An Analysis of Clytaemenestra

By Paul Simon, Student

An in depth analysis of Clytaemenestra from Aeschylus's play.

An essay hosted at LiteratureClassics.com

In Clytaemenestra, Aeschylus creates a complex, yet static character. She is symbolizes a plethora of different concepts - abused motherhood, unnatural masculinity, and vengeance – leading the audience to both adore and despise her. Aeschylus is able to wholly vary our opinions of her throughout the play, through his artful depiction of her. Thus, throughout the three plays of the Oresteia, although Clytaemenestra remains static, Aeschylus’ shifting portrayals, alter our perception of her.
Clytaemenestra is most admirable as the curtains fall on the first play. She seems justified in avenging her murdered daughter, through the murder her husband. After all she has murdered the man who willfully chose to, “feed [the gods’] fury”(110), with the life of his daughter. Indeed, once Agamemnon makes the decision to sacrifice his daughter, he slaughters her without a sign of disinclination; he kills her as one would kill an animal: “‘Hoist her over the altar like a yearling, give it all your strength!’”(111). Clytaemenestra not only seems warranted in her role as a vengeful mother, but also as an executioner of the gods. She is merely exacting retribution for Agamemnon’s hubris in, “trampling royal crimson as”(140), as he enters the palace. In killing Agamemnon Clytaemenestra believes that she as ended the curse’s cycle through a seemingly justified murder: “It is right and more than right. He flooded the vessel of our proud house with misery”(161). And yet already, there is foreboding in the term, “our proud house”, since it indicates that Agamemnon is not alone in his hubris, but joined rather joined by others that reside in the house of Atreus. She claims her murder is, “no stealthier than the death he dealt our house and the offspring of our loins, Iphigenia, girl of tears”(166) . In doing so she reminds us of the mother’s duty to protect, “the child’s Rights”(163), and evokes the pathos of the reader: “[Agamemnon] brutalized [her]”(163) . And to her avail, Aeschylus initially portrays her in such a manner that we sympathize with her cause. In her constant references to, “Iphigenia, girl of tears”(166), she is depicted as the retaliating mother. And despite her bloody act we can sympathize with it; she is rightfully avenging a wrongful murder.
Essentially, Clytaemenestra is a static character, remaining untouched throughout the trilogy. She begins as a deceptive, raging wife and remains that way throughout the plays. She depicts her murder of Agamemnon in great detail; she states, “He had no way to flee or fight his destiny – our never-ending, all embracing net”(161), and then goes on to describe each thrust of her bloody knife. She flaunts her remorselessness when she discusses, “the great sprays of blood”, comparing them to “the spring rains” (161). Her deceptive character is again portrayed when she desperately cries, “You strip me bare of all I love, destroy me”. In reality this compassionate speech is a façade; her underlying emotions are of relief that Orestes is no longer alive to fulfill his bloody destiny. Later, when discussing the Libation Bearers Fagles comments, “she sends the women to appease [the dead] with libations”(54). While she sends her servants who feel genuine regret, she, however, remains remorseless. Clytaemenestra, “had bad dreams” and so “sent…cups” to appease the dead(200). She sends the libations to appease the gods and save herself; she acts out of fear not repentance. Thus she remains steadfast in her validation of the crime, as well as, in her pitiless view of its victim.
Although, Clytaemenestra is no doubt a static character, Aeschylus masterfully portrays her dynamically through his widely varying depictions of her. Unlike in Agamemnon, in The Libation Bearers she is absent from the majority of the dialogue and unable to defend herself with the masterful oratory skills that led to the downfall of Agamemnon. Indeed, all present – Electra, the Chorus, and Orestes – criticize and condemn her actions. Electra, whose sister she supposedly killed for, questions her: “Reckless brutal mother…you dared entomb your lord unwept, unsung?”(196). Electra’s condemnation severely mars Clytaemenestra’s justification, since she, also a blood relative does not approve of her mother’s brutal slaughter. Chorus further dehumanizes her, describing her crimes in all their ugly bloody detail: “Shamed? Butchered, I tell you – hands lopped, strung to shackle his neck and arms! So she worked, she buried him, made your life a hell. Your father mutilated – do you hear?”(96). The audience almost feels ashamed for having sympathized with Clytaemenestra, in Agamemnon. She is no longer the justified avenger of her slain daughter; she is the monster that brutally assassinated her husband. Herein, Aeschylus’ genius lies. How does he take a static character, such as Clytaemenestra, and so wholly alter our view of her. Clytaemenestra’s actions have not changed but Aeschylus has introduced a new set up interpretations of those actions, transforming Clytaemenestra from the avenging mother into the brutal assassin.
