Stage Management Basics

Appendix E Character Descriptions

Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis

Character Descriptions

Agamemnon, King of Mycenae.

The play begins with Agamemnon at a moment of crisis, caught between two contradictory courses of action: he has planned the sacrifice of his daughter, yet seeks to avert it at all costs. Agamemnon is a fully dimensional, complex character, with an irreconcilable dilemma. He has duties toward his family but also toward the Greeks, toward his wife and daughter, and toward his self-serving brother. He is willing to tell lies and to deceive, but he also appears humane and emotionally attached to his daughter. Agamemnon is a character whose downfall is brought about by his inability to assume a firm moral and ethical stance.

Menelaus ...