Women are People Too!

   Imagine a world where women are nothing more than pleasant decoration and daft emotion. Women have no value, and they have no role in society except to be subservient to the men in their lives, especially their husbands. This is especially true in the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans when Agamemnon by Aeschylus is written. However, Clytemnestra rejects the societal customs for women through her manly qualities in action and speech and her willingness to take matters into her own hands. Katharine Hepburn says, ”If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun,”, and Clytemnestra hangs on to this sentiment with every fiber of her being.
   Clytemnestra is not your typical woman; she is a fierce, warrior-like queen. Her husband, Agamemnon, leaves his kingdom to fight and conquer the Trojans, and Clytemnestra takes his place as the ruler of Mycenae. In the first page, the watchman says “So she commands, full of her high hopes. / That woman — she maneuvers like a man.” (Ag.,12-13), which introduces the idea that Clytemnestra does not conform to society’s view of women’s roles. Also, Clytemnestra is likened to a commander or warrior through the use of the word “commands”. The Leader also tells Clytemnestra “Spoken like a true man, my lady, loyal, / full of self-command.” (Ag., 354-355) after she talks about their victory over Troy. Unlike the typical, delicate women of the time, she knows the outcome of the war and she knows what events transpired to achieve the victory.
   Clytemnestra is a force to be reckoned with. She does not speak like a woman; she does not speak submissively or modestly. Instead, she says, “Here I stand and here I struck / and here my work is done. / I did it all. I don’t deny it, no. (Ag.,1398-1400) , and this solidifies the role reversal at play. Instead of denying or refusing to admit to the murder of her husband, she blatantly proclaims what she has done. Also, she says, “And you, / you try me like some desperate woman. / My heart is steel, well you know.” (Ag.,1424-1426) which denies her femininity to a certain extent. Biologically, she is a woman, but she acts like a man. Through her use of masculine language, describing herself the way a man would describe himself, she adopts some characteristics of men, the dominant sex.
   Typically, women do not murder men. They do not commit murder in general! However, Clytemnestra turns the tables and acts in an unladylike way. Through the murder of her husband, which she committed with her own hands, she seals the idea that she is not a typical woman. The chorus says, “Woman! — what poison cropped from the soil / or stained from the heaving sea, what nursed you, / drove you insane?” (Ag., 1432-1434) , and this blatantly says that she killed her husband. She has a co-conspirator, yes, but this is her idea, and she carries it out on her own.
Clytemnestra wants her husband out of the picture forever, and she does whatever it takes to carry out what she wants. She will not wait around for a man to kill Agamemnon; she does it herself. The murder of Agamemnon is a catalyst for change in her household. Little does she know, her actions sparked an earth-shattering divide between herself and the other members of her family. She is a powerful woman, but that may be her downfall in the end.
   Women are supposed to be delicate, porcelain dolls meant for decoration, nothing more. However, Clytemnestra has other plans. She will not be cast aside; she is the queen. She is not a typical woman, and we see that through her manly qualities in her actions and speech, and her willingness to achieve her ultimate goal: murder her husband and become the ruler of Mycenae. Women are not as delicate as the world, especially men, make us seem. We are powerful warriors capable of anything men can do, and most times we do it better.

Having a Goddess as a Mother: The Struggle is Real

    In her book The Way Back Home, Elle Woods says “All the forces on this planet, will never beat that of a mother's love.” Venus, the mother of our hero, Aeneas, embodies this perfectly. She cares so deeply about her son and because of her mother’s love she defies the great and mighty Juno. She advises her son as he makes his way to fulfill his destiny, and she casts an arrow upon Dido, ensuring her love for him, to save Aeneas from Juno’s wrath. A mother will go to crazy extremes for her son, including putting herself in danger.
   We first see the relationship between Aeneas and Venus at the beginning of the first book. Juno is enraged by Aeneas because his destiny his to be the father of the Romans. But that contradicts and threatens her plan. First, Venus asks Jove “what crime could my Aeneas/ commit against you, what dire harm could the Trojans do” (1.273-274), and she is trying to persuade the husband of Juno to spare the Trojans, the race of her son. She wants her son to be spared from a heartless end, and rightly so. She yearns for her son to fulfill his destiny and become the man he was destined to be, so she begs Jove to spare her son. Jove believes in Venus’ son and keeps Aeneas safe. Jove then reassures Venus by telling her about the purpose of Aeneas’ existence. He says “Aeneas will wage/a long, costly war in Italy, crush defiant tribes/and build high city walls for his people there/and found the rule of law”(1.314-317) and Venus seems to be relieved and reassured in her son’s safety. However, you can never be too careful when your son has such an important fate. And being a goddess helps too.
   Aeneas continues on his journey and when he gets to Carthage he meets the woman he was destined for from the start. Or so Venus thinks.
   Venus yet again intervenes in Aeneas’ life. She cannot trust her son to charm a widowed queen on his own, and she ropes Cupid, her other son, into firing an arrow at Dido to ensure that she falls in love with Aeneas. She can’t stop meddling in her son’s life! Cupid “blots out the memory of Sychaeus bit by bit/trying to seize with a fresh, living love/a heart at rest for long--- long numb to passion” (1. 861-863) because his mother fears that Aeneas will never be able to fulfill his fate without marrying Dido. Dido, to her credit, falls head over heels in love with Aeneas which fulfills Venus’ plan. Venus has saved her son! Or has she?
   Poor Venus. Despite her efforts to save Aeneas, her beloved and dutiful son, she still falls a bit flat. Her aiding Aeneas in the early stages of his journey did bring forth the results she desired, but sadly her matchmaking skills need some work. Dido and Aeneas seem like the perfect couple, except for the fact that Dido’s love may be fake. Also, it doesn’t help anything that Dido kills herself at the end of the fourth book. Ouch.
   Venus is the epitome of the quote mentioned above. She is determined to move heaven and earth if that is what is required to keep her son safe. Aeneas is the founder of the Romans, chosen by the Fates. She must do all she can or else face the wrath of the Fates. And nobody wants that. Despite her best efforts, Venus’ final plan falls flat. She should have factored in the humanity and fragility of humans. Dido committed suicide, and I bet Venus did not expect that to happen.
   Even after the spectacular fails and successes, Venus never left her son. She continued to stick by Aeneas, guide him on his crazy journey, and spur an important relationship with Dido.