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Iphigeneia
Agamemnon’s wife, queen of Mycenae, and mother to Iphigeneia and Orestes. Like several other characters in the play, such as Achilles, the Clytemnestra presented in Iphigeneia at Aulis is very different than the version of Clytemnestra who appears in later Greek myths. The play is in many ways Clytemnestra’s origin story: watching her husband lie and betray her, willingly sacrifice their eldest daughter, and prioritize the pursuit of pride and glory for Greece over the safety of their own family will eventually push Clytemnestra into rage, vengeance, and even madness. Throughout the play, however, Clytemnestra is too shocked and devastated to even be truly angry about having been led to Aulis under false pretenses; her focus, as a mother, is on saving Iphigeneia’s life rather than exacting revenge on Agamemnon. A devoted parent who puts her children’s wellbeing above her own at all times—unlike her selfish, prideful husband—Clytemnestra has no drive toward the pride and stoicism her husband and his brother Menelaos claim to value. She is willing to prostrate herself before the great warrior Achilles, to beg for the help of the old man who has been her slave for years, and to tempt the rage of the gods, the Grecian armies, and the legions of men at her husband’s command rather than give up what is “most dear” to her: her daughter. In the end, Clytemnestra’s pleas for sanity and nonviolence are drowned out even by Iphigeneia, who willingly marches to her death at the altar in hopes that her sacrifice will allow Greece to win the Trojan War. Clytemnestra is devastated by her daughter’s choice—and even when a messenger reports that Iphigeneia has been spared by Artemis and brought up to heaven, Clytemnestra remains stoic, quiet, and simmering with a rage that foreshadows the bloody revenge she’ll exact later on in her own personal narrative.
Clytemnestra Quotes in Iphigenia at Aulis
The Iphigenia at Aulis quotes below are all either spoken by Clytemnestra or refer to Clytemnestra . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Iphigeneia at Aulis
Quotes
THE OLD MAN: Atreus did not
sire you, Agamemnon, into a world
of pure happiness. You must expect
to suffer as well as rejoice,
since you're a man.
And the gods will see to that, whether
you like it or not.
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CLYTEMNESTRA: Son of a goddess, I, a mortal,
am not ashamed to clasp your knees. What good
would pride do me now? What matters more to me
than my daughter's life?
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ACHILLES: Pride rises up in me
and draws me on. But I have learned
to curb my grief in adversity, and my joy
in triumph.
Mortals who have learned this
can hope to live by reason.
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ACHILLES: I will be watching, in the right place.
You will not have to be stared at
hunting through the troops to find me. Do nothing
that would disgrace your fathers.
Tyndareos should not suffer shame.
He was a great man in Greece.
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CHORUS: But you, Iphigeneia, on your
lovely hair the Argives will set
a wreath, as on the brows
of a spotted heifer, led down
from caves in the mountains
to the sacrifice,
and the knife will open the throat
and let the blood of a girl.
And you were not
brought up to the sound of the shepherd's pipe
and the cries of the herdsmen,
but nurtured by your mother
to be a bride for one of great Inachos’ sons.
Oh where is the noble face
of modesty, or the strength of virtue, now
that blasphemy is in power
and men have put justice
behind them, and there is no law but lawlessness,
and none join in fear of the gods?
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AGAMEMNON: Oh immovable law of heaven! Oh my
anguish, my relentless fate!
CLYTEMNESTRA: Yours? Mine. Hers. No relenting for any of us.
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IPHIGENEIA: And now you want to kill me. Oh, in the name
of Pelops, of your father
Atreus, of my mother, suffering here
again as at my birth, do not let it happen.
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IPHIGENEIA: It is hard to hold out against the inevitable. […]
Now mother, listen to the conclusion
that I have reached. I have made up my mind to die.
I want to come to it
with glory. […]
You brought me into the world for the sake
of everyone in my country.
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Explanation and Analysis:
IPHIGENEIA: If it means that one man can see the sunlight
what are the lives of thousands of women
in the balance? And if Artemis
demands the offering of my body,
I am a mortal: who am I
to oppose the goddess? It is not to be
considered. I give my life to Greece.
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MESSENGER: And the miracle happened. Everyone
distinctly heard the sound of the knife
striking, but no one could see
the girl. She had vanished.
The priest cried out, and the whole army
echoed him, seeing
what some god had sent, a thing
nobody could have prophesied. There it was,
we could see it, but we could scarcely
believe it: a deer
lay there gasping, a large
beautiful animal, and its blood ran
streaming over the altar of the goddess.
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Clytemnestra Quotes in Iphigenia at Aulis
The Iphigenia at Aulis quotes below are all either spoken by Clytemnestra or refer to Clytemnestra . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Iphigeneia at Aulis
Quotes
THE OLD MAN: Atreus did not
sire you, Agamemnon, into a world
of pure happiness. You must expect
to suffer as well as rejoice,
since you're a man.
And the gods will see to that, whether
you like it or not.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
CLYTEMNESTRA: Son of a goddess, I, a mortal,
am not ashamed to clasp your knees. What good
would pride do me now? What matters more to me
than my daughter's life?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
ACHILLES: Pride rises up in me
and draws me on. But I have learned
to curb my grief in adversity, and my joy
in triumph.
Mortals who have learned this
can hope to live by reason.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
ACHILLES: I will be watching, in the right place.
You will not have to be stared at
hunting through the troops to find me. Do nothing
that would disgrace your fathers.
Tyndareos should not suffer shame.
He was a great man in Greece.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
CHORUS: But you, Iphigeneia, on your
lovely hair the Argives will set
a wreath, as on the brows
of a spotted heifer, led down
from caves in the mountains
to the sacrifice,
and the knife will open the throat
and let the blood of a girl.
And you were not
brought up to the sound of the shepherd's pipe
and the cries of the herdsmen,
but nurtured by your mother
to be a bride for one of great Inachos’ sons.
Oh where is the noble face
of modesty, or the strength of virtue, now
that blasphemy is in power
and men have put justice
behind them, and there is no law but lawlessness,
and none join in fear of the gods?
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
AGAMEMNON: Oh immovable law of heaven! Oh my
anguish, my relentless fate!
CLYTEMNESTRA: Yours? Mine. Hers. No relenting for any of us.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
IPHIGENEIA: And now you want to kill me. Oh, in the name
of Pelops, of your father
Atreus, of my mother, suffering here
again as at my birth, do not let it happen.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
IPHIGENEIA: It is hard to hold out against the inevitable. […]
Now mother, listen to the conclusion
that I have reached. I have made up my mind to die.
I want to come to it
with glory. […]
You brought me into the world for the sake
of everyone in my country.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
IPHIGENEIA: If it means that one man can see the sunlight
what are the lives of thousands of women
in the balance? And if Artemis
demands the offering of my body,
I am a mortal: who am I
to oppose the goddess? It is not to be
considered. I give my life to Greece.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
MESSENGER: And the miracle happened. Everyone
distinctly heard the sound of the knife
striking, but no one could see
the girl. She had vanished.
The priest cried out, and the whole army
echoed him, seeing
what some god had sent, a thing
nobody could have prophesied. There it was,
we could see it, but we could scarcely
believe it: a deer
lay there gasping, a large
beautiful animal, and its blood ran
streaming over the altar of the goddess.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
