Iphigenia in Aulis

“No mortal man has happiness

And fortune in all ways. He is

Born, every man, to his grief!”

Agamemnon gives voice to a sentiment that would have been familiar to the ancient Greeks of Euripides’ time, the idea that all mortals must experience happiness as well as happiness throughout their lives. Agamemnon may be fortunate in his lofty position and power, but for this loftiness he must pay an equally lofty price, for to retain his position and power he must sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia.

“Through the sacrificial grove,

Artemis’ grove, I came swiftly running;

In my eagerness, my cheeks

Blushing with young modesty—in my yearning to see

The Danaans’ wall of shields,

The war gear by each tent,

And the great host of their horses.”

Here, the Chorus embark upon their rich description of the Greek camp—a description that engages closely with earlier literary treatments of the subject and thus becomes highly metaliterary. With their reference to “the sacrificial grove, / Artemis’ grove,” though, these lines also foreshadow the ending of the play, where Agamemnon’s daughter will be sacrificed to Artemis to enable the Greek army to sail to Troy.

“Swift-footed Achilles I saw—

His feet like the stormwind—running,

Achilles whom Thetis bore, and

Chiron trained into manhood.

I saw him on the seashore,

In full armor over the sands racing.

He strove, his legs in contest

With a chariot and four,

Towards victory racing and rounding

The course.”

The Chorus introduces Achilles, one of the most famous heroes of Greek mythology. Achilles is described, in almost Homeric terms, as “swift-footed,” impossibly outrunning a four-horse chariot, and the Chorus does not fail to impressive his lineage as son of the goddess Thetis or the fact that he was trained by the wise Centaur Chiron. This half-divine and literally superhuman Achilles is very much the portrait of the Homeric hero.

“From Mycenae, walled by the Cyclopes,

The son of Atreus brought his ships,

A hundred galleys in order;

With him his brother,

Commander and kinsman,

Sailing to wreak revenge on her

Who had fled his hearth

To accomplish a barbarian marriage.”

The Chorus continues the parodos in much the same mythical, allusive register as they describe the force led by Agamemnon (“the son of Atreus”), whose city, Mycenae, was said to have been “walled” by the gigantic Cyclopes. In warring against Troy to retrieve Menelaus’ wife Helen from her “barbarian marriage,” Agamemnon is leading what is defined, here and throughout the play, as a Panhellenic war that pits the unified armies of Greece against the “barbarian” Trojans of the east.

“Oh, how I groan

Now on behalf of Greece in her affliction;

For she was ready to perform a noble deed,

But on account of your daughter and you,

She’s letting those worthless barbarians slip away

And mock her name!”

As he accuses his brother Agamemnon of forgetting his duty, Menelaus envisions the Greeks’ war against Troy as a “noble” war, a war to establish the supremacy of a personified “Greece” (or Hellas in the original Greek) over the “worthless barbarians” of Troy. This idea—which becomes a central theme of the play—reflects contemporary notions about the superiority of the united Panhellenic people of Greece to their non-Greek-speaking neighbors. The war to retrieve Helen is recast as a Panhellenic war for the soul of Greece.

“O fortunate men of mean,

Ignoble birth, freely you may weep and

Empty out your hearts, but the highborn—

We suffer, decorum rules our lives and we,

By service to the mob, become its slaves.”

Here Agamemnon revisits a favorite subject: the burdens of power and status in contrast with the relatively carefree existence of “men of mean, / Ignoble birth.” Agamemnon’s self-pity may be interpreted as insincere. After all, the reason he is in the position of having to sacrifice his daughter is because of his desire to win glory by conquering Troy. Throughout the play, Agamemnon’s choices and behavior push us to ask whether he is really a victim of fate or of his high birth—as he himself seems to think—or whether he is responsible for his misfortunes.

“And so I’ve turned my threatening words

Into their opposites? But it is fitting;

I have changed because I love a brother.

A good man always tries to act for the best.”

