ILIAD AGAMEMNON CHARACTERISATION -

Key scenes and analysis 

Book 1 – Agamemnon captured Chryseis, the daughter of the Trojan priest of Apollo. Over 10 days of suffering and plagues sent by Apollo, Agamemnon still refused to return the girl 

• Chryseis represented a valiant prize of war booty and honour – capturing a beautiful young woman was a testament to the strength and status of Agamemnon as King. Asset and testament to his time 

• Chryseis represented Agamemnon’s pride; returning her could be translated by the Achaean armies as a sign of weakness or fragility – As king, Agamemnon couldn’t face such a public embarrassment 

• Agamemnon’s refusal to return chryseis could be translated as an act of Miasma 

Book 1 – Achilles and Agamemnon quarrel over Chryseis – Achilles insults Agamemnon and taunts him: staggering drunk, you take the lions share, lack of courage. Biting back Agamemnon announces that he will instead have Briseis, Achilles war prize as a supplement to the loss of Chryseis 

• Agamemnon tries to enforce his domination as King over Achilles – A game between the 2 characters of who is higher up in the social ranks – Achilles because he is the greatest Achaean warrior or Agamemnon because he is king. 

• Rash, irrational, reckless, arrogant, hubris 

• Each man would rather humiliate the other than work together cohesively to come up with a solution to the problem. The preservation of pride becomes more important and the Agamemnon and Achilles both put the war effort in jeopardy 

• Roberts – Agamemnon shows childish, anxiety-ridden behaviour throughout his quarrel with Achilles – clearly doesn’t feel secure in his presence and status as King among the Achaean armies. The war effort has been going on for 10 years now – Agamemnon may feel that he has lost the attention or support from other troops. His attack against Achilles acts as an attempt to assert authority and presence among the Troops 

Book 4 – Agamemnon sees Menelaus get hit by the arrow sent by Panduras and he immediately panics at the sight of blood and clasps his brother’s hand. Proclaims he will suffer terrible grief if Menelaus were to die for it will mean that his brother lost his fight against the Trojans. When he realises the wound isn’t fatal, he immediately calls for a healer 

• Roberts - When Menelaus gets wounded (but not badly) in book 4, Agamemnon's speech in reaction to this shows anxiety neurosis and his unconscious thoughts affecting his conscious behaviour, but his demeanour dramatically changes as he pulls himself together soon after – Agamemnon's thoughts and anxieties come to light as we witness him almost break down. Complexity of his character – doesn't fail to show his strategic and quick-thinking skills once the pressure and panic of What he thought was Menelaus’ fatal wound wears away 

• Agamemnon is lacking as warrior and King – a leader out of his depth who can’t properly provide the leadership essential to winning the war 

Book 4 – Agamemnon assembles troops together – shames warriors who run away calling them cowards. Catches Diomedes lacking and taunts him by reminding him of his Father's legacy 

• Agamemnon rushes into action, organising forces and troops – demonstrates a previously unseen skill and organisation. 

• Agamemnon is man of action – When under the pressure of fighting, Agamemnon can focus and act with logic and strength 

Book 6 – Menelaus goes to spare a Trojan after they beg for mercy, But Agamemnon reminds him that no one is to be spared from the war – including babies and mothers 

• Metroside – killing of a city 

Book 9 – Agamemnon weeps to the Achaean armies. Questions whether Zeus’ ordained fate was true – Instructs all the Argives to sail back home and accept defeat. Criticised by diomedes who wants to continue fighting 

• Lacks the motivation or mentality to lead the Achaeans  

• Insecurity and lack of trust in leadership, Gods and troops 

• Distances himself from responsibility – blames the will of the Gods rather than his hubris 

Book 9 – offers Achilles a priceless ransom to build a friendship between them. However, only on the condition that he will yield 

• Wilson - Agamemnon's gifts to Achilles are part of a strategy of domination in a social system in which rank isn't fixed and is under constant negotiation. They are like a "gift attack” - Agamemnon wants the upper hand. 

• Nicholson - There is something sickening about the gifts Agamemnon offers Achilles in that they miss the point, as Achilles had previously called him greedy and materialistic. - so blinded by the exact greed and materialism that Achilles had angrily criticised, Agamemnon doesn’t truly think about the core of Achilles rage, but instead assumes that himself and Achilles are alike. 

• Agamemnon doesn’t even personally go to see Achilles and apologize but rather sends embassies to speak on his behalf – distances himself form the sentimentality of the apology making it even less believable or acceptable 

Book 19 – Achilles and Agamemnon reconcile with each other. Agamemnon displaces blame by saying that his rage was due to Zeus and the fates who planted the savage madness into his heart. Offer again to Achilles the prizes and gifts he had previously offered in BK 9 

• Agamemnon displaces the blame of his actions onto the Gods – lacks responsibility 

• Reconciliation brings back the natural structure of the war – Achilles returns to fighting. 

• However, the reconciliation doesn’t truly change either character – Achilles is motivated by individual profit and preservation and continues to disregard the needs of his army, while Agamemnon still deflects the responsibility for his actions 

Book 23 – during the spear throwing competition, Agamemnon is competing against Meriones, but before the fighting can start, Achilles compliments Agamemnon’s skill saying how is unmatchable in strength. Achilles immediately gives Agamemnon the 1^st place prize of a spear as he is too good of a spearman 

• Achilles acts in a kingly manner, challenging the position and territory of Agamemnon’s status, awarding prizes out of his own wealth 

• Scott - In book 23 Achilles plays the role of umpire & protector of the community's conventions which contrasts Agamemnon's failure to enforce a community-serving value code in book 1 – Book presents a flourishing Greek culture, might not be a mistake that it’s under the instruction of Achilles rather than Agamemnon 

FQ: Is Agamemnon a consistently strong leader/king? (thematic ideas) 

FQ: Agamemnon from Book 4 is very different from Agamemnon elsewhere in the Iliad (thematic ideas) 

• Challenges the concept of a Homeric hero – suggests the Argives should go home, receives criticism from Diomedes 

• Overemotional and lacks the depth of a true king/leader - is quick to fight and exert strength but caves under pressure and stress demonstrating anxiety 

• Over exertion of honour/time becomes destructive to the collective good of the Achaean armies: Hubris and sinful pride lead to unnecessary deaths of Achaean soldiers 

• Moral lesson from Homer as to what a greedy, poor king looks like: represents lack of organisation from Achaean armies leading to 10 years of war 

• Agamemnon’s leadership is consistently challenged – quarrel with Achilles and the funeral games