ACTA QASSICA L (2008) 57-75 ISSN 0065-1141 CASSANDRA - FEMININE CORRECTIVE IN AESCHYLUS'S AGAMEMNON Andrea Doyle University of Johannesburg i ABSTRACT In Aeschylus's Aga111e111non the representation of Cassandra recalls Iphigenia and contrasts with Clytemnestra. The uneasy relationship between Cassandra and Apollo seems to be an Aeschylean innovation. Cassandra's betrayal and rejection of the god reveals problems about her own position as Virgin Bride and Sacrificial Virgin. Aeschylus links her to two husbands, a divine one and a mortal one, Apollo and Agamemnon. Through use of bridal imagery and language one may read bridal overtones into the scene of Cassandra's arrival and may also be forgiven for confusing, at first, the identity of her spouse. Cassandra is not just a prophetess and unwilling bride of Apollo; she is also a foreign woman, a slave and a concubine - the war trophy of Agamemnon. As illegitimate bride to the victorious king, her virginal status is called into question. Wohl insists on allying Cassandra with other virgins of tragedy, such as Iphigenia and Iole, while the text itself occludes her status as she oscillates between virgin, concubine and legitimate wife in her language and behaviour.1 This article proposes that the prophetess functions as a feminine corrective for the problematic aspects of the other feminine figures in this play, notably Iphigenia, unwilling Bride of Death and Clytemnestra, Bad Wife and murderess of Agamemnon. The Problem The figure of Cassandra is perhaps the most complex one of the Oresteia trilogy. This is because she seems to be a combination of archetypes: the Virgin Bride, the Sacrificial Virgin, and the Wife. This article analyses these archetypal aspects of Cassandra in the following terms: the links between Cassandra and Iphigenia; Cassandra and her relationship with the god Apollo * This article has been adapted from a chapter of my doctoral dissertation entitled Archetypal Sim11/acra - Wo111en in Aescf?y!ttS's Oresteia (University of Johannesburg 2008), with Prof. J.L.P. Wolmarans as supervisor and Prof. Conradie as one of the external examiners. I also wish to thank the referees for the helpful feedback and con structive criticism in preparing this article. 1Wohl1998:110-11. 57 and Cassandra as Good Wife of Agamemnon in order to determine her function in the Agamemnon. Cassandra and Iphigenia Cassandra makes her appearance on the stage with Agamemnon (782). We thus associate her first and foremost with the returning king. This associ ation, however, is twofold, for not only is she his illegitimate bride but, as we shall see, she is also figured as a bride of death, thus subtly recalling Iphigenia. i In the following lines, we find frequent reference both by the chorus and Clytemnestra to Cassandra as a wild animal, captured and about to be sacrificed: Xo. EVTOS' 8' aA.ovaa µopa[µwv ciypEUµchwv (1048) Cho. caught within the hunting nets of fate2 Xo. TPOTIOS' 8 € Sripos- vempETOU. (1063) Cho. She is like a wild creature newly captured. KA.. ~TLS' AL TIODaa µ€v 1TOALV vea[pernv ~KEL, xaA.wov 8' OUK ETIL<JTQTQL <jJEpELV Tipl.v alµaTTjpov E~a¢pl.(E<J8m µEvos-. (1065-67) CL leaving her newly captured city she has come having no experience of the bit until she reaches exhaustion foaming with blood. Xo. e'LKoua' civciyKTJS' Tfja8E Kalvwov (vy6v (1071) Cho. submit to your fate and bear the unaccustomed yoke This metaphor is commonly applied to Greek brides whose wildness and bestial qualities were described as requiring the taming yoke of marriage.3 Just as Iphigenia is lifted up to the altar 'like a goat' (8(rnv xtµa(pas, 232) and she is 'bridled' by the 'force of the bit' (~L\l xaA.tvwv, 238), Cassandra's death is also rendered a sacrifice by use of metaphor in the. chorus words, 1TWS' 0ET)AaTou I ~oos 8LKTJV Tipos ~wµov EUT6A.µws TiaTELS'; ('How can you, 2 All translations are the author's own unless otherwise specified. 3 This is a common motif in Greek lyric. See also Seaford 1987:111. 