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Clytemnestra: The Dominant Woman in Agamemnon

In Aeschylus’ tragedy Agamemnon, the strongest female role seen in any play to date, is that of the character of Clytemnestra. She is portrayed as powerful, dominating, and strong-willed women, which was not a common characteristic of any women presented in Ancient Greece. One of the most important characteristic that Clytemnestra has is what the watchmen called, “her male strength of heart” (11). She possesses a very strong and powerful presence in the play and this strength can be seen in many instances throughout the play. Aeschylus makes her character so dominant, by skillfully reversing the roles between the male characters and Clytemnestra. Her strength of character is not merely of a dominating and authoritative woman but of a wronged mother and vengeful wife. She succeeds in willfully gaining her revenge against her powerful husband. In a male dominated society she stands as a symbol of courage and versatility, as it was not easy for a woman of her time to posses such authority and influence. Clytemnestra’s character demands complex and clever handling especially if we keep the Greek society in mind and Aeschylus does that with skill.

Clytemnestra is introduced in the play, following the death of her daughter, Iph

After reading the play one realizes that it is not really about Agamemnon as much as is it about Clytemnestra and her struggle to cope with the members of society. An example can be seen with the chorus, Agamemnon and his cousin Aegisthus. Throughout the play it is seen that Clytemnestra’s character is not afraid to express what she feels. She displays intelligence, pride, her cunning ways, and her violent actions of murder with confidence. The Majority of the characters in Agamemnon have a hate towards Clytemnestra. They feel she isn’t doing as good a job as Agamemnon himself would do. They seem uncertain about everything she does or says. An example of this is when Clytemnestra brought the news to the chorus that there was victory in Troy, they didn’t believe her and accused her by saying, “Perhaps the gods have sent some lie to us.” (478). The Chorus did not believe what Clytemnestra had told them; rather they had a typical male view of her and seemed to think she was just being a weak hearted person who is just blinded by her longing for her husband. The image that the Chorus had of Clytemnestra was very different from the type of woman she proved herself to be at the end of the play.

Being powerless women in ancient Greek society, Clytemnestra had to live a life where she had no control over the events directly affecting her. At the time, women of the society never got a chance to voice their opinions and were forced to follow the male dominant ways of life. Even her daughter had to accept her death silently. But Clytemnestra was an exceptional woman because she was strong willed and determined. As a mother she did what she felt she had to do. She wanted justice for the death of her child and made sure that she would get what she wanted. Her actions force society to hear the cries of women who face pain and suffering silently. She stands out as a woman who had the courage to face society and get her rights.

The play Agamemnon is a

Some topics in this essay:
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