Character of Clytemnestra in the play Agamemnon.

Agamemnon is the first play in a trilogy of tragedies by Aeschylus entitled the Oresteia. Even though Agamemnon gets a shout-out in the play's title, Clytemnestra may well be its most interesting character. By interesting, we don't mean likable – after all, technically speaking, she is a liar, a two-timer, and a murderer. But maybe that's just part of her charm. We'd better explain. The first thing we learn about Clytemnestra is from the Watchman in the opening scene of the play. He isn't her biggest fan, though he doesn't give us any explanation why. Instead, he makes a vague remark about how the household "is not managed for the best as it was before" (19). But what does that mean, exactly? Did Clytemnestra stiff him on his overtime pay or something?

We might get a hint of what the Watchman means later on in the play, when the Chorus tells the Herald that Clytemnestra's public statements about how much she loves her husband aren't exactly honest. Does the Chorus say this because it knows about her affair with Aegisthus? We aren't told. If this was common knowledge in Argos, it is possible that this is what the Watchman is referring to – though, it isn't clear how Clytemnestra's extra-marital love life would necessarily make her a bad manager of the household.

So, yes, Clytemnestra is having an affair while Agamemnon is off fighting at Troy. Ten years might seem like a long time to wait for one's husband; of course, Penelope, the heroine of Homer's Odyssey waited twenty years for her husband to come back. Everyone thinks she's exceptional, though. But what about the fact that Agamemnon had his daughter Iphigenia sacrificed on the way to Troy, just to get the goddess Artemis to send the fleet some favorable winds? We can see how that might have made Clytemnestra think a little less of her husband, and maybe this is why she turned elsewhere for romance. >>Click Here to Read More>>