In these lines, Menelaus tries to explain his change of heart on the matter of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, in the process making an important comment on one of the play’s central themes—the inconsistency of human character. Menelaus explains that it is “fitting” for a person to change their mind, suggesting that people always try to do the right thing and must therefore correct their ways when they realize that they have been mistaken. The result is that people often seem inconsistent—a phenomenon that Euripides continues to explore throughout the play as almost all the main characters (Agamemnon, Achilles, and especially Iphigenia) exhibit dramatic shifts in their perspectives or values.

“Various are the natures

Of mortals, diverse their ways,

Yet a straight path is always the right one […]”

The Chorus, trying to parse out what it means to do the right thing when the “natures / Of mortals” are so “various.” The Chorus thus reflects on the theme of the inconsistency of character that is so central to the play, and seemingly argues for the absolutist view that there is always a “straight path,” that there is always a right choice and a wrong choice. Throughout the play, however, we will find that what each character interprets as the “straight path” varies based on their own individual values—and that often even a single character can have conflicting interpretations of the “straight path.”

“AGAMEMNON. Now see, my joy at seeing you—what joy it is.

IPHIGENIA. But tears—a libation of tears—are there

Ready to pour from your eyes.

AGAMEMNON.      Well,

There is a long parting about to come

For both of us.

IPHIGENIA.   I don’t understand,

Dear Father, I don’t understand.

AGAMEMNON.      And yet

You do seem to speak with understanding,

And I am more grieved.

In his first interchange with his daughter Iphigenia, Agamemnon is hardly able to disguise his sorrow, the cause of which is misunderstood by Iphigenia. Iphigenia comes to believe that Agamemnon is upset because she will leave his home to live with her husband, while of course the “long parting” to which Agamemnon refers will be the result of Iphigenia’s death. Consequently, there is a poignant tragic irony behind the words of Iphigenia, who almost even seems “to speak with understanding.”

“Please, oh goddess-born,

Protect us both—me from my evil fate,

And her who is called your wife, even if she’s not.

It was for your sake that I led her here,

To be your wife, and crowned her head

With a bride’s wreath.”

Clytemnestra begs Achilles to help her and Iphigenia, invoking his divine ancestry and reminding him that it was his name that was used to lure Iphigenia to Aulis. Clytemnestra argues that because “it was for your sake” that she brought Iphigenia, Achilles is responsible for her—an argument that Achilles readily accepts as he increasingly views his honor as intertwined with Iphigenia’s life, and even comes to regret that she is not really his wife.

“At your words in pride and in anger

My soul is aroused. And yet I’ve learned to curb

My vaunting spirit, when I face disaster,

Just as I don’t immoderately rejoice

When triumphs come.”

Achilles’ words to Clytemnestra have almost a philosophical ring. Achilles praises acting with composure and moderation, mentioning how he has learned to “curb” his “vaunting spirit.” These lines clash in an interesting way with earlier literary accounts of Achilles, who was typically represented as impulsive and hotheaded; even later in Euripides’ play, this philosophical Achilles will show that he is prone to making rash decisions, for instance when he resolves to fight the entire Greek army to protect Iphigenia. Achilles, like many of the characters of the play, thus flaunts the contradictions underlying his nature and values.

“Now I must tell you, it is not on account

Of this marriage I have said these things—

No, there are many girls who’d marry me,

But I cannot endure the insult and injury

Which the lord Agamemnon has heaped upon me!”

This is the true reason Achilles agrees to help Clytemnestra and Iphigenia, at least originally. As he says himself, he is less interested in Iphigenia’s life than in his own honor, which he feels has been damaged by the way Agamemnon used his name—without his permission—to lure Iphigenia to Aulis. The nature of Achilles’ motivations here tells us a great deal about his character and his sense of honor, but also reflects the character of Achilles known from other mythical narratives and in particular foreshadows the conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon that will characterize the events of the Iliad (set several years after the events of Euripides’ plays, during the ninth year of the Trojan War).

