The disturbing story behind this painting
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2022
- You can learn more about the tragic story of Cassandra here in my video about Athena: • ATHENA (film) | Goddes...
And here are the other two videos from my "House of Atreus" series:
(The Anger of Achilles - Sacrifice of Iphigenia) • Why was she killed by ...
(Orestes Pursued by the Furies) • Why is he tormented wi...
This video explores the motive behind Queen Clytemnestra's killing of her husband Agamemnon and princess Cassandra who he's brought back as a trophy from the Trojan War. The text was taken from the tragedian Aeschylus' drama known as Agamemnon, the first installment in his trilogy known as The Oresteia.
The specific translation I used is by Robin Bond and can be read in full here:
ir.canterbury.ac.nz/bitstream...
#storytelling #mythology #drama
Thumbs up if you are Team Clytemnestra.
Agamemnon had it coming, he killed Artemis' sacred stag, he stole Briseis from Achilles, and he insulted Diomedes, son of Tydeus.
Very true. The hubris with him is through the roof. Random, but “had it coming” makes me think: what if there were a Broadway production of The Oresetia in the style of Chicago.
Clytemnestra:
🎶 He had it comin’
He had it comin’
He only had himself to blame
And if you’d been there
If you’da seen it
I betcha you would’da done the same 👯♀️
Though Her actions may have been on the more extreme side... I cannot view her as a "monster" for the deeds she has committed.
She is with reason filled with grieve due to the murder of her daughter [Iphigenia]. To add insult to injury he then brings home a beautiful Trojan Princess as a throphy concubine.
I feel for Cassandra, as she is probably the most innocent of all in all of it and thus becomes a great figure of tragedy...
I've read somewhere also that Clytemnestra acted as a tool for the curse on the house of Atreus, and thus her deception and ultimate murder of Agamemnon was unavoidable in the hands of Fate...
I agree with that. She is fascinating to me in her kind of demonic energy… almost like she’s one of the Erinyes herself come to life. I want to make more content about Cassandra, who I briefly talked about in the Athena video a while back.
Now I’m wondering-should I go ahead and make a whole video dedicated to Cassandra?
I have seen the 'Athena' video where you made a mention of Cassandra. So I definitely think you've more or less covered all her basis! Of course if you do decide to give her her own video I'll be there to watch it.
I would love seeing more on the house of Atreus. Perhaps an exploration on Agamemnon's younger brother Menelaus and his wife [Clytemnestra's sister] Helen, who was the cause of the Trojan War.
To this day there is great controversy over whether Helen was a deceitful adulterer or just a pawn in the hands of the gods...
Interestingly enough the two sons of Atreus were married to the two daughters of Leda... Leda was also the mother of the Dioscuri, Castor & Polux.
Leda and all Her children are really fascinating as well to me.
How Zeus [in the form of a swan] seduced Leda and according to the account, gave birth to two eggs... One contained Helen & Clytemnestra, the other Castor & Polux.
If I remember this kind of Greek knot, if you did not avenge a death, you were hounded by the furies, but if you murdered a family member, you were hounded by the furies.
Look at all those Greek Symbols or buttons on the door frame. Like they put on their shields. I wonder if that represents how big his kingdom was, by all the shields he controlled?
I was also fascinated with these symbols when editing the video and will have a closer look at them when I’m back at the computer. A good guess! It looks like thin sheets of gold that have had their designs hammered in.
@@TinyEpics Oh, I recocognize a few of them. It Is like Perseus Shield and the Gorgon heads. Or like all the symbols they used to put on the sails of the ships! I always remember they didn't read and write back then and symbols were a huge part of society like on the ceramics with all the mythology to match the stars. Like a certain "braid or weave" of each culture, to match the reed they used to make paper or decorated their pillars with. Written in "stone." Ty always.
This is freaky. Is it just me and wonder if others can see it as well. As the camera draws in closer the facial expression appears to slowly change and becomes more intense and eyes seem to open more as if the subject knows you are closer. I've even jumped straight to different parts of this clip and it still does it. Great painting.
Oh gosh! You're on a roll... Loving it...
This painting sure is a marvel! More so is the tale it represents...
Thanks for the awesome content...
It was SO HARD to find a decent image of this painting. In the end I just had to suck it up and buy one from a stock image website. But it was worth it, because it really shows off the details nicely. Her expression is difficult to describe in the painting. Love the mixture of complex emotions and cognitive dissonance he captured there.
So glad you liked the video and your lovely comments are always greatly appreciated by me.
