Agamemnon

King of Argos, Agamemnon does not appear until the middle of the play. He has been away at war for ten years, and upon returning he is portrayed definitively as a weary warrior. There is something fatal, resigned, in his every word. His language is particularly blunt. In the context of the play, Agamemnon might perhaps be considered over-masculine. There are several moments when his deeds, especially the sacrifice of his daughter, are considered too "daring" by other characters. Daring is used synonymously or euphemistically in the play to mean ambitious. It is through his indiscretion (Iphigeneia) that the curse of his house continues. And Agamemnon himself is claimed as its next victim. Daring and ambition are Agamemnon's tragic flaws: they are Agamemnon undoing.