The Blind and the Seeing in Agamemnon and Aeschylus

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The Blind and the Seeing

Minor characters make stories and plays come to life. The reader or audience has most of their focus on the major characters. There are times when the minor characters play a role in the story as a whole. The minor characters of Agamemnon and The Medea are characters that add to the suspense of the story by foreshadowing the truth and foretelling the future events that others can’t see and describe the setting of the play and background information.

In Agamemnon, the watchman informs the audience of the setting of the play. The beginning of this play takes place after the fall of Troy. The watchman describes how the city has been ran by Clytaemestra while Agamemnon was away fighting in the war. He described the misery and distress that the city was in. It seemed like the only way to make the city happy as a whole was for Agamemnon to resume his power as king after returning to the city, as described in the following quote:

“Cry the news aloud to Agamemnon’s queen,/ that she may rise up from her bed of state with speed/ to raise the rumor of gladness welcoming this beacon,/ and singing rise, if truly the citadel of Ilium/ has fallen, as the shining of this flare proclaims.”

The watchman also described the cause of the war and the war itself. Clytaemestra may have killed Cassandra and Agamemnon and didn’t hint to others that she was, but Cassandra knew. Although she was an outsider, Cassandra knew of the curse of the house of Atreus. Her entrance in this play began the climax of the story. She foreshadowed her

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and Agamemnon’s death at least four times; the first time was after her introduction. She first foreshadowed Agamemnon’s death.

“No, this is daring when the female shall strike down/the male.”

(Greene, Lattimore, Aeschylus I, 74)

Here Cassandra ...

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and Agamemnon’s death at least four times; the first time was after her introduction. She first foreshadowed Agamemnon’s death.

“No, this is daring when the female shall strike down/the male.”

(Greene, Lattimore, Aeschylus I, 74)

Here Cassandra tells the chorus of Argive elders how Agamemnon would be killed and by whom. She also states that they will feel pity when it is actually true and see that he is dead. In the following quote, Cassandra subtly tells the reader where the murders will take place.

“That room within reeks with of blood like a slaughter house.” (Greene, Lattimore, Aeschylus I, 77)

Here Cassandra hints to the chorus that death will take place in the palace. After this line

is spoken she tells the chorus that she and Agamemnon would be murdered.

“So. I am going in, and mourning as I go/my death and Agamemnon’s. Let my life be done./Ah friends,/truly this is no wild bird fluttering at a bush,/nor vain in my speech. Bear witness to me when I die,/when falls for me, a woman slain, another woman,/and when a man dies for this wickedly mated man./Here in my death I claim this stranger’s grace of you.”

(Greene, Lattimore, Aeschylus I, 78)

In the previous quote, there is much foreshadowing of the murders. Cassandra basically tells the chorus that this would happen, but it was still a shock to find that especially Clytaemestra murdered Cassandra and Agamemnon. The chorus in this case were average

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people in the city who didn’t believe Cassandra because she was an outsider. In this play it

was learned that sometimes the most insightful people are the outsiders because they are not blinded by the normal activities of the main characters.

Another minor character that foretells the future is Medea’s nurse in The Medea. The Nurse has a different situation than Cassandra. She is more familiar with Meadea and her children and knows of their daily activities. She begins to have insight on Medea’s situation when Medea starts to see a change in her relationships between Jason and her children. She first foretells the murder of Medea’s children, who were indeed murdered but by Medea herself. In the very beginning of the story, the Nurse talks about Medea’s dwindling love for Jason.

“But now there’s hatred everywhere, Love is diseased.”

(Greene, Lattimore, Euripides I, 59)

With her love for Jason waning, she begins to think less and less of her children because they remind her of him.

“She has turned from the children and does not see them./I am afraid she may think of some dreadful thing,/For her heart is violent.” (Greene, Lattimore, Euripides I, 60)

With her heart “violent“, she doesn’t think anymore of the children except to carry out her evil plan which is to kill Creusa. Another quote that shows the deterioration of Jason’s and Medea’s relationship is the conversation that the Nurse and the Tutor were having.

“And will Jason put up with it that his children/Should suffer so, though he’s no friend to their mother?” (Greene, Lattimore,

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Euripides I, 61)

The Nurse is showing her concern here when she asks about what would Jason do about his children since he’s not in love with Medea anymore. Towards the end, it is subtly made known that Jason only wanted the children as heirs to the throne that he did not take because Medea killed Creusa. The Nurse may not have foreshadowed as much as Cassandra did, but she gave the reader an idea of what was going to happen to the children.

In conclusion, minor characters do have some meaning plot-wise. They are not blinded by the everyday life of the main characters allowing them to see the obvious without the help from others. Without them, the story would be mainly about two or more parties and their actions minus the suspense that the minor character gives the reader. (947)

Works Cited

Greene, David and Lattimore, Richard, eds. Aeschylus I. The University of Chicago. 1953.

- - -. Euripides I. The University of Chicago. 1953.