History 1002
Clytemnestra’s Speech
In Aeschylus's Greek tragedy Oresteia, shortly before the murder of Agamemnon, his wife, Clytemnestra, makes a stirring speech upon his return. The speech is a deceitful foreshadowing of the events to come, rich in double entendres and images of loss and death. Clytemnestra is able to fool not only Agamemnon, but the Chorus over the course of her dubious speech using many techniques of deceit. Clytemnestra's treachery throughout her speech is evident through the use of images, metaphors, and equivocal and ambiguous phrases she uses to skillfully fool the Chorus in Aeschylus's Oresteia.
Clytemnestra cleverly uses the equivocal properties inherent in language for her dastardly purpose. She employs several shrewd images that are misinterpreted by Agamemnon and the Chorus to be a proud and relieved homecoming for her husband’s return. At the beginning of her speech, Clytemnestra said that the "rumors she hears spreads like disease," invoking an image of rot and decay (Aeschylus, 863). Throughout the next few lines, she reports rumors that Agamemnon had "more holes in him than a net" and a "triple cloak of earth", while implying that he was a "second Geryon", or a monstrosity of a man (Aeschylus, 866-872). Clytemnestra says that the rumors that circulated around the city were so unbearable that she “had to be released against her will, from the noose of suicide, more than once” (Aeschylus, 874-875). Clytemnestra also boldly points out that Iphigenia, the "seal of our pledge," is gone, nearly stating that their bonds are extinguished by Agamemnon’s own hands (Aeschylus, 876). After Clytemnestra’s speech, she orders the servants to “strew the path of his feet with these fabrics” and “cover his way with crimson” (Aeschylus, 909-910). Agamemnon walking on the tapestries is a metaphor on many levels and symbolizes many things. It shows Agamemnon’s hubris as well as simultaneously affronting the gods. The male versus female conflict present in Clytemnestra and Agamemnon is also present. The “crimson” color of the tapestries alludes to Agamemnon’s own death because of the similarity of the tapestries and flowing blood (Aeschylus, 910). The speech of Clytemnestra is layered with treachery and deviancy, foreshadowing Agamemnon’s murder and her new state of mind: one thirsty for blood and vengeance.
Clytemnestra also uses this ambiguous property in speech when disguising her purpose through words that have double meanings. Near the start of her speech, she "feels no shame in telling you of my love," however she does not mean the word "love" in a romantic sense; she instead means a strong emotional attachment: hate (Aeschylus, 856). She also says “how unbearable [her] life has been” while her husband has “stood under Troy’s walls” (Aeschylus, 859-860). Clytemnestra actually means that she could not bear Agamemnon being so far away, where she is unable to exact her revenge. Clytemnestra also speaks of the "anger of the people"(Aeschylus, 883). This implies there is unrest not only in the country but at home, and Agamemnon is entering a treacherous house. Clytemnestra says also that she “has no more tears”, which Agamemnon and the Chorus seem to take as her relief he is home (Aeschylus, 888). However, Clytemnestra actually means that she is focused and ready for action to take revenge for the loss she has suffered. She then says her "mind is free from pain” and “[her] mind never sleeps" (Aeschylus, 895, 912). Clytemnestra also says she will "set things right" (Aeschylus, 895, 912-915). This underscores the fact that Clytemnestra has been overtaken by the Furies for vengeance upon Agamemnon. She all but proclaims her animosity for her husband throughout the speech, but Agamemnon and the Chorus are oblivious to her machinations.
Clytemnestra uses a few techniques of deceit. She uses ambiguous wording and her meanings are suspect, but she also employs the use of metaphor and omission. Clytemnestra’s own demeanor is misinterpreted by her audience. Her “exhausted grief” and her anxious waiting express more than just the worries of a wife left at home (Aeschylus, xxvi). She also gives flamboyant praise to Agamemnon like “the one true heir to his father” and “strong pillar of the towering roof” are more borrowed from Odysseus’s return to Penelope. Clytemnestra can not even come up with true praise for Agamemnon. Instead, she fails to even halfheartedly compliment him in an effort to smoke screen her trickery (Aeschylus, 897-898). In her speech, Clytemnestra never actually says that she is relived or that she is happy for his return. What Clytemnestra says is only slightly more important than what she does not. The folly of the Chorus and Agamemnon is that they only hear, and misinterpret, what she says. They do not question her demeanor or her lack of comfort from Agamemnon’s return; only her bloodlust is slightly calmed by his nearness. Clytemnestra’s deceit of her audience is a fourfold compellation of lies and misdirection.
The Chorus is unable to understand the true nature of Clytemnestra's words because her speech is layered with hidden meanings and, mainly, because the Chorus is on a lower "discernible level of comprehension" than Clytemnestra (Hardy, 5). She succeeds in fooling everyone except for the readers and Cassandra. Another explanation for how Clytemnestra so flawlessly confounds the Chorus is that "she had a plan and they (the Chorus) didn't" (Hardy, 7). The Chorus has “learned the Furies’ dirge of death and lost all strength of hope” and feel the “truth twist in my guts” as well as their “hearts throb with foreboding” (Aeschylus, 991-996). They also "don't want to hear" the "terror" in their hearts after Clytemnestra's speech (Aeschylus, 975-979). These aspects render the Chorus blind to Clytemnestra's true goal and her deception to be fruitful.
Aeschylus shows great command of language and deception in writing Clytemnestra's speech in his play Oresteia. Clytemnestra employs several misleading words and macabre images to fool the Chorus into believing she is relieved at his return and her suffering is over. Agamemnon and the Chorus are blindsided when Clytemnestra murders Agamemnon shortly after he arrives home, giving Clytemnestra a complete tactical victory through her speech. Clytemnestra's masterful use of duplicity and omission enables her to fool the Chorus and successfully murder Agamemnon without either of them realizing her true intentions before the act.