Is Clytemnestra a hero or a monster in the Oresteia? You should take care to consider the characters of Orestes and Agamemnon, and possibly others.

Answer 1

I would argue that they are all monsters, made by monsters. The most dangerous people are almost always traumatized by other traumatized people. Violence and bloodshed begets violence and bloodshed. So, Clytemnestra was a traumatized person; her husband sacrificed her daughter. Orestes was a traumatized person: his mother slew his father. Agamemnon's entire family was allegedly cursed by a history of blood feuds, so he was, likely, fairly traumatized as well.

The true monster of this story, then, is violence itself and the endless cycle of violence that follows when murder is met with murder.