Character Analysis: Agamemnon

Agamemnon

The character of Agamemnon is the king of Mycenae and the commander of the Achaen army. He is the brother of Menelaus. When Menelaus' wife is stolen, he turns to his brother who agrees to help him get his wife back. Agamemnon is a selfish king in both the movie and the poem. He is known for putting himself in the least danger possible and claiming the most magnificent prizes. In the book he shows some development of character, gaining a modicum of humility and learning to listen to wisdom, but in the movie he remains arrogant and tyrannical throughout the whole film, at one point saying to Menelaus "I didn't come here for your pretty wife, I came here for Troy" and later saying: "I will smash their walls to ground, if it costs me 40,000 Greeks!" The way I see it, there are two main differences between Agamemnon in Troy and Agamemnon in The Iliad (well at least from a basic plot view): His death and the way he handles the situation with Briseis.

A major difference between the Iliad and Troy is that of Agamemnon's death. In the film, he is stabbed in the death by Briseis while attempting to molest her, whereas in the poem he does not die at all. It is revealed in the Odyssey that he is killed upon the moment of his return by his wife because of her jealousy of the concubines Agamemnon had taken and also because of the fact that she was having an affair anyway. But he most certainly does not die at Troy, or even until he is back in Greece. In the film, he charges into the city with the rest of the Greek army and finds Briseis praying to Apollo. He then seizes her and starts abusing her. In response to this she slips a knife out of her sleeve and plunges it into Agamemnon's neck, killing him on the spot. This is quite a significant difference, and the reasons for this will be explored in more detail in a later post.

Another major difference is that of his argument with Achilles over the prize of Briseis. In the Iliad, he and Achilles both receive a prize: Briseis goes to Achilles and Chryseis goes to Agamemnon. Chryseis was the daughter of the head priest of Apollo and her father (Chryses) prayed to Apollo to punish the Greeks for not giving back his daughter after he ransomed for her. Apollo consented and sent a plague to the Greeks. The solution was revealed: Give back Chryseis. So Agamemnon gave her back but was sulky about it and so he demanded Achilles' prize from him because since Agamemnon was king he apparently had more right to the best prize. He said to Achilles: "Achilles, valiant though you be, you shall not thus outwit me. You shall not overreach and you shall not persuade me. Are you to keep your own prize, while I sit tamely under my loss and give up the girl at your bidding? Let the Achaeans find me a prize in fair exchange to my liking, or I will come and take your own..." In Troy, the situation is much simpler, but even nastier. In the film, Achilles runs ahead and takes the beach of Troy almost by himself and his Myrmidons. He then gives them permission to ransack the temple and he takes Briseis back to his tent as his prize. He then tells Briseis that she need not fear him, but soon after, Agamemnon announces to Achilles that he is taking Briseis from him, and it is for the simple reason that he doesn't like Achilles and he wants to spite him for trying to take glory for himself instead of for Agamemnon. This simple and basic spite makes Agamemnon into a nastier person, more intelligent and scheming than the king in the poem who has a more sulky aspect.

Agamemnon has many differences between who he is in the poem and who he is in the film, but two main differences are those of his death in the film and not in the book and that of his taking Briseis from Achilles. In the film he is nastier and more of an antagonist. Reasons for this will be explored in more depth in later posts.