Guilt of Oedipus and Agamemnon - Essay Example

Guilt of Oedipus and Agamemnon Oedipus In Greek mythology, the king Oedipus unwittingly killed his father and subsequently married his mother who him he had borne four children. Towards the end of the play, the guilt ridden Oedipus gorged his eyes out and subjected himself to long term banishment. In another Greek tale, the king Agamemnon killed his own daughter to fight the infamous Trojan War. Agamemnon, if he were alive till old age, would have experienced a stronger guilt than Oedipus. Oedipus’ guilt In the play Oedipus the King, Oedipus was a cursed character whose fateful actions were predicted even before his death. Since a man cannot escape his own destiny, all the precautions turned out to be futile in his life. He was abandoned by his parents after birth and was brought up by king of Corinth. This lifelong separation could not refrain him from committing the sins that he were actually born to commit. The tragedy of killing his own father and marrying own mother overwhelmed him when he eventually learnt the truth. Oedipus instantly suffered from extreme guilt and to punish himself he gouged his eyes out. After becoming self-inflicted blind, he banished himself to the mountains. “From this hour, go in darkness!” And as he spoke, He struck at his eyes – not once, but many times; And the blood spattered his beard, Bursting from his ruined sockets like red hail. (Sophocles[2], 69) In the play Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus had already wandered for many years and his perspective regarding his guilt had changed with passage of years. In this play, it is shown that Oedipus had concluded that he is not guilty since he was not consciously responsible for killing his father or sleeping with his mother. He also made excuses like his sons should have prevented him from going into exile, although in the previous play his sons never had any role to play. “How was I evil in myself? I had been wronged, I retaliated; even had I Known what I was doing, was that evil? Then, knowing nothing, I went on. Went on. But those who wronged me knew, and ruined me.” (Sophocles[1], 100) The reasons why he had gone through such deep transformations were never clearly revealed in the play, although it can be ascertained that years of exile had revised his sentiments and provided him a new outlook towards life; “I suffered those deeds more than I acted them” (Sophocles[1], 99). Oedipus who was once a proud king had now become a kind person. Unlike the younger Oedipus, this old and blind Oedipus was less dynamic and heroic character maybe because this play had focused more on religion and piety. Agamemnon’s guilt The play Agamemnon depicts the murder of the title character by his wife, Clytemnestra. He was the older brother of Menelaus, whose wife Helen was taken away by a Trojan prince. This incident paved the way for the infamous Trojan War which lasted for almost ten years. As Agamemnon prepared the Greek soldiers, who were reluctant to enter into a war, to sail for Troy he was confronted with misfortunes including plague and lack of wind for which he could not sail towards Troy with his army. It was then announced by the prophet Calchas that in order to placate the goddess Artemis, Agamemnon would need to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia. In order to prove himself as a great warrior who can make all kinds of sacrifices for his country, Agamemnon readily gave up his own daughter Iphigenia although classical dramatizations differ in opinion about the extent of willingness or unwillingness on the part of Agamemnon and his daughter. After the Trojan War ended, Agamemnon returned to Argos but soon after he was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra. She committed the murder of her own husband in order to avenge the sacrifice of her daughter, Iphigenia. “No slave’s death, I think - no stealthier than the death he dealt our house and the offspring of our loins, Iphigenia, girl of tears. Act for act, wound for wound! Never exult in Hades, swordsman, here you are repaid. By the sword you did your work and by the sword you die.” (Orestia, 166) Agamemnon is regarded as one of the tragic heroes of ancient Greek plays. In the beginning of the play he is portrayed as a revered king. The watchman’s speech makes it clear that Agamemnon has already been fighting the Trojans for ten years, and in his absence Argos is devoid of a competent king; “Ten years gone, ten to the day.....Melanus and lord Agamemnon..... launched Greece in a thousand ships” (Orestia, 105). Although this gives a positive image of Agamemnon, readers soon learn that he gets ready to sacrifice his daughter for earning an advantage in the war. This portrays the inhuman side of Agamemnon since it was never clearly explained that he had no other choice. He is considered as a tragic hero since he not only had to sacrifice his daughter to fight a war to save his brother’s wife, but he also emerged as a hero as he brought victory to the Greek army but could not live to enjoy the glory of victory. At the end of the play, he fails to see his wife’s ploy to murder him. This play depicted how even a great hero can become vulnerable to the world’s evils. Agamemnon’s greatness lied in his humility as he attributed all his fame and glory to the Gods. “I am human, and it makes my pulses stir with dread. Give me the tributes of a man and not a God, a little earth to walk on, not this gorgeous work.” (Orestia, 137-138) Comparison