How Guilty is Agamemnon in the Iliad

It is important to assess the character of Agamemnon that is presented in the works of Homer. More importantly one does have to ask how much of Homers character has been transplanted into Aeschylus Orestia. Does Aeschylus character have similar character traits to the original? Does Aeschylus alter the emphasis of Agamemnons character and his guilt as he has altered the theme of his murder? Agamemnons Character Firstly one must examine the character of Agamemnon, which Homer presents to his readers. The Homeric Agamemnon character is one of a man who has enormous power and social position, but he is depicted as a man who is not necessarily the best-qualified man for such power and position. Agamemnon constantly needs to receive the advice of his council. Homers Agamemnon allows, on many occasions, his over-wrought emotions to govern major and critical decisions. Perhaps it would be true to say that Agamemnon is trapped within a role greater than his ability. While there are serious failures in Agamemnons character he does show great devotion to and concern for his brother, Menelaos. Yet Agamemnon is extremely conscious that the structure of his society rests upon the return of Helen to his brother. He is totally aware of the critical importance of family order in his society and that Helen must be returned by any means necessary if his society is to remain strong and cohesive. What is clear from Homers representation of Agamemnon is that he is a deeply flawed character. One of his greatest faults is his inability to realise that as a king he must not succumb to his own desires and emotions. He refuses to accept that the position of authority that he finds himself in demands responsibility and that his personal whims and desires should be secondary to the needs of his community. Even though Agamemnon is a highly accomplished warrior, as a king he often exhibits, contrary to the ideal of kingship: stubbornness, cowardice and at certain times even immaturity. The epic itself presents the character of Agamemnon as a character who is righteous in a sense, but very flawed morally. Over the course of The Iliad, however, Agamemnon does seem to learn, eventually, from his many mistakes and by the time of its closing passages Agamemnon has evolved into a much greater leader than he previously was. Agamemnon in The Odyssey In Homers Odyssey, Agamemnon is once again present, this time however, in a greatly limited form. It is in book III where Agamemnon is mentioned for the first time. Nestor recounts the events leading up to Agamemnons murder. What is interesting to note here is where the emphasis is placed for Agamemnons murder. Clearly it is Aegisthus who is blamed for his death. Motivated by greed and lust Aegisthus betrayed the trust of Agamemnon and seduced his wife Clytemnestra. Homer repeats the telling of the fall of Agamemnon many times throughout the epic. The most likely reason for this is that the story of Agamemnons betrayal and assassination are used to contrast the murderous infidelity of Clytemnestra with that of the dedicated loyalty of Penelope. Aeschylus however, is not concerned with Penelope. His plays of the Orestia are completely devoted to the murder of Agamemnon and its consequences. Aeschylus Agamemnon does have similar character traits to the Homeric version of the character. During his brief appearance on stage his behaviour demonstrates his arrogant and boorish Homeric roots. In the opening stages of the Agamemnon the chorus describes Agamemnon as a great and courageous warrior, one who destroyed the mighty army and city of Troy. Yet after praising the character of Agamemnon, the chorus recounts that in order to change the winds in order to get to Troy, Agamemnon sacrificed his own daughter, Iphigenia. One is immediately presented with the crucial problem of Agamemnons character. Is he a man who is virtuous and ambitious or cruel and guilty of his daughters murder? The Sacrifice of Iphigenia The sacrifice of Iphigenia is a complicated issue. It is clear that Agamemnon was in an unenviable position before sailing to Troy. In order to have his revenge for Paris crime, and in order to aid his brother he must commit a further, perhaps worse crime. Iphigenia, Agamemnons daughter has to be sacrificed so that the battle fleet of the Greek forces can avenge the reckless actions of Paris and Helen. In this context, the act of sacrificing ones kin for the sake of the state could indeed be deemed a righteous act. Agamemnons decision to sacrifice his daughter could be deemed a logical decision, especially since the sacrifice was for the sack of Troy and the victory of the Greek army. Despite this apparent justification, perhaps Agamemnons sacrifice of his daughter was a flawed and wrong action. One could argue that he sacrifices his daughter on the altar of his own ambition. What is clear, however, is Agamemnon is responsible for the blood that he has spilled and that his drive and ambition, which can be witnessed in Homer, does seem to have been a factor in the sacrifice. Despite the ill-fated decisions of Agamemnons driving