How good is your excuse? -Kayla Gill -- 09/10/18
Since this play is a tragedy, there is a lot of murder that takes place. From other stories I have read that take place around this time period, murder in Greece seems to be a big deal. It is usually not something that is taken lightly. However, murder for them is completely different than what it is for us. Different people are held to different standards on what would be considered murder for them. For instance Agamemnon killed his daughter as a sacrifice, right? He said he did these to please the gods with the blood of a virgin. He was trying to create winds and gain the gods' favor in war. I see what he's doing, but could he have not used something else? Not only did he kill a young girl, a person; but he killed his own flesh in blood. This was not necessarily looked at as wrong. Yes, his wife was upset and I am sure other family was not pleased, but in reality, he would not be punished by the government for this because it was for the gods.
On the flip side, when Clytaemnestra killed her husband to get back at him for killing their daughter, she will most likely be punished. I have read ahead in the story and there are some other things she will do as well she will most likely be punished for. Will she be able to use the same excuse he did? What if she said the gods told her to kill him because they needed a sacrifice of a jerk? I wonder if she will be able to get away with some of the same sins her husband did. Not only did he kill his own child, but he was responsible of many other deaths after going to war. I don't necessarily think these are gender standards or placement in society on what you can get away with, but it is rather a game of "how good is your excuse?".
PS: I commented on Sofia and Sydney's post
On the flip side, when Clytaemnestra killed her husband to get back at him for killing their daughter, she will most likely be punished. I have read ahead in the story and there are some other things she will do as well she will most likely be punished for. Will she be able to use the same excuse he did? What if she said the gods told her to kill him because they needed a sacrifice of a jerk? I wonder if she will be able to get away with some of the same sins her husband did. Not only did he kill his own child, but he was responsible of many other deaths after going to war. I don't necessarily think these are gender standards or placement in society on what you can get away with, but it is rather a game of "how good is your excuse?".
PS: I commented on Sofia and Sydney's post
That is an interesting point to make. How can Clytemnestra be punished, if her husband was just as guilty as she was in the same regard? While it is possible that some kind of gender standard is at play here, the answer to the question perhaps relies in the 'why' -- Agamemnon believed himself to be killing his daughter for the good of all, sacrificing her to the gods, while Clytemnestra killed in an act of vengeful passion. One act was seen as a possible saving grace of the community, the other a simple shell of a woman that took her husbands life -- in the eyes of the people and the ones that could punish them, Agamemnon was justified, Clytemnestra was not.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very important point you made in that Agamemnon was seemingly invincible to any and all logical conclusions that would prove him guilty as long as he stated it was for the gods. However, I will say I did not expect Agamemnon to choose his daughter as the sacrifice. After seeing the insanity that began from the Trojan War, I would believe it if Agamemnon would have sacrificed the daughter of another family seeing as to how cruel he is. The Greeks possessed a logic and rational thinking that strove for greatness until the jaws of twisted religion prevailed and led to an unstable time. Without even needing to mention Clytemnestra, which Breanna did quite well, the leaders in Greece were clearly influenced by the gods to a degree that allowed carefully planned anarchy.
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