Destruction Is Swift and Imminent - AnnaKate Burleson
I feel like we have reached the general consensus that Agamemnon is a horrible human being. At the risk of sounding redundant, I have to point out that he literally sacrificed his own child. He actually murdered his own flesh and blood. What really stood out to me about this, though, is that he seemed to know that sacrificing someone so innocent and pure of heart would have dire consequences. Upon discovering that this sacrifice is apparently the only course of action he should take, he cries out,
"if I butcher the child, the delight of my house,
and stain these father's hands with floods
of virgin blood beside the altar place,
What thing is free of disaster here?"
It's obvious from this that he knows what he's doing is horrible, but he goes through with it anyway. The quote above seems to imply that some curse could be placed upon his household if he goes through with the sacrifice. I can't help but wonder why he chooses this course of action despite the risks (and, of course, the fact that murdering children is inherently evil). Is he just genuinely sociopathic, not at all capable of empathy for others? Or does he make this sacrifice because he truly believes it's something he has to do? Personally, I lean more towards the former. The text says that he was emboldened by evil to carry out the task at hand. But the truth remains to be seen.
Another point of interest is just how generally depressing this story is so far. In reading Gilgamesh, which spent many pages detailing the depth of Gil's grief over losing Enkidu, and now this tale of war and loss, I get the feeling that people in these ancient times were miserable. Art always reflects the state of the times, and there has genuinely been no joy displayed in anything we have studied so far. It makes me wonder what caused the aches in these people's hearts. What was causing so much pain in their lives that their stories so far have been filled to the brim with sorrow? I'm anxious to see if this is simply coincidental or not. I hope soon we get to see a story that reflects a time of peace and joy and not one of anguish and bloodshed.
P.S. I commented on Will's and Katie's
P.S. I commented on Will's and Katie's
I lean toward the latter option, that Agamemnon was driven to kill his daughter by duty. He was bound by an oath to go to Troy and fight for Helen. He was prevented from keeping that oath and was told that the only way to fulfill his oath was to sacrifice his daughter. We don't really understand it in our modern world, but the ancients believed that oaths to the gods were extremely serious. Breaking an oath was one of the worst things you could do. Thus, Agamemnon was forced (or so he thought) to kill his daughter rather than break his oath. It reminds me of the story of Jephthah in the Bible. Jephthah vows to sacrifice to God the first thing he sees when he returns home. The first thing happens to be his daughter. Rather than break his oath to God, Jephthah sacrifices his daughter. This is why the Bible contains so many warnings against making rash vows to God. An oath is a very serious matter and, because of people's misunderstanding about when to break a vow, can cause people to do horrible things. This is the situation that I believe Agamemnon found himself in.
ReplyDeleteWhen considering the depressive nature of ancient literature, it’s good to remember that we live in the most advanced and comfortable society in the history of the world, not to mention a largely Christian one where people teach that life has meaning and that death is not finality. All these ancient peoples had little hope for a paradisal afterlife, and their daily lives were toiling struggles for survival during which clean water was scarce and people died at age thirty of a tooth infection. Not to mention that many, many of them believed that they were playthings to cruel gods who sometimes tormented and killed them for entertainment. Of course there was joy in their lives (the very existence of Epicureanism demonstrates this), but fun and festive times were likely much, much fewer and farther between for ancient peasants who owned next to nothing and worked at farming all waking hours. I understand how it might be very easy for them to fall into the trap of being constantly depressed in their artistic expression.
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