ambition, he is depicted by the chorus as virtuous nonetheless. The chorus presents Agamemnon as a moral character, a man who faced the dilemma of whether or not to kill his own daughter for the good of the state. Agamemnon fought the city of Troy for the sake of virtue and for the state; therefore he has to be a virtuous character. Although we are told of his act against his daughter Iphigenia, we are given insight on Agamemnons moral dilemma in the early stages of the play, therefore one is given the impression that this character does in fact have a sense of virtue and principles. Agamemnon contemplation of his situation is described with much grief. He illustrates his internal conflict in his speeches; What do I become? A monster to myself, to the whole world, And to all future time, a monster, Wearing my daughters blood. In a sense, Agamemnons sacrifice of his daughter is somewhat justified in that if he did not obey the command of the goddess Artemis, it would have led to utter destruction of his army and of the honour code he must follow in order to be a noble ruler. In spite of the virtuous and honourable picture that the chorus presents of Agamemnon, it is not long before we see that Agamemnon is flawed yet again. When Agamemnon makes his victorious return from Troy he proudly parades Cassandra, his mistress, before his wife and the chorus. Agamemnon is represented as a man who is extremely arrogant and disrespectful to his wife, of whose infidelity he must be ignorant. Agamemnon speaks to his wife disrespectfully and with contempt. Here Agamemnons actions are dishonourable. Despite Agamemnons long absence from Argos, he does not greet his wife with words of delight as she does to him. Instead, he embarrasses her in front of the chorus and his new mistress, Cassandra. His language here is particularly blunt. It does seem that Agamemnon considered acting over-masculine in these opening passages. Agamemnon presents to us another dishonourable flaw during the dialogue between himself and his wife. Although he does initially refuse to step on the carpet Clytemnestra has had prepared for him, she cunningly induces him to do so, thereby coercing him to go against his principles. This is a key scene in the play because originally Agamemnon refuses to walk the carpet because he does not want to be hailed as a god. Clytemnestra finally convinces -- thanks to her linguistic manipulation -- Agamemnon to walk on the carpet. Because of this Agamemnon defies his principles and transgresses from just being an arrogant king to a king suffering from hubris. Family Guilt The greatest aspect of Agamemnons guilt is that of his familys guilt. (From House of Atreus) The god-defying descendants of Tantalus committed unspeakable crimes that cried out for revenge, ultimately turning brother against brother, father against son, father against daughter and son against mother. It began with Tantalus who served his son Pelops as a meal to the gods to test their omniscience. Demeter alone failed the test and so, when Pelops was restored to life, he had to make do with an ivory shoulder. When it came time for Pelops to marry, he chose Hippodamia, the daughter of Oenomaus, king of Pisa. Unfortunately, the king lusted after his own daughter and contrived to murder all her more appropriate suitors during a race that he had fixed. Pelops had to win this race to Mount Olympus in order to win his bride, and he did by loosening the lynchpins in Oenomaus chariot, thereby killing his would-be father-in-law. Pelops and Hippodamia had two sons, Thyestes and Atreus, who murdered an illegitimate son of Pelops to please their mother. Then they went into exile in Mycenae, where their brother-in-law held the throne. When he died, Atreus finagled control of the kingdom, but Thyestes seduced Atreus wife, Aerope, and stole Atreus golden fleece. As a result Thyestes once again went into exile. Believing that he had been forgiven by his brother Thyestes eventually he returned and dined at the meal his brother had provided him. When the final course was brought in, the identity of Thyestes meal was revealed, for the platter contained the heads of all his children except the infant, Aegisthus. Thyestes cursed his brother and fled. Agamemnons Fate Agamemnons fate is directly linked with his violent family past. His death appears to be the result of several different patterns of revenge. Upon his death, Clytemnestra does remark that she hopes that the thrice gorged demon of the family can be appeased. As the ruler of all of Argos and husband to the duplicitous Clytemnestra, Agamemnon is highly a complicated character and it is very difficult to distinguish whether he is virtuous or immoral. There are many multi-facets of Agamemnon as a character. At times he is depicted as being very moral, and at other times, completely immoral. Although his presence in the play is very brief, his actions are the roots and the reasons for much of the conflict in all three plays of the trilogy. Not only that, but Agamemnons hopeless dilemma to seek vengeance through the use of violence sets the stage for much of the dilemmas