58 .,. like a cow driven by a god, walk to the altar with such courage?', 1297-98).4 Mitchell-Boyask has formulated the process as follows: Thus, as the reality of the imminent sacrifice comes into clear focus, Cassandra moves from being a wild to a domestic animal, and hence an animal suitable for ritual slaughter. But she is also thus tamed, hl:e a bride.5 Cassandra and Iphigenia are linked more closely and more subtly in the following lines: ETTL 8f. Kap8[a_v E8paµE KpOKo~a¢~s I cnaywv ('a saffron liquid drop of fear runs through my heart,' 1121-22) 6 Visually evocative here is the chorus's use of the word KpoKo~a¢~S' literally 'saffron-dipped' or 'dyed'.7 The same colour, described in an almost identical phrase, is used previously by the chorus to describe Iphigenia's sacrificial robes pouring to her feet moments before her death (KpOKOU ~a¢as, 239). This functions as a linguistic link between the two figures, emphasising their similar roles both as Brides of Death and Sacrificial Virgins.a The adjective here, in 1121, is used to describe the chorus's fear of another sacrifice alluded to just before by Cassandra in 1118-19: aTaCJLS' 8' aKOpETOS' yEvEL I 1<aTOAOAU~aTw 8uµaTos AEua[µou ('let tl1e ravenous fury of the race I howl in rage over a sacrifice to be horribly avenged'). Cassandra here envisions the 11111rder of Agamemnon while the chorus seems to remember the sacrifice of Iphigenia prompted by Cassandra's use of the word 8Dµa. 4 Cassandra is not, of course, 'brought' to her death but approaches it of her own free will. This is discussed further in the section Cassandra and C!Jtemnestra. s Jvlitchell-Boyask 2006:10. 6 See Zeitlin 1965. 7 Mitchell-Boyask 2006:9-10 asks: 'Why use this color for this emotion here? Yellow is the color of fear, as Denniston and Page note on this line, but I suggest the presence of this color in this passage has more to do with textual memory, with the Chorus articulating both passages, as the language and imagery of Iphigenia's sacrifice suddenly return and they return for very specific reasons. First, Cassandra has just for the first time used the word "sacrifice" (1118 ... ) to describe the main and most urgent subject of her vision, and the Chorus's language thus mnemonically races back to the sacrifice it narrated earlier ... ., not at all a particularly common word, here describes the blood rushing to the Chorus's heart, which it sees as the color of the blood of men fallen by the spear in battle. They directly recall the hue of Iphigenia's robes which are also falling to the earth (239).' 8 The deep saffron colour from the crocus stamens was the colour worn by Greek brides. For more on Aeschylus's Iphigenia as 'Bride of Death' see Seaford 1987:124- 25 and n. 186, 187. 59 . I Cassandra's bridal metaphor in 1178-79, describing her role as prophetess visually and linguistically links her with her predecessor - the sacrificial daughter Iphigenia: Kal. µ~v 6 xpriuµos- ouKET' EK KaA.uµµchwv I EuTm 8E80pKWS' VEOyaµou vuµcpT]S' 8LKT]v·('no longer shall my prophecy timidly peep / as from under the veils of a young bride').9 i.8ov 8', 'An6AA.wv auTos EK8uwv µ€ E: I XPTJCJTT]p(civ fo8fjT' ('See how Apollo himself tears off I my prophetess's clothing', 1269-70). Cassandra begins to remove her clothing in an attempt to divest herself of any physical signs of Apollo's ownership of her.10 This scene cannot but remind us of Iphigenia and the sexuality inherent in her death scene fJ.S her robes 'pour' (xfouua, 239) to the ground.II ~wµoD TTaTpc!lou 8 , avT ,. ETTLCT]VOV µEVEL, I 8Epµ0 KOTTELCJT]S' cpOLVLOV npoucpciyµan ('Lost are my father's altars, but the block is there / to reek with sacrificial blood, my own', 1277-78).12 Like Iphigenia, she is a sacrificial victim and she identifies herself as such. Cassandra can thus be seen as the recollection of Iphigenia - the living representative of the dead virgin on stage. As Cassandra approaches the doors of the palace, she calls them the 'Gates of Hades' (1291; see also 1309, 1311), associating the palace with the House of Death itself, thereby strengthening the links between herself and Persephone, the archetypal Bride of Death, as well as Iphigenia, the Bride of Death (1291-94):13 9 McClure 1999:98 notes that at this point Cassandra's speech shifts from lyric to speech metres as she ceases her lamentations and now addresses the chorus directly. 