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... proper sovereignty. Before announcing his return, Odysseus, with the help of goddess Athena, cunningly disguises himself as a beggar to learn of life in Ithaka during his long absence. His patience pays off as he is able to cleverly plan and carry out the demise of the evil and wasteful in Book 22.
However, his lust for revenge does not blind his good judgement. Odysseus, while slaying the suitors, is confronted by Phemios, the minstrel suitor, who pleads for forgiveness. Mercy, mercy on a suppliant, Odysseus! I am fit to make verse in your company never by my own will or for love did I feast here or sing amid the suitors. They were too strong, too many; they comp else me. (Bk. 22, 386 - 397) Odysseus, recognizing the minstrels virtue and taking his son Telemachus word, acknowledges Phemios goodness and the ensuing necessity of justice, Courage Take it to heart, and pass the word along: fair dealing brings more profit in the end. (ll. 418 - 420) So, in an instant, Odysseus regains his power and also reasserts the legitimacy of his rule as bacillus of Ithaka.
In conclusion, Odysseus wisdom and courage, though both traits of a superior leader, are at times hindered by an occasional excess of pride. Even so, along the way he learns from his mistakes and compensates for them by becoming a wiser, more humble man. Therefore, while not the perfect ruler from the onset, Odysseus redeems himself by the end of the Odyssey. Out of the great tragedy in the story, he becomes a more capable leader to regain his kingdom and live a long and happy life.
Conversely, the chief bacillus, Agamemnon, does not emerge a praiseworthy character in Aeschylus Agamemnon. Rather, his credibility and status as an effective ruler digress from the start of the play until his death. In the opening scene, the Watchman voices his yearning for the return of Agamemnon and his army, and upon spotting the beacon, expresses his joy for their claimed victory in Troy. And I myself shall dance a prelude, for my masters throw has been lucky Well, may it come to pass that the lord of the house comes back, and that I clasp his well-loved hand in mine. (Agamemnon, ll. 31 - 35) Agamemnon's praise is further voiced by the Chorus who refers to him as a Kingmighty in honor (l. 44) and the Herald who refers to the ruler as one who brings light in darkness. (l. 522) Thus, it would appear that Agamemnon is both a skilled ruler and one loved by his subjects. However, as the play advances, it becomes readily apparent, that these virtues, once a befitting reflection of Agamemnon's ch adapter, have lost distinction during his ten years in Troy. The first of Agamemnon's evident faults is his uncompromising and selfish ambition, which is exemplified in the Chorus retelling of his sacrifice of Iphigeneia.
The story unfolds that on the day the Greek fleet was to set sail for Troy, they were met with extremely unfavorable winds and were forced to remain in port Morale dropped quickly and supplies began to rot. A prophet informed Agamemnon that if he sacrificed his daughter to Artemis, he would appease the goddess and the winds would calm. Agamemnon, anguished over this dilemma, perceived disaster in both choices. A grievous doom is disobedience, and a grievous doom it is if I massacre my daughter. (ll. 206 - 208) Ultimately, ambition won the day: Iphigeneia was sacrificed; the winds were abated; and the fleet sailed.
The true grievance, however, is Agamemnon's choice of his expedition of Troy over his own daughter. While his high regard for the troops and dedication to the cause are admirable, How am I to become a deserter of my ships, lo sing my allies? (ll. 211 - 212), Agamemnon's justification only four lines later, that a sacrifice [of] maidens blood[is] for the best! (l. 215) shows that his own lust for glory and power in war is his immediate concern and the determining factor in his decision. This acute insensitivity to the feelings of others, is further illustrated when Agamemnon returns to Argos. He enters in a chariot accompanied by Cassandra, Priams (King of Troy) daughter. The Chorus, seeking to honor and welcome their long-estranged king, burst out in flustered praise. Come, king, sacker of Troy How am I to revere you, neither overshooting nor falling short of the right measure of my gratitude? (ll. 783 - 787) However, Agamemnon callously brushes them aside in order to give thanks to the gods and assess the state of Argos, as he intends to amputate the degenerate parts of the kingdom.
His austere disregard surfaces again in his treatment of Clytemnestra upon their first encounter. In her greeting, Clytemnestra recounts her anguish over his absence and the joy she feels for his return. But Agamemnon, rather than greet his wife with similar oration, chides her for the length of her speech, which matches my absence, you have drawn it out. (ll. 915 - 916) He then proceeds to further r insult her by introducing Cassandra as the woman who came with me as the chosen flower, (l. 954) and commands his wife to treat his concubine in kindly fashion and never force her to bow to the yoke of slavery. (ll. 951 - 954) Thus, because Agamemnon is preoccupied with his own immediate needs rather than those of his wife and friends, he succeeds in further tarnishing his claim as a suitable bacillus. The tarnishing, however, does not cease there. Agamemnon's narrative of his conquests in Troy reveals an appalling magnitude of personal savagery. As he recounts the succession of events that led to the sacking of Troy, he continuously returns to the image of bloody revenge, describing the ruin of Illium as deaths justly added to the urn of blood and the victorious troops as a ravening lion [who] leaped over the wall, and licked his fill of blood of kings. (ll 827 - 828) He also retells the fall of the city with brutally descriptive clarity: And even now the smoke marks out the conquered city, Destructions storms have life; and dying with the city, the embers waft forth. (ll. 818 - 820) So the question arises: Why does Agamemnon talk about the total destruction of Troy with such grim pleasure?
Agamemnon's own defense for his actions is in the name of justice: their arrogant rapine has been avenged for a womans [Helen] sake their city was ground to dust. (ll 822 - 823) However, the vulgar lang use Agamemnon uses to describe the retribution, belies his appeals to divine justice. These justifications can not conceal his obsession with death and blood and thus his motivations are revealed to be of a much less noble condition -- the lust for bloodshed. This distorted view of justice is a theme that repeats itself throughout the Oresteia and is the cause for the death of Agamemnon, himself, at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra at the close of Agamemnon. However, Clytemnestra cannot be held solely responsible for the downfall of her husband.
The man of the play embodies his own breed of violence-callousness, relentless ambition and overweening sense of self, which not only render him a poor ruler but are also contributing factors in his eventual demise. So in analyzing the texts of Odyssey and Agamemnon, two versions of an archaic Greek bacillus surface. Odysseus, for the most part, represents the positive attributes while Agamemnon offers an example of the unfavorable ruler. It cannot go without notice, however, that neither character wholly exemplifies an extreme; each man possesses some of his counterparts admirable or censure-worthy traits, but in lesser amounts. Thus, both Odysseus and Agamemnon are different blends of these qualities rather than molded archetypes. And it is this balance that allows the characters to become three-dimensional and occupy roles beyond that of the epic hero and vengeful brute.
This, though, is not to say that Odysseus and Agamemnon would be considered heroic by todays standards. Instead it seems more apropos to assume that an archaic Greek bacillus would have had some difficulty in establishing his brute vitality and morale in modern society. Even so, their life-like personalities allow the audience to iden time with the plights of Odysseus and Agamemnon, and allow the characters and texts to transgress time and place. Bibliography:
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