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Revenge or Resignation: Seneca's Agamemnon

1983; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 12; Issue: 1-2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1017/s0048671x00003696

2202-932X

Jo-Ann Shelton,

Classical Antiquity Studies

Seneca's Agamemnon is a revenge-drama; there is little scholarly dispute about this point. Agamemnon takes revenge on Troy, and then returns home to fall victim to Clytemnestra's desire for revenge. However the connection, if indeed one exists, between these two acts of vengeance has been a point of considerable scholarly disagreement. The issue of revenge is, of course, not limited to Agamemnon and Clytemnestra because many acts of vengeance are mentioned in this play. Agamemnon's murder, in fact, may be seen as the intersection of two tracks of avenging actions: those involving the house of Tantalus in particular, and those involving the Trojans and the Greeks. In addition, each deed of vengeance by one party may also be perceived from a different perspective as an expiatory action by another party. For example, Aegisthus' stabbing of Agamemnon can be viewed either as Aegisthus' revenge or as Agamemnon's expiation for depriving his cousin of a royal home and power (as well as Agamemnon's expiation for the cruelty of his father to Thyestes). The siege of Troy can be viewed either as the Greeks' revenge or as the Trojans' expiation for Paris' rape of Helen (as well as the Trojans' expiation for the perfidy of Laomedon). I said that there are two tracks of avenging actions, but more precisely there are three, because Clytemnestra's desire for revenge on Agamemnon can be separated from Aegisthus' desire; Clytemnestra's feelings of injury arose only after Agamemnon assumed leadership of the Greek expedition against Troy.