One of several things that caused Clytemnestra to be so
angry with her husband Agamemnon that she killed him was that he had sacrificed
their daughter Iphigenia to the gods in order to attempt to win their favor in
the war against Troy. Orestes later killed
his mother Clytemnestra to avenge his father resulting in his exile. We now learn that Iphigenia was not actually
killed. Just as Agamemnon was going to
slay her with a knife, she was spirited away by the goddess Artemis, and a hind
was left in her place. Iphigenia was
taken to the land of the Tauri and became a priestess in the temple of
Artemis. She is charged with making a
sacrifice of any person who arrives on their shores from Hellas.
In his exile wanderings Orestes (her brother) and his friend
Pylades stumble on these shores and are captured by the locals. They are brought to Iphigenia who intends to
sacrifice them according to the accepted protocol. However, when she learns they are from the
country of her birth, she begins to question them. Pylades has given her his name, but Orestes
has withheld his, so she doesn’t know initially that she is questioning and
preparing to kill her own brother.
Eventually it is decided that Orestes will stay and die, but that
Pylades will escape death by promising to carry a message back to Ilium for
Iphigenia. When Iphigenia gives him the
written message and says it is for Orestes, Pylades hands it to him
immediately, and so Iphigenia learns that her captive is her brother.
The three begin to plot how Iphigenia can get out of her
required duty of killing them and escape with them back to Ilium. She says that she will convince Thoas, king
of the Tauri, that they are not a proper sacrifice because they have been
guilty of matricide. They must be
purified before they are sacrificed, and since they have touched the statue of
the goddess, it must be purified also.
This needs to be done in seawater, and she alone may preside over these
rites. King Thoas should stay behind and
see to the cleansing of the temple itself.
Of course, Orestes and Pylades have a ship waiting for
them.
The three, with Iphigenia carrying
the statue, escape to their ship. The
Tauri attempt to stop them, but are unsuccessful. They hurry back to get soldiers to
assist. King Thoas is about to give
chase, when the goddess Athena appears and tells him that it is the will of the
gods for them to escape. Also, although
their ship is about to be dashed on the rocks, Poseidon intervenes and calms
the sea for their sake. Orestes and
Pylades are to return to Ilium.
Iphigenia is going to end up at the temple of Artemis in Brauron.
Interesting quotes:
Iphigenia: The unfortunate, having once known
prosperity themselves, bear no kind feelings towards their luckier neighbours.
Who knows on whom such strokes of fate will
fall? For all that Heaven decrees
proceeds unseen, and no man knoweth of the ills in store; for Fate misleads us
into doubtful paths.
A man’s loss from his family is
felt, while a woman’s is of little moment.
(That would be Euripides’ opinion!)
Orestes: No wise man I count him, who, when death
looms near, attempts to quell its terrors by piteous laments, nor yet the man
who bewails the Death-god’s arrival, when he has no hope of rescue; for he
makes two evils out of one; he lets himself be called a fool and all the same
he dies; he should let his fortune be.
Chorus: This
that I have seen with mine eyes, not merely heard men tell may rank with
miracles; ‘tis stranger than fiction. (Truth
is stranger than fiction.)
No comments:
Post a Comment