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The sea-coast at Aulis. Read the first page
Concordance
Front Cover | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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I have used "Iphigenia in Aulis" as part of large unit on the Trojan War right before proceeding on to Homer's epic poem the "Iliad." Not only does the play come at that point in terms of the chronology of the war, but it clearly foreshadows the initial confrontation in the "Iliad" between Agamemnon and Achilles over Briseis of the lovely arms. To get his daughter to come to Aulis and be executed, Agamemnon says she is to marry Achilles. This lie not only makes Achilles angry when he learns about it, but the prospect of her daughter's marriage brings Clytemnestra to Aulis as well and foreshadows the tragedy "Agamemnon" by Aeschylus, the first part of the famed Orestia, as well.
But it is the contrast with Homer's epic that is most manifest here. Euripides invests the beginning of Homer's saga with painful irony as Agamemnon rejects the pleas of Briseis's father; after all, has the Achean leader really forgotten the pain of sacrificing his daughter ten years earlier? In Euripides's play it becomes clear that Agamemnon does not care for his daughter; she is but a bargaining chip in his ploy for power. As her father and ruler Agamemnon could simply order his daughter to come to Aulis, but instead he concocts a fake marriage to Achilles, the most eligible of the young Achean heroes. When Achilles finds out he has been a pawn in this deadly little game he is incensed and promises to safe the maiden, but in the end he turns out to be as foolish and as wicked as the rest of the characters. All of the sympathy goes towards Iphigenia, the only true hero in the drama since she alone acts selflessly. For the greater glory of the Achean host she will accept her fate and thus be fondly remembered.
Any one teaching the "Iliad" should at least provide the gist of "Iphigenia at Aulis" as background material, along with the story of the judgment of Paris. The same would apply to the study of either the entire "Orestia" or just the first play in the trilogy, "Agamemnon." Of course, this task might be made a lot easier with the release of "Troy" next month, as Homer finally gets a first class treatment on the big screen. As for the "true" fate of Iphigenia as realized by Euripides in "Iphigenia at Taurus," which is certainly the least tragic of his tragedies, that can be briefly mentioned as well to bring the whole grand tale to a happy ending of sorts.
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