Reading Agamemnon I had a hard time recognizing the character King Agamemnon. The Agamemnon who returns from conquering the city of Troy is not the same man we found in reading The Iliad. In place of the self-absorbed, greedy king of The Iliad we find one who is ashamed even to tread on the garments laid out for him upon returning to his city. "Great the extravagance, and great the shame I feel to spoil such treasure and such silver's worth of webs" he exclaims. The man who once stopped at nothing to get what he wanted is now humbly requesting to return the his city quietly, without fuss. Surely this man is different than the one we had previously read about. Most would probably argue that of course he is different, the two tales were written by different authors, each with his individual concept of the character. While this may be true, I also believe that the difference between the "two Agamemnons" is significant to the story. Perhaps this is supposed to illustrate what war does to a person. Perhaps this is what suffering does. Changes the very core of who you are. When you have fought and died beside thousands of your comrades perhaps the material things of life appear as they really are: temporal things of no real, eternal value. Perhaps Agamemnon realized this at some point during his fight against the sons of Priam.
The Agamemnon that appears in this book is one that seeks to lead his people well. One sign that he has perhaps grown to become a wiser leader is that he realizes the power of the people he rules over. Clytaemestra is trying to talk her husband into a somewhat grand entrance into the city, Agamemnon however is opposed to this idea. Agamemnon did not hold a tender place in the hearts of his subjects when he left. The people were largely bitter towards him. That he was willing to go into war and sacrifice the lives of their sons, husbands, brothers, and fathers for the sake of one woman disgusted them. Conscious of this fact Agamemnon declares his intention to merely quietly re-enter the city and begin to try to win back the respect of his people. Clytaemestra insists otherwise saying "Be not ashamed before the bitterness of men." To which Agamemnon replies "The people murmur, and their voice is great in strength." Agamemnon is wise to recognize that the voice of the people does matter, very much. However, Clytaemestra further argues stating "Yet he who goes unenvied shall not be admired." This is an interesting argument. Clytaemestra somehow acquaints pomp and circumstance with being respected as a leader. However, Agamemnon has latched onto a true grasp of leadership though, leading your people in accordance with their concerns, to their benefit. True leaders gain respect not through show, but through seeking the best for those in their charge. War and suffering helped this king emerge a leader...
I commented on Rachel's post.
At first I was going to give you props for making Agamemnon sound like a decent human being, but then I read your whole post and realized I agreed with you. Agamemnon did seem like a different person in Agamemnon than in The Iliad. I hadn't considered it because in my mind he was a man not worth accounting for; a prideful, arrogant, all-about-me person. But, after reading what you had to say about him coming back from war, changed, and wanting to help his city and citizens, I see where he might have been an okay (or at least not as bad as I had accused) guy.
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