How did you feel about Clytemnestra's final act against Agamemnon?

How did you feel about Clytemnestra's final act against Agamemnon? In the end, were her actions warranted? Who do you believe is ultimately to blame?

Agamemnon reaped what he had sown. He lived a life of brutality, killing all who he thought impeded his rise to greatness. "You do not know loyalty or affection....You take things from people, and sometimes they take things back from you." His death at the hands of Clytemnestra was the anticipated and only reasonable conclusion to their "relationship".

I was fine with her act of killing the king. He was evil. He did not deserve to live. All the evil he did to her loved ones was horrific, her first husband and baby, and then their own daughter. He never loved her, only wanted her because of her strength!

I cheered! Somehow, in the context of the violent ancient Greek society, it was most appropriate.

Even before reading this retelling of the myth, I always thought Agamemnon got what he deserved—a prime example of the Greek concept of hubris. He was all ego, and took pleasure in being cruel. In this novel, the development of Clytemnestra’s character goes beyond shows her as a contrast to that: confident but not self-centered, caring for her loved ones but also for other people. She did not go out of her to be cruel to anyone just for fun. Her actions were completely warranted in the world of that time!

I first came across the story many years ago in Agamemnon by Aeschylus and admired her cleverness then, her patience and carefully plotted vengeance. Agamemnon deserved Clytemnestra’s vengeance by ruthlessly killing her husband and son so he could marry her, then killing Iphigenia in order for the gods to allow the ships to sail to war. My attitude may appear wrong-headed to some, but Agamemnon so deserved justice for his actions.

I agree with the other comments that her actions were warranted. In fact, I thought Agamemnon deserved to suffer more than he did.

I cheered!

Agamemnon was a terrible person in every way. I understood Clytemnestra’s actions and felt that Agamemnon got what he deserved!

The killing of her first husband and baby followed by the killing of her lovely daughter Iphigenia warrented tge killing of Agamemnon. I have always felt so much for her and finally someone felt the righteousness of her rage

I agree with Portiaa I cheered.... I applaud her patience in trying to avenge the wrongs done to her and her family by Agamemnon.

My thoughts… You Go Girl!

I did cheer when she got her revenge. In the world of violence that she lived in, her vengeance was warranted.

I have two thoughts about Clytemnestra's revenge. One reaction is to wholeheartedly agree that Agamemnon got what he deserved. Our collective sense of "story" has us cheering for Clytemnestra and believing that her actions were warranted and justified. But my other reaction is to challenge our common and natural sense of righteousness. Clytemnestra certainly had reason to murder, but by actually performing murder herself, she becomes a murderer like her husband. Do we want her to be a murderer, or do we want her to be better than that? There its a big part of me that can see a different outcome, one in which she--as a female--uses different powers to find her peace and justice, as opposed to using the same old powers that men used (use) all the time. I felt the same way about Danaerys Targarian in The Game of Thrones--I wish she had ACTUALLY changed the way people see female power as something not just like male power, but better--perhaps more communal, more diplomatic, more nuanced, less violent...something other than the "same old thing." I don't know exactly what that could look like, but I know it exists.

There is part of me that can never condone murder, even of a murderer when it isn't for clear and imminent self-protection. But there is also the part of me that does cheer Clytemnestra on for taking charge of her destiny, even if does mean that she will ultimately die at the hands of her son, duty-bound to claim vengeance on the death of his father. Her hatred of Agamemnon had festered so much while he was away that there was not room in that home for both of them to live. Rather than let the festering hatred eat her away (like that of her mother?) she took charge and did what she needed to do.

Clytemnestra killing of Agamemnon was a forgone conclusion since he murdered so many of the people whom she loved: her husband Tantalus, her baby boy, and her beautiful daughter Iphigenia. Tyndareus and Leda forced Clytemnestra to marry Agamemnon because the alliance would benefit Sparta. Clytemnestra's heartbreak meant nothing to her father and mother.
The worst killing, however, is that of Iphigenia at Aulis because Agamemnon, Odysseus, and the seer Calchas plotted together to ritually sacrifice and kill Iphigenia to appease the goddess Artemis who has caused the unfavorable weather. Clytemnestra believes that she will see her daughter marry Achilles but instead she witnesses Agamemnon kill his eldest daughter as a human sacrifice and her wedding gown soaked with her blood. Agamemnon deserved to die.

I understand why Clytemnestra did it. Agamemnon had taken too much from her, however, I did feel empathy for Electra. Now, she has lost a sister and her father, but if I had been Electra, I would have feared my father and been relieved that he was gone.

I thought she was very brave. Brave to Kill Agamemnon and additionally brave to realize and accept the consequences of her actions.

Agamemnon’s repeated acts of cruelty and treatment toward women was repulsive. She had no other way to obtain justice and given the terrible pain he had inflicted on her he earned his own outcome!

The phrase "Live by the sword, die by the sword" comes to mind. While I don't think murder of any sort can ever be rationalized in this day and age, I think given the era and culture that Clytemnestra's revenge was inevitable.

Agamemnons’ hubris was his downfall. There was nothing else that Clytemnestra could have or should have done. Although he deserved to suffer, it would not have made a difference. For Clytemnestras’ sake, the swift death was the end of a long and painful wait to avenge those loved ones that were taken from her.

Yes, Clytemnestra's actions were poetic justice after the wrongs done her by Agamemnon and her father. IMO, she acted as appropriately for her time and the values she had been raised on. She was a King's daughter and a king's wife; she lost both of her children to the violence of men she trusted as they took from her in both cruel and unspeakable manner. Would this be condoned today; of course, not. But, for this story; it's timeframe and its culture, it was just what one would expect.

Bravo to this author for depicting these women with a story that showed these women, and specifically Clytemnestra, as multidimensional rather than simply victims!

With all due respect to kristenb, this novel was a retelling of an ancient story, not a revision. It fleshes out on a psychological level what could motivate a woman of that place and time to act in ways seemingly foreign to us today—-though in fact, only the circumstances are different. Even today women have proved capable of violence to resist oppression—their own or harm to loved ones.

The myths like all serious works of literature are explanations and explorations of human nature, not prescriptions of how we should be.

Yes, I hear your perspective, JLPen77. The "myths," like many stories in literature, are explorations of human nature, and I also believe they allow us to imagine and ask ourselves new questions.