of killing Iphigeneia. In fact Clytaemnestra hopes that Agamemnon will be further punished in Hades for his crimes by saying that Iphigeneia will run towards him not with the open arms of a loving daughter, but with dagger in hand as she “pierces him with her love”. Clytaemnestra hopes vengeance will visit Agamemnon in the beyond just like it has in waking life.

Another reason for the murder of Agamemnon is Clytaemnestra's love for Aegisthus. Although Aegisthus is a weak character in the play, his presence is often felt. For instance, when Agamemnon returns from Troy, Clytaemnestra mentions in her speech how terrible her loneliness is, that it is “unconscionable”. She is being sarcastic in this passage, since she was never lonely as she had Aegisthus always at her side. She relishes the thought that Agamemnon is coming to his death and that Aegisthus is right there to take his place. Likewise, later in the same speech Clytaemnestra talks about her hopes for the homecoming of Agamemnon, saying:
“I never let it die … but in my dreams
the high thin wail of a gnat would rouse me,
piercing like a trumpet - I could see you
suffer more than all
the hours that slept with me could ever bear“ (881-885).

This is a very sarcastic statement to make as well. The truth is that Aegisthus would be more likely to rouse Clytaemnestra in the middle of the night than a gnat or even the memory of Agamemnon! To think that Clytaemnestra is in a state of suffering is blatantly false; Aegisthus surely helps keep the “suffering” and “unconscionable loneliness” at bay. Also, at the end of the Agamemnon, Aegisthus is addressed by Clytaemnestra as her “dearest” and she speaks in the first person plural, saying “our lives”. This demonstrates that Clytaemnestra is not thinking solely of herself when it comes to having power in Argos. Her love for Aegisthus contributed to her wanting to seize the throne from Agamemnon so that she can share the power with her partner. Perhaps the most obvious reason for Agamemnon’s murder is that it has been preordained by the curse on the House of Atreus. Cassandra in her manic speech brings up the curse saying that something dark and sinister dwells deep in the House of Atreus which must come to light. She says that this is:
“The house that hates god,
an echoing womb of guilt, kinsmen
torturing kinsmen, severed heads,
slaughterhouse of heroes, soil streaming blood” (1088-1091).

What becomes apparent with this speech is the extent and grip the curse has on the House itself. The House is fated to fall with the death of Agamemnon. Cassandra is identifying what Clytaemnestra’s plot is, a “monstrous” plot which is growing insidiously in the House and to which “there is no cure”. What is clear is that Cassandra is peering into the world of the curse. Not only does she see herself as a part of the ultimate plan, but she can also detect the violent and vindictive nature of Clytaemnestra’s plan which is determined, I’m tempted to say guided, by the curse upon the House. Clytaemnestra’s plan falls right in place with the curse; she is just fulfilling the curse’s ultimate agenda which includes the murder of Agamemnon. Aegisthus also mentions the curse when discussing Agamemnon’s murder. He says that the curse is a case of “gods in heaven avenging men, / blazing down on all the crimes of earth” (1607-1608). Aegisthus sees the curse as having a leveling effect, meaning it must come to avenge previous crime. Aegisthus views Agamemnon’s murder as a fulfillment of this need for a leveling saying that:
“Now at last I see this man brought down
in the Furies’ tangling robes. It feasts my eyes -
he pays of the plot his father’s hand contrived” (1609-1611).

Aegisthus reminds us that the curse a deep, troubling reality for Agamemnon and his House. The curse is inescapable and that it will manifest itself with terrible, unavoidable vengeance. To try to evade the curse is a fruitless endeavour, for it has been ordained by the gods.

As has been demonstrated, there are three main reasons why Agamemnon was murdered in the Agamemnon. Although it is hard to judge which reason holds precedence over the others, it seems, if we distanced ourselves a bit, that both the sacrifice of Iphigeneia and the curse upon the House of Atreus contribute more to Agamemnon’s murder than Clytaemnestra’s love for Aegisthus. However, it is hard to make such a claim based on so little evidence, for all we have to go off of is the text itself. But if the text is taken as a whole and by itself and is scrutinized accordingly, it becomes apparent that these two are more important, but this is not to disregard Clytaemnestra’s love for Aegisthus. It surely was real, but we do not see enough of it manifested in the play itself for it to be more important than the other two. Nonetheless, in all, Aeschylus presents us the audience with good, concrete reasons for the murder of Agamemnon, for without these reasons the tragedy would suffer a lack of focus and would fail to maintain suspense to a certain extent

The Lucian of Samosata Project

Table of Contents

The Reasons Behind Agamemnon's Murder

Authored by Frank Redmond, 2006