Through her invariability, Clytaemenestra functions as an ideal archetype of the person who kills out of vengeance of the disastrous consequences that follow. Clytaemenestra provides the audience with an immediate example of how the bloody cycle of the House of Atreus manifests itself from start to finish. She follows the ancient law of the Furies, “Act for act, wound for wound”(166) While she detest Agamemnon, her ruthlessness in killing him, closely parallel’s his. She “[reveled] like the Earth”(161) as she commits her crime; she takes pleasure in her murder, just as Agamemnon did in his. Also, in comparing herself to, “the Earth”, she associates herself with the primitive, malevolent underworld, ruled by Hades and inhabited by the Furies. Her crime completed, she begins justifying her crime through pleas to motherhood. Yet, her supplications are futile; she is doomed to fall victim to the bloody cycle of the curse. The Chorus explains that, “the blood that Mother Earth consumes clots heard, it won’t seep through, it breeds revenge and frenzy goes through the guilty, seething like infection, swarming through the brain”. Thus, Clytaemenestra becomes not only a vehicle but also a victim of the vigilante justice professed by the Furies. The Chorus foretells of her destruction, when they hamper Clytaemenestra’s initial enthusiasm, by saying, “great curse of the house…relentless on our future and our sons”(165). Indeed, the cycle of the curse is completed as Orestes exclaims, “behold the double tyranny of our land!”(p.221), as he emerges from the palace holding Clytaemenestra and Aegisthus. Thus, Clytaemenestra’s unwavering nature, leads to her death by the curse, and also its continuation. Her static nature makes her an ideal example of the cycle since she is unable to reconsider her crime or repent for it, as is Orestes.
Aeschylus also utilizes Clytaemenestra’s rigidity to provide the audience with an exemplar of the ruinous consequences of unwavering female power. Greek society idealized the submissive, doting wife. Clytaemenestra, on the other hand, murders her husband and displays distinctively masculine qualities throughout The Oresteia. From the beginning of the play the watchman mentions in his monologue that “[Clytaemenestra – she manoeuvres like a man”(103). The Chorus soon voices its agreement: “Spoken like a man, my lady”(116). Finally, Clytaemenestra, herself, confirms their statements: “My heart is steel”(162). In this line she denouncing her natural feminine compassion, and so establishes herself as an unnatural woman. Electra, who is also a static character, serves to directly foil her mother. Unlike Clytaemenestra, who schemes and then carries out the murder of Agamemnon, Electra is submissive to Orestes; she allows him plot his mother’s murder and carry it out. Adhering to the Greek ideal, Electra submits to Orestes’ decision and slips into the palace, never to be seen again in the play. Therefore, Aeschylus’ utilizes Clytaemenestra to portray the unnatural woman and the consequences of her abnormality. She is an ideal exemplar because her static nature ensures that the vengeful Clytaemenestra depicted in the beginning of the play is the same Clytaemenestra who falls to the curse of the House of Atreus.
In conclusion, while Clytaemenestra is essentially a static character, Aeschylus skillfully creates the illusion of a dynamic character by adjusting the lens through which his audience observes her. He then utilizes Clytaemenestra’s static nature to walk us through a textbook cycle of the curse of the House of Atreus, as well as the fate of the masculine woman. While Clytaemenestra’s physical role in The Oresteia ends with her pitiful death at the hands of her son, she continues to contrast with the new order of The Eumenides. Through her actions in the earlier plays, we understand the chaotic consequences of blood vengeance. Also, her merciless murder of Agamemnon, further highlights Orestes’ moral dilemma and hesitation in killing his mother: “I dread to kill my mother!”(217). Thus, Clytaemenestra’s murder continues to elevate Orestes’ above the primitive blood vengeance of the Furies. The chaos that ensued Clytaemenestra’s murder foils the new order established by Orestes’.