I wonder what the artist was thinking when he made Her facial expression... It's really quit riveting and like you say, hard to describe! Really thought provoking though.
All your efforts are much appreciated Lance. You really put in the extra mile! ✨
I believe that Klytaimestra's purpose for killing Agamemnon is not because she wants to protect Iphigenia or her other children, in fact, it's her selfishness and desire for wealth that brings her to her deadly plot. In the play of Elektra, Klytaimestra seems to have no value for Elektra or her other child Orestes, leaving them to fend for themselves or making them her slaves. We also don't see this motherly love between Klytaimestra and Iphigenia. In fact, Elektra exactly points this out by stripping away the title of a mother from Kly since Elektra believes that she isn't worthy of being one. The way she is described in both the books is as being "bloodthirsty", "having a stain of blood in her eye", etc.
You lead me here with a comment, I subscribed
Glad you found me and thanks for subscribing. Welcome to the channel!
-Lance
I'm writing this in response to another comment. Clytemnestra didn't killed him to protect her other children: Electra was a slave with Crysothemis and Orestes run away in fear of being the next victim. If a son believes his mother would attack him with an axe, she might be a bad mother
Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia for the sake of his war. He won his war. He probably walked proudly with the princess of Troy as his war prize. Only to be welcome by death at the hands of his wife.
Monster? Well, if she is... I say, every "monster" has its reason why they become one. ...
In some accounts, Agamemnon killed Clytemnestra's first husband and infant son before making her his wife..
Oh! And one more thing.. I would just like to put this out there..
Clytemnestra killed her husband for revenge? Let us not forget that she is also a mother. I think she is just protecting her remaining children. If Agamemnon could kill his very own daughter, Clytemnestra probably couldn't just sit around and find out what he could do to her remaining children
The sense I get in The Oresteia is that Clytemnestra’s psyche is fractured after the sacrifice of her daughter. So much so that she doesn’t care to properly inform Electra or Orestes about it (or perhaps because she cannot bring herself to relive the trauma by telling them). It’s an interesting idea though that she would kill him to protect the remaining children. I never thought of it that way. According to Euripides she always hated Agamemnon, as he stole her from her first husband and killed another, earlier child of hers.
Agamemnon appears as such a repugnant tyrant in Greek legend that I honestly feel Clytemnestra is rather a hero for doing him in.
@@TinyEpics it is sad though, that Orestes and Elektra never even ask their mother about it.. before killing her.. but then again, their thinking is different than mine...
I guess to them, kill first ask later.. 😅😅😅
@@TinyEpics that's how I feel too! There is nothing honorable about him..
That’s just horrid Orestes will avenge his dad
Why that's horrid?
@@jessnalulila5709 Cassandra was innocent, could of let her live, Agamemnon yeah ok cool, not Cassandra
I dont know, I think Im on her side then I change my mind. She has noone on her side after Aegitheus and the Eriynes, neither of whom support her in her appeal. The Chorus only feed the villanous impression her characterization gives us, they have heard her reasons she gives beautifully in poetry and still infuraiatingly they have no heart. I tend to continue daily to change my mind about her. I disagree that "it wasnt jealousy for the war bride of her husband-Cassandra" in several poetic renderings very jealous words are put into her mouth which would have resonated with audiences, for example Aescylus, Sophocles and ELectra, however, when I saw Iphigenia at Aulis at Epidarus she wasnt even killed but saved before death by Artemis. Similarly I condem her passion for murder rather than moderation, which every Greek wife like Penelope adhered to and she is even contrasted with Penelope by Agamemnon to Odysseus in his trip to the underworld. I also thought that since all of this happened to her her image has taken on the image of a bad Greek wife. Electra tries, I would argue quite successfully to destroy her defense of the murder by saying that she thirsted after her husband Agamemmnon's power and had plotted the coup with Aegeithus for a long time. In her defense its got to have been the Greek attitude towards women in power that gained her the notorious reputation but she doesnt do herself any favours. Her character is one of strength and determination and independent spirit in the face of injustice, she has no support and when she does get killed she is remembered more for the negative qualities than the good, which is typical. Medea in a rare work by an ancient poet, copied down by Scholia in summary but the lost tells us that the she was Queen of Corinth and for her status as a woman was despised by everyone in the Corinthian Court. They even in one version murder her children because of her forign, female stus. Clytemnestra could be described as 'other' like Medea and both are probably hated more because they are women than for the acts they committed-audiences just love revelling in the villanous heroine stereotype I guess.