Free Will In Agamemnon By Aeschylus

The predicament Agamemnon faces before the start of the Trojan War echoes the essential question of whether or not humans have free will and if it can be limited. After the omen of the eagles sent by Apollo, Agamemnon faces a dilemma—should he slay his daughter in order to please the goddess Artemis and reclaim Helen from Troy? Or should he abandon all possibility of sailing to Troy and risk further punishment by the goddess? Aeschylus creates an extremely difficult scenario for Agamemnon that allows the reader to empathise with the king of Argos. There are two conditions impelling him; the prospect of success in preserving the pride of his people, and the law of prophecy. However, I think Agamemnon could have exercised his free will to spare …show more content…
However, Aeschylus makes it clear that Agamemnon was given the chance to spare her life. He is placed in a conflict between fate and free will; “Obey, obey, or a heavy doom will crush me! - Oh but doom will crush me once I rend my child, the glory of my house - a father’s hands are stained, blood of a young girl streaks the altar. Pain both ways and what is worse” (Agamemnon, lines 206-213)? He is aware of the consequences if he spares Iphigenia but at the same time he knows guilt will haunt him if he kills her. He consciously chooses to “stop the winds with a virgin’s blood, feed their lust...feed their fury! - Law is law! Let all go well” (Agamemnon, lines 213-216). He is feeding the fury of not only the treacherous winds, but the lust and rage of his troops. Feeling the laws of the gods and fate impending, and overcome by desire for vengeance on the Trojans, Agamemnon is willing to commit filicide. This strikes me as absurd given the rather trivial cause for such an epic war that merely “avenged a woman’s loss” (Agamemnon, line 225). Aeschylus creates such a melancholy image of Iphigenia’s death “the bridle chokes her voice...her saffron robes pouring over the sand her glance like arrows showering wounding every murderer through with pity” (Agamemnon, lines 237-241). He uses her violated innocence to emphasize the complete immorality of Agamemnon’s decision. The chorus notes that is is not until after he decides to sacrifice Iphigenia that he “slipped his neck in the strap of Fate, his spirit veering black, impure, unholy, once he turned he stopped at nothing” (Agamemnon, lines 217-219). This was Agamemnon’s chance to escape the ancestral curse started by Atreus and Thyestes. Alas, he chooses to seal his fate, carry on the malediction, and continue the cycle of