Aeschylus's Agamemnon: The Battle Between Men And Women

Throughout the course the theme of men versus women is very prominent. Readers see that since the beginning of ancient Greece men and women have been at odds. Men seek superiority as do women. Each unit offered a different view on men versus women. The first time readers will encounter this topic is in unit two. In unit two there are many mentions of men versus women. Men and women are seen as two very different ideas or aspects. The first encounter is the battle in Troy, men would view women as prizes and posessions. Which made it possible that the reason for battle was, a stolen woman.
The next encounter is the story of Agamemnon and his wife. Readers learn that Agamemnon was murdered by his own wife. The ghost of Agamemnon comes to Odysseus …show more content…
Within unit 4 Aeschylus’ Agamemnon tells a tale about men and women. As mentioned before Agamemnon was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra. She declared that she killed her husband to avenge Iphigenia, who was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Agamemnon set out to kill his daughter as a sacrifice to allow his ships to sail through Troy. In this tale Agamemnon used his daughter, a woman as a sacrifice. After Agamemnon’s death it had become hard to trust any women during that time period. Agamemnon’s ghost would come back to warn the gods, like Odysseus, to tell them that they could not trust women to be alone. This theory was proven when Odysseus’ wife was with another suitor while Odysseus was gone at Troy. Men saw women as disposable if it led to a satisfaction of their needs. The gods believed that women were not trust worthy and deceitful. The god Apollo had certain views about men and women. He believes “it is the male and not the female who is the true parent…she decides that the claims of the father trump those of the mother” (Pomeroy, 298). We can assume that the anger that is being portrayed is directly coming from the murder of Agamemnon. Showing that women cannot be trusted and that no one can trust them to run an entire community without it crumbling in a women’s hands. Men do not think or make decisions with their emotions. However, it …show more content…
Unit six goes in depth to Greek and homosexuality and love. Within ancient Greece homosexual tendencies were seen just as natural as heterosexual tendencies. The men of Greece were put under a societal/cultural pressure to get married and produce a generation Greek citizens, as well as having an heir to the family estate. Though there was all this pressure on men to be men, there was no pressure to be faithful to their wives. As long as who they were with were not other citizen’s wives. Readers see an example of this