Seen it all before
Agamemnon follows the typical pattern of any tragedy. Comparisons can be made to Shakespeare regarding the common themes of jealousy, murder, adultery, etc. Many comparisons are made regarding such works as Hamlet and Macbeth, and also a few from Romeo and Juliet. The most common theme seen in tragedies, or at least the most prominent anyway, is the insatiable need for revenge.
As with many tragedies, a need for revenge is one of the main themes. This was certainly the case with Hamlet, who was trying to avenge his father's untimely demise. Clytemenestra was seeking revenge for a more personal reason - mainly, the concept of 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. The irony here was that she was not only the scorned, but the one doing the scorning, so her need for revenge wasn't completely justified as it might otherwise have been had she not been an adultering bitch as well as a mother mourning her child. Her character could be compared to that of Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill - she at first believed her child had been killed, and was determined to kill everyone responsible as revenge for that act - but Bill made that not such an easy task, because he ordered attacks on her after she left him. The concept there was that there were consequences to breaking the heart of a murdering bastard. Revenge also plays in regarding Romeo and Juliet, with Romeo killing Tybalt in response to his slaying of Mercutio. Those murders put Romeo's life into a tailspin that eventually ended in his uneccessary and tragic suicide.
posted by Libby @ 11:12 AM
4 Comments:
Really, I mean come on- doesn't everything from Greek tragedy to Shakespeare to todays pop culture seem to have the same theme throughout it of murder, revenge, avenging deaths and jealousy? I think that they are used though because it is a familiar story that can be retold in many different ways, although it does become a bit redundant after a while. It is still something we can all relate to and understand. Plus what else draws attention other than drama and problems and how people try to solve their problems. I mean go watch a soap opera, what is enticing about it? nothing.. except for the constant drama and trace of the common themes we have seen throughout all the plays we have read this semester.
While I have not read all that many plays, most of them I have read have been some sort of tragedy, which results in revenge in some form or another. I know this is true in the case of Macbeth when Macbeth kills Duncan (with his wife’s help) so that he can obtain kingship. Revenge is a common concept in these plays and I think you did a very good job of pointing out how it is so familiar by comparing it to different works. This comparison was made even better by the fact that you compared works from a long time ago to a fairly current movie.
I find it quite interesting that you compared Agamemnon to Kill Bill. Now I haven’t seen Kill Bill so I don’t know the story but I think that you probably could have expanded more on your ideas of how they are similar by bringing up some more specific examples from each of the texts. I also liked how you began this mediation. You laid out exactly what you thought then took some of those ideas and expanded on them. It would have been nice if you had talked a little bit about your opinion on revenge and its importance in tragedies but overall this is a very strong, well written meditation.
I’m not sure I see what you are saying her comparison to Kiddo in Kill Bill. Clytemnestra is a horrible bitch who got pissed off because Agamemnon did what he had to do for his war to be successful; killed his daughter for Apollo. Kiddo was getting married when four hitmen came in an nearly killed her, then Bill shot her in the head. Clytemnestra plotted and schemed behind the scenes so she could have an opportune time to backstab her husband. Kiddo made it very clear, very early that she was going to go on a rampage and kill everyone in her way until she got to Bill. So I don’t see the comparison. I do agree, however, that revenge is a major plot tool used by a lot of playwrights.
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