“I show myself

To you now as though I were a mighty god;

And though I am no god, someday I’ll be one.”

With these words, Achilles gives Clytemnestra—and us—a glimpse of his pride and vanity. Achilles already sees himself as almost a god, aware that his descent from the goddess Thetis means he will eventually be deified (as he was in the familiar mythical tradition). Achilles’ confidence in his semi-divine status and abilities also gives him conviction in his principles and actions, and by the end of the play Achilles is even ready to single-handedly take on the entire Greek army to defend Iphigenia.

“Oh, where now has the countenance

Of Modesty or Virtue

Any strength,

When the blasphemer rules,

And heedless men

Thrust Virtue behind them,

When Lawlessness rules law,

And no man competes with his neighbor

To avoid the ill-will of the gods?”

The Chorus deprecates the situation surrounding the sacrifice of Iphigenia, though their words can be interpreted in different ways. On the one hand, the Chorus can be understood as criticizing the “Lawlessness” of Agamemnon and the Greeks, who are preparing to savagely sacrifice the innocent Iphigenia. On the other hand, these lines may also be read as a reference to the actions of Helen and Paris, who flouted “Modesty and Virtue” when they ran off together and thus started the Trojan War; Now, in seeking to punish “Lawlessness,” the Greek army must first commit further atrocities by sacrificing Iphigenia to Artemis.

“Oh fate! Misfortune! Oh the god that rules me!”

Upon discovering that Clytemnestra knows the truth about the sacrifice of Iphigenia, Agamemnon bemoans his evil fate, indicating (as he does in other parts of the play) that he is inclined to place the responsibility for his situation with divine forces such as fate or the gods. At the same time, it is ultimately Agamemnon’s decision to sacrifice his daughter so that he can sail to Troy, and readers may wonder whether it is fate or Agamemnon (or both) who is really responsible for the death of Iphigenia.

“But think now. If you leave me and go

To this war, and if your absence there

From me is stretched over the years,

With what heart shall I keep your halls in Argos?

With what heart look at her chair and find it

Empty of her; at her maiden chamber

And it empty always; and when I sit

Alone with tears of loneliness and for

A mourning that will have no end?”

Here Clytemnestra’s character begins to shift. Introduced at first as a dutiful wife, Clytemnestra warns Agamemnon of what will happen if he goes through with the sacrifice, hinting that she will someday seek revenge on him. Though Iphigenia will later ask Clytemnestra to forgive Agamemnon, it will be too late. For the audience knows how the myth continues after the end of the play: with Clytemnestra murdering Agamemnon as soon as he comes home from Troy.

“People are mad, I say, who pray for death;

It is better that we live ever so

Miserably than die in glory.”

Iphigenia expresses here an opinion that she will reverse later in the play, part of her plea for her life. By the end of the play, though, Iphigenia will decide that she does want to “die in glory,” thus exhibiting an apparent inconsistency of character that has exercised scholars since Aristotle. The trajectory of Iphigenia’s character development—from wanting to live at all costs to being eager to die gloriously—reverses the trajectory of the character of Achilles from the Homeric epics, a character who in many ways resembles Iphigenia (both Achilles and Iphigenia, for example, live a short life but die a glorious death): For though Achilles chooses in Homer’s Iliad to live a short but glorious life rather than a long but ordinary one, the shade of the dead hero says in the Odyssey that it is better to be a lowly serf or slave in the world of the living that it is to be a king among the dead—a sentiment that recalls the one Iphigenia makes in these lines, just as the character of Achilles recalls that of Iphigenia.

“O child, a mighty passion seizes

The Greek soldiers and maddens them to sail

With utmost speed to that barbarian place

That they may half the rape of our Greek women.”