'This metrical change underscores the movement from involuntary speech to voluntary speech. Accordingly, Cassandra begins by comparing the revelation of her prophecies to the unveiling of the bride . . . the idea of sexual exposure entailed by public female speech evokes the conflation of sexuality and speech inherent in Clytemnestra's earlier use of the verb aLaxuvEa0m (856), but whereas the queen flaunts her public words, Cassandra underscores their impropriety.' Non-ritual public speech indicates the lack of shame in women akin to public display of the female body. 10 See below pp. 62-65. 11 Mitchell-Boyask 2006:7 envisions her as figuratively naked now: 'one might com pare this "offering" of her bridal attire to Apollo as evoking the bride's dedication of her clothing after her wedding and the bath she knows awaits her as a bridal bath.' 12 Trans. Lattimore 1953. !3 It has also been pointed out that the Cassandra scene evokes the tradition of Iphigenia's marriage to Achilles in a meta-textual sense (Mitchell-Boyask 2006:2). See also Seaford 1987:127-28. 60 Ka. "AL8ou Tiu\as 8(: nia8' E:yw TipoaEVVETiw· E:TIEiJxoµm 8E Kmp[as 1TATJY~S TUXELV, ws aacpci8q.aTOS' aLµaTWV EUSVT]OLµwv a1TOppUEvTWV, oµµa auµ~aAW T08E. Ca. I address these gates of Hades, and I pray the stroke strike clean, so that as I die there is no convulsing, an endless flow of blood, and I may then close my eyes. While Iphigenia is gagged to prevent her improper curses from falling upon her murderers, Cassandra, afte~ a long silence of thirty-four lines, speaks out. Her silence is made remarkable by the fact that it is commented upon by both the chorus and Clytemnestra (1047-68). Her dramatic silence signifies many things: most significantly it is the dramatic negation of speech in response to Clytemnestra's brazen verbal improprieties which are bound up with her sexual misconduct and fictional construction of herself as the faithful wife (606-14; 859-86). Clytemnestra's speech is masculine in its lack of modesty and reticence before the public, yet feminine in terms of its content. 'Clytemnestra's speech vacillates between gendered subject positions: she is by turns persua sive like a man, and deferential, like a woman, freely reformulating herself to suit the occasion.'14 At the beginning of his response to her welcome speech Agamemnon censures his wife for publicly praising him, saying that it is not for her to do so.1s Later in their verbal sparring session he tries to curb his wife's appropriation of persuasive and agonistic language - the syntax of men - when he says ouTOL yuvmx6s E:anv l.µdpELV µcixTJs ('this desire for battle is not becoming of a woman', 940).16 Clytemnestra's speech has been deceitful, masculine in its political diction and powerful in its ability to persuade. Cassandra's silence thus signifies the opposite of this. Her silence compels others to speak for her and to infer and 14 McClure 1999:71. 1s Agamemnon to Clytemnestra (915-17): a1TOUOLQ. µEv EL 1TOS' ELKOTWS E:µ~. µaKpav yap E~ETELVas· an' E:vma[µws OLVELV, 1Tap' a\Awv XP~ T68' EPXE00m yEpas. There is one way your welcome matched my absence well. You strained it to great length. Yet properfy to praise me thus belongs by right to other lips, noty ours. (Emphasis mine, trans. Lattimore 1953). 16 For more on the impropriety of Clytemnestra's improper public speaking see McClure 1999:79 commenting on Clytemnestra's use of the verb VLKaw: VLKWµEVT] (912) and vLKaaem (941). 61 interpret her position. Her silence thus renders her mysterious and closed, and also signifies her 'otherness' - for she is foreign and a slave. At the same time she is the possession of Agamemnon, she is his E:~aLpETOV I aveos ('chosen flower', 954-55). This prepares us for her configuration to the stereotype of the silent, veiled bride and confirms for us her function as counter to Clytemnestra. Cassandra's voluntary silence mediates between the forced silence of Iphigenia and the improper speech of Clytemnestra. Cassandra and Apollo i The relationship between Cassandra and Apollo is problematic and fraught with tension. Cassandra tells the chorus of her relationship with Apollo (1202-12).17 The positioning of the account of her relationship with Apollo is not insignificant. Her sto1y is couched between two stories of