yet to come in the trilogy, thereby making Agamemnon an essential character in Oresteia. Due to Agamemnons sacrifice of his daughter for the sake of ambition and the curse of the House of Atreus, both crimes ignite a spark in the Oresteia that compels the characters to seek a revenge that has no end. Both crimes seem to indicate Agamemnons guilt, some of it as a result of his own actions but conversely another portion of his guilt is that of his fathers and his ancestors. One could argue that had not Agamemnon and Atreus sparked the initial flame to the curses, this vicious cycle would have been less likely to occur and such bloodshed would have not transpired. However, it seems from the Oresteia that these brutal murderous actions were required as some form of blood sacrifice to appease divine anger with the house of Atreus. When one reaches the close of the trilogy it appears that the hunger of the thrice gorged demon has finally been satisfied. Agamemnon Bibliography Michael Gagarin - Aeschylean Drama - Berkeley University of California Press - 1976Simon Goldhill - The Oresteia - Cambridge University Press - 1992Simon Bennett - Tragic drama the family - Yale University Press - 1993

Crime Control Of The Police - 884 Words

The paramilitary organization of the police has naturally created a unique police subculture that mimics how it functions. The culture is based upon bravery, secrecy, autonomy and isolation from the outsiders (non-police) (Kappeler et al 2006, 289-91). The organization enforces these traditional and very military-like values because being a police officer is seen as a high honour and a foundation of society: it is held to the highest praise and nobility in society at large. The tremendous pressure from all the different stakeholders (public, government, media, etc) must be acknowledge and afforded its share of the blame. In this age there is a common belief that crime is increasing and that the police are never doing enough to counteract it. 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Mobile telecommunication Free Essays

Mobile phones are now seen as necessities rather than luxuries and market penetration (the percentage of the population owning mobile phones) Is very high and growing. A recent report put market penetration In the western E as a whole at 90 per cent In 2004 and predicted that this will rise to 100 per cent by 2007. In some European countries (including the ELK) penetration is in excess of 100 per cent as individuals have more than one mobile phone. We will write a custom essay sample on Mobile telecommunication or any similar topic only for you Order Now This high level of market penetration in the developed world does not mean that the racket is saturated as the advent of 36 technology has opened up the market and will lead to people trading up to more expensive phones. In addition there is an explosion of demand In the developing world. Current competition It Is necessary to look at two aspects of the market as they are Inextricably linked together – the market for mobile handsets and the market for network operators. In both cases the market is oligopolies, as Tables 13. 13 and 13. 4 show. The market leader for handsets is Monika. However, its position is under threat -its market share in the UK in 2002 was 52 per cent. Ionians main problem was the failure to recognize and meet the increased demand for camera flip-phones. It responded to this criticism by launching a new range of seven handsets in April 2005. The percentages shares of the other manufacturers remained fairly constant between 2002 and 2004, although LOG is a new entrant and the ‘others’ group increased Its market share from 10 per cent to 18 per cent. The market for mobile phone handsets in the UK Manufacturer Monika Siemens Sony Ericson Samsung Motorola Others % share of the I-J market, 2004 36 10 18 Table 13. 3 The market for network operators in the UK Network Avoidance Orange 02 T-Mobile Virgin Mobile 3 Tests % share of the UK market, 2004 25 17 01 source: Minute, 2004 There are three large providers of mobile networks in the I-J, with very little between them in terms of market share. In 2002 Orange was the market leader with 27 per cent of the market while Avoidance accounted for 26 per cent of the market; 3 and Tests are new entrants to the market. The market for pay-as-you-go mobile phones is approximately twice the size of the contract market. Power of buyers Mobile phones are mainly for personal use (by 65. 2 per cent of adults) rather than business use (4. 8 per cent of adults). Statistically, the user of a mobile phone is most likely to be single, young and female. Figure 13. 3 shows the ownership of mobile phones in the I-J by age. Ownership is lowest in the 55 years and over age group and the handset manufacturers and network operators recognize this. 2 is working with Saga (the insurance group for the over ass) to launch a deal for the over-ass and Avoidance launched a new handset called Simply in May 2005 which is aimed at the older racket – it has an easy-to-read screen and larger buttons and does not carry many of the more complex features. Figure 13. 