Agamemnon unites multiple different interpretations of the cause of the Trojan War, which is being fought to retrieve Menelaus’ wife Helen but which can also be viewed as a patriotic, ideological war to protect the rights of the Greeks against the aggression of “barbarians” such as the Trojans. In explaining to Iphigenia that she must die for the Panhellenic cause, he accepts that the war is not being fought only for Helen—a reversal of the interpretation he had exhibited earlier in the play when he tried to avoid sacrificing his daughter. But Agamemnon also characterizes the desire of the Greeks to go to war as a king of madness or “passion,” showing that his choice to sacrifice Iphigenia stems at least in part because of his fear of the mob and what they will do to him if he refuses to proceed with the sacrifice.

“O toil-bearing race, O toil-bearing

Creatures living for a day—

Fate finds for every man

His share of misery.

O Tyndareus’ daughter,

What burden you have laid

Upon the Danaans

Of anguish and disaster!”

In these lines, the Chorus introduces themes that are common in Attic tragedy as well as ancient Greek literature in general: the power of fate, the sufferings of human beings, and the brevity of human life. These lines characterize humans as victims of divine powers such as fate. At the same time, human beings are also responsible for their own misfortunes, as the Chorus shows by mentioning Helen (“Tyndareus’ daughter) and blaming her for the coming war and the sacrifice of Iphigenia.

“I shall die—I am resolved—,

And having fixed my mind I want to die

Well and gloriously, putting away

From me whatever is weak and ignoble.”

Here, Iphigenia completely contradicts her earlier insistence that she would rather live miserably than die gloriously, insisting that as she does so she embraces a heroic resolve and rejects the unheroic view (precisely the view that she had espoused before). This change of opinion virtually transforms Iphigenia as a character, and indeed Iphigenia’s decision to die “well and gloriously” marks a shift in how she views, among other things, the war with Troy and the actions of her father Agamemnon. Iphigenia’s words thus become an important exploration of the inconsistency and instability of character, such an important theme throughout the play.

“CLYTEMNESTRA. O my child, when I go home to Argos

Is there something I can do to bring you joy?

IPHIGENIA. Yes. Do not hate him. Do not hate my father

Who is your husband.

CLYTEMNESTRA. Oh! Oh! Your father

Must run a course of agony and terror

For your sake.

Though Iphigenia, having resolves to die, asks Clytemnestra to forgive Agamemnon, Clytemnestra is unable to grant her wish. Clytemnestra has already transformed from dutiful wife to avenging mother, and even the daughter she is avenging cannot sway her from her course. Naturally, Euripides’ audience would have heard in Clytemnestra’s words a reminder of the traditional downfall of Agamemnon, who would be murdered by Clytemnestra when he came home from Troy.

“For it is to bring the Greeks

Salvation and triumph that I now depart.”

As Iphigenia leaves to be sacrificed, she presents herself as a kind of savior of the Greeks, thus usurping Helen’s role as the cause of the war: Now, it is for Iphigenia that the Trojan War will be fought, and for Iphigenia that Troy will be destroyed. Unlike the guilty Helen, however, Iphigenia is innocent—a poignant juxtaposition that possibly makes Iphigenia an even more attractive banner for the Greeks to rally behind than the beautiful Helen.

“Goddess,

You who take joy in human blood,

Escort the armies of all the Greeks

To the land of Phrygia

And to the citadel of treacherous Troy;

There give to Greece and to her spearmen

A crown of victory.

And for the king,

Agamemnon,

O touch his head

With a glory everlasting.”

In these lines sung by the Chorus as the exit the stage, the Chorus asks Artemis to grant Agamemnon and the Greeks success in their war, acknowledging the prevailing view of the war as a noble Panhellenic expedition against a “treacherous” barbarian nation. Though the Chorus has been critical of the sacrifice of Iphigenia throughout the play (and even now they refer darkly to Artemis as a goddess who “take[s] joy in human blood”), they seem willing to follow Iphigenia in embracing the Panhellenic explanation for the cause of the war, and even wish for Agamemnon the “glory everlasting” that he so desires.