marital infi delity: the seduction of Atreus's wife by his brother Thyestes and Clytem nestra's affair with Aegisthus. The significance of this is discussed further on. The conjunction of the complex tale of her history with the god and her introduction to this story with the bridal metaphor above provides strong linguistic proof that Cassandra's portrayal as a Bride of Death doubles as a an' Bride of Apollo.18 ~v rraA.mcJT~S' KUpT, E:µol TIVEWV xapLV ('he struggled with me like a wrestler and breathed divine grace into my spirit', 1206).19 What Cassandra describes here is an agon, a physical struggle, 17 The erotic relationship between the prophetess and her god seems to be another instance of Aeschylus's mythopoesis, for there is no mention of it in Homer. The meaning of the name Cassandra is 'she who entangles men'. Cf. Graves 1955:747. 18 Cf. Mitchell-Boyask 2006:6: 'This enigmatic promise shows how for Cassandra her oracle is identified with her marriage to Apollo, and, by verbally lifting the bride's veil, she begins her self-assertion that culminates in her trampling of her prophetic attire; her progress into clarity here, lifting the veil, stands for her as the consummation of her marriage as it accompanies her accession to death as a Bride of Apollo.' 19 'The image places Cassandra at precisely the same intersection of violence and eroticism that we have seen over and over again in this play. The kharis Apollo breathes on her in this struggle is both sexual delight and divine grace, the khaiis biaios of fetishization. If that is the origin of Cassandra's destructive prophetic ability, then this potential site of otherness and purity is abruptly foreclosed in this line. Far from standing outside the play's sadism, 'ek-static', Cassandra emerges from it, another product of its destructive passion' (Wohl 1998:115); and 'Aeschylus casts Apollo as the failed suitor, the persecutor and rapist of Cassandra (whether actual or notional) well before he walks on stage, and his invisible assault on her during the A!!,amemnon strongly itself suggests a rape' (Mitchell-Boyask 2006:3). 62 between herself and Apollo, which does not preclude undertones of sexual violence. What is revealed in the following dialogue between the prophetess and the chorus serves to negate the question of Cassandra's purity: she confesses to sexual deception (1207-12): Xo. ~ Kal TEKvwv ELs Epyov T\A.9ETov v6µ(Jl;20 Ka. ~uvmvfoaaa Ao~(av E:tjJEuaaµ11v. Xo. T\811 TEXVaLO"LV E:v9EoLS 1Jp11µE:v11; Ka. T\811 TToA.lrnLs TTavT' E:efom(ov TTa911. Xo. TTWS 8fjT' avaTo,s ~aea Ao~(ou KOT(jl; Ka. ETTEL9ov oU8E:v' oU8E:v, ws Ta8' T\µTTA.aKov. Cho. And did the two of you lie in love together? Ca. I promised Loxias, but then deceived him. Cho. Were you already possessed with his divine skills? Ca. I was already prophesying to the citizens their sufferings. Cho. How did you escape the harm ofLoxias's wrath? Ca. Since then no one has believed anything I have uttered. The exact nature of Cassandra's deception is not made explicit. There are a number of meanings for Etj;Eucraµr]V (1208): 'I cheated, I lied, I deceived or I broke a promise.' Thus we can infer that Cassandra at first agreed to and then refused sexual intimacy with the god. Thus the phrase TEKVWV ELS' Epyov (1207) should be taken to mean sexual intercourse rather than child bearing itself.21 Directly after Cassandra tells of her betrayal of Apollo, she sees Clytemnestra's betrayal of Agamemnon with Aegisthus. Her story of deceit is told within the context of her versions of other sexual infidelities that have stained the House of Atreus: the adultery ofThyestes (1193) and the adultery of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus: Ka. avTll 8( TTOUS A.E:mva auyKoLµwµE:v11 •.;.. _, AUK(jl, AEoVTOS EUYEVOUS UTTOUO"Lc;t (1258-59) Ca. This is the woman lioness who lies with the wolf, when her noble lion is away Ka. A.E:ovT' avaA.KLv, E:v A.EXEL aTpw<jlwµEvov ol.Koup6v, o'(µoL, TQ µoA.6vn 8EO"TTOTD (1224-25) 20 The use of the dual form T\A.9ETov proves that the meaning here refers to sex and not childbearing. 21 See Wohl 1998:241 n. 52 on the deception of Cassandra. 63 .