Agamemnon and All My Children

Title/Subject: Meditation 3

The Oresteia is something akin to a primordial soap opera or miniseries. I do not say this by any means to disrespect the ancient art of tragedy. I merely see a correlation between these seemingly distant forms. Agamemnon is especially soap operatic in that very little action occurs in the episode aside from a few dramatic tidbits here and there. The entire play takes place in a single day much like any good daytime television drama. The resemblance between themes is absolutely undeniable: murder, betrayal, adultery, vengeance, etc. Audiences have always been drawn to stories that are rich in their own history. Housewives and the elderly tune in week after week to see new developments in the characters they know and love. The characters of The Oresteia possess a similar layering. However, in tragedy one cannot simply dismiss previous character developments like those in Days of Our Lives. Clytemnestra is a prime example of how detrimental this can be. The murder of her husband cannot merely be reduced to avenging her daughter’s death. As is revealed to us at the end of the play, there are many layers to this crime. Her affair with Aegisthus, her husband’s cousin, and the appearance of Cassandra have no doubt played into her decision to take Agamemnon’s life. If one considers these as a part of her motive, then she does not exactly come out of the situation smelling like roses.