Oedipus was a man filled with pride but with a good heart. In the second play, he had achieved spirituality but this transformation took place after his recognition of own fallibility. His total transformation of perspective of acute guilt to considering himself wronged by others is akin to the movement through infant-like innocence to the acceptance of human mortality. When Thebes was struck by plague, he was informed that the Oracle has stated that the city can be saved only if the murderer of King Laius was apprehended and banished from the land. As Oedipus began his search for the killer, he was informed that it was he who had killed the king. Initially, he responded with anger for which he cannot actually be blamed. There was every reason for him to believe that he knows nothing of the deed. However, very soon it was revealed through his behavior that he was aware of the duplicities of his position. Apparently, Oedipus was portrayed as a just and honest king who favored the truth at all costs for the benefit of his people. He even took the responsibility upon himself to solve the riddle proposed by the evil Sphinx who had captured Thebes. Therefore, it was unfathomable why Oedipus who displayed such confidence in solving puzzles could not comprehend the truth even when he was given all the hints of his birth and foster parents. He learnt that the prophecy that made him leave Corinth was exactly the same prophecy that was made before his birth. He also learnt that a baby was abandoned by King Laius, and the baby was not killed. He even discovered that the baby was found by a Corinthian shepherd. Since, Oedipus as a king had already proved his intelligence, it can be deduced that all such knowledge made him aware of the truth long before he was willing to consciously admit it to himself. Such conclusion is more logical than deducing that Oedipus was slow-witted in solving such a clear puzzle concerning his own life. Oedipus was fated to kill his father since it was already professed before his birth. This is one main criteria of difference between the circumstances that led Oedipus and Agamemnon to turn murderers of their close ones. In case of Oedipus it could not be avoided. To prevent this from happening King Laius and his queen Jacosta, who for years longed for a son, gave up their eventually born son and abandoned him in the mountains. Even then, after growing up, Oedipus left his foster parents. Irony was that he fled from the king of Corinth since he too wanted to avoid committing a sin like killing his father. However, he was unaware then that the king was not his real father and hence the king was never destined to die in his hands. Oedipus ended up killing his own father, but however he was not aware at the time of killing that the victim was his father. Similarly, when he married Jocasta and had four children with her, he was not aware that she was his real mother. Therefore, everything that he did (right or wrong), he did them unknowingly. Yet, after knowing the identity of his real parents, Oedipus could not escape from the feeling of acute guilt, so much so that he gouged his eyes out and spent many subsequent years of his life in exile. He even used pins from the robes of his wife Jocasta, who by that time had hanged herself, to stab his own eyes. “For the King ripped from her gown the golden brooches That were her ornament, and raised them, and plunged them down Straight into his own eyeballs, crying, “No more, No more shall you look on the misery about me, The horrors of my own doing! Too long you have known The faces of those whom I should never have seen, Too long been blind to those for whom I was searching!” (Sophocles[2], 69) The tragedy of Agamemnon did not become as pronounced as Oedipus. This is because readers cannot experience Agamemnon’s reactions as a guilt ridden father since he was killed by his wife instantly after returning from the war. At the time Agamemnon killed his daughter, he might have felt it was a logical decision since it was for the sake of his country and his brother’s wife’s honor; “Yes, he had the heart to sacrifice his daughter, to bless the war that avenged a woman’s loss” (Orestia, 110). Therefore the question remains if his feeling would have been the same had he not been killed by Clytemnestra. Conclusion Agamemnon killed his daughter in order to save his brother’s wife Helen from the Trojan prince. He committed the deed consciously unlike Oedipus who was not aware of his father’s identity at the time of killing. If Agamemnon would have survived till old age, it was possible that he would feel guilty. This is because Iphigenia was conscious that she was being killed by her own father, and it must have been a horrible feeling that her own father considered the war more important than her life. In the case of Oedipus, his father was not aware of his identity when the murder was committed although it can be deduced that King Laius realized it at the brink of death since he was aware of the prophecy that he would be killed by his own son. Oedipus could make himself free from guilt on the pretext that he was unaware of the truth regarding his birth. However, Agamemnon had no such excuses and so it can be concluded that he would have suffered from guilt all his life if he would have survived till old age. References Orestia, Agamemnon, Trans. Robert Fagles, Penguin Classics Sophocles[1], Oedipus at Colonus, Trans. Robert Fitzgerald Sophocles[2], Oedipus Rex, Trans. Dudley Fitts & Robert Fitzgerald Read More