3 Source: Keynote, 2005 Although buyers cannot exert a great deal of market power, the high level of competition and easy availability of information on handset prices and network operators means that it is easy to shop around for the best deal. Threat of new entry The barriers to entry in this industry were very high and included access to networks, the cost of license purchase and the cost of brand building. In recent years these barriers have fallen dramatically. The advent of virtual networks has reduced the necessity for access to a network. Virgin is a mobile virtual network operator (NOVO) as it buys spare capacity from T-Mobile and sells it on to consumers. Tests and 02 have a similar relationship. At one time the handset manufacturers also had to manufacture the base stations (used to provide mobile phone coverage) which were very expensive to produce. This was a very effective cost barrier to entry for smaller handset producers. This is no longer necessary as radio chips and other software can increasingly be bought ‘off the shelf. Manufacture of handsets is being subcontracted by some of the larger handset manufacturers and these subcontractors themselves are starting to sell handsets under their own name. Been is an example of such a company. If this starts to happen on a large scale, there will be a threat to the position and market share of the incumbent market leaders. In Table 13. 13 the category of ‘others’ grew from 10 per cent in 2002 to the 18 per cent shown in the table for 2004. A further threat to the position of handset manufacturers is the manufacture of handsets by the mobile operators themselves – Orange, for example, sells own brand handsets. This has the effect of tying the handset user into the operating network. In the ELK, there is evidence that there is room for new entrants – Sends for example, claims a 5 per cent market share in the I-J in 2005. Sends was founded in the UK in 1999 and initially supplied handsets to the network operators. It now supplies handsets under its own name through Internet sales and also through the giant retail supermarket Tests. Another barrier to entry which has fallen in recent years is the ‘switching cost’ uncured by users when they change between networks. Although users of pay-as you- go still have to pay a fee for ‘unlocking the phone which can amount to as much as EYE. O, operators will provide handsets free to customers who take out a contract for 12 months. In addition, a major obstacle to changing networks – having to change your telephone number – now no longer exists. Although there are no obvious substitutes for the mobile phone, there a number of developments in this area. The advent of 36 technology which was launched in 2004 mainly for business customers will be extended to personal users by the end of 2005. This will offer better features like AD effects and faster access to the Internet and games. New products will offer the ability to watch films and sporting events as they happen. BIT has developed a hybrid phone – called BIT Fusion – which was launched in June 2005. Fusion operates as a mobile phone when outside the home but switches to the cheaper broadband line when the phone is inside the home. This reduces the cost of usage. Mobile email is seen as a growth area as Microsoft launched a new version of the Windows operating system designed specifically for mobile phones in May 2005. This is mainly used by business but could easily be extended into personal use. Power of suppliers The large manufacturers now subcontract much of their manufacturing to smaller subcontractors like Sends (mentioned above). On the one hand, this gives them increased flexibility in production but, on the other, it allows the subcontractors to enter the market and eventually to compete in their own right – what is there to stop the operators bypassing the handset manufacturers completely? It is likely that this development will change the power relations between the handset manufacturers and their suppliers and could possibly result in co-production and co-marketing of the handsets in the longer term. In the race for market share, manufacturers and operators have to offer maximum quality and range of services. The content becomes crucial. The exploitation of the G market requires the best range of content and handset manufacturers are negotiating deals with content suppliers; Avoidance has teamed up with Disney and Sony to provide content for their phones. These large organizations will undoubtedly have some degree of market power over the handset manufacturers simply because of their size and already established market power. From this analysis it can be seen that, although this market is one with very high market penetration, it is not a saturated market. There is scope for new entry to the market and for the development of new products and new markets. The market conditions which gave rise to domination by the large vertically integrated giants like Monika and Motorola have largely disappeared and smaller manufacturers are entering the market. How to cite Mobile telecommunication, Papers