-1"':: Ca: The cowardly lion spends his time in bed, ah me, he watches over the house for the master's return The text seems to invite us to read Cassandra's story as another story of sexual betrayal by the female. For Cassandra does not only betray Apollo, but she also spurns him as both master of her prophecies and of her body. The following lines show Cassandra's attempts at rejection of the god are figured as rejections of both his mantic and sexual demands: .. ·. ' \ ' , ,, ,, i , Ka. LOU LaOvU , W W KaKa. urr' µE 8ELVOS' op0oµavTdas- TTOVOS' GTpO~EL rnpauuwv cj>pOLµLOLS' (1213-15) Ca. Oh, Oh, what vileness! Once again the dread pain of true prophecy spinning in my head, whirling with premonitions Ka. TTaTTat, olov TO rrup ErrEPXETaL 8E µOL. oToTot, AuKEL' "ArroAA.ov, o'l Eyw Eyw. (1256-57) Ca. Oh, how it burns, the fire invades me! Ah Lycean Apollo! The pain, the pain! She describes the onset of prophecy in terms of a painful assault, and thus recalling the image of the physical struggle she describes earlier in 1206. In the speech that follows, a most disturbing scene is enacted which brings to a climax the crisis point of her rejection of her divine master (1264- 76): Ka. TL 8~T· EµauT~S' KarnyEA.wT' E)cw Ta8E, Kal GK~TTTpa Kal µavTELa TTEpl 8EplJ GTEc)>T]; uf. µf.v rrpo µo(pas- T~S' Eµ~s- 8wc)>0Epw. .. 'LT' ES' c)>06pov· TTEGOVTa y' w8' ciµd~oµm. . .. - aAA.11v nv' "ATT]V civT' EµoD rrA.ouTL(ETE . ~ '· ··' L8ou 8', 'Arr6AA.wv auTos- EK8uwv Eµf. \~::; ...: .,. ;· y ·, ''I.".'.'; KpT]GTT]p(av fo0~T', ETTOTTTEUuas- 8E µE KclV TOlBE KOuµOLS' KaTayEA.WµEVT]V µETa c)>(A.wv im' EX0pwv ou 8Lxopp6rrws- µ6.TTJV. KaKouµEvTJ BE, c)>oL Tas- ws- ciyupTpw, rrTwxos- TaA.mva A.Lµoev~s- ~vwx6µ11v· o Kal vvv µ6.vns- µ6.vnv EKrrpafos- EµE cirrtjyay' ES' TOLaG8E eavau(µous- Tux as-. Ca. Why then do I clothe myself with these mockeries, and this staff and this mantic garland around my neck? 64 ... These at least I will destroy before my death. Perish! This is how I repay you as you lie fallen. Enrich someone other than me with Ruin. See how Apollo himself tears off my prophetess's clothing, after watching me in these fancy clothes, a laughing stock among loved ones and by enemies who doubted in vain. I have borne being called a wandering beggar gypsy, a wretched vagabond half-starved. And now the prophet has finished with me, his prophetess .... '. .. ·. . "; ·. .' .-.. ·. and he has led rµe away to such a death.22 We imagine Cassandra tearing off her clothing in a frenzied attempt to rid herself of her signs of ownership. It is as if she is attempting to erase her relationship with Apollo from her memory. Even if we do read this as a vain effort to restore her lost purity in preparation for her brutal 'sacrifice', the effect of stripping off her garments is the same as Iphigenia's pouring robes (239) - it highlights rather than hides her sexuality and eroticises their deaths. Doubts as to Cassandra's sexuality are somewhat allayed by her utter devotion and loyalty to the patrilineal cause and the plight of Agamemnon. She seems to reject the god as husband and master in order to cleave to her new 'husband', her captor Agamemnon. This is perhaps what motivates Clytemnestra to call her, albeit sarcastically, TTLCTT~ ~VVEUVOS' ('faithful wife', 1442).23 As the next section will show, Cassandra manifests most clearly the signs of the maT~ ~VVEUVOS' towards Agamemnon, bringing into sharp contrast Clytemnestra's blatant infidelities. Cassandra and Clytemnestra While Cassandra rejects her divine spouse, she embraces her mortal (albeit illegitimate) one with a fervent loyalty even into death. In her 'marriage' to Agamemnon this spear-won bride or 'chosen flower' as he calls her, shows L herself to be the ideal wife in contrast with Clytemnestra, the fickle and murderous legitimate one. 22 Mitchell-Boyask 2006:7 of 1214-15 and 1256-57 notes: ' ... these lines prepare us for actions that form both her second rejection of Apollo and the god's imagined stripping of her clothing in the final consummation of their marriage in death (1269- 70) ... First she unveils herself and then her bridegroom reveals the rest of her body. She reacts to this baring of herself by trampling on the symbols of the one who disrobed her.' 23 Also translated as 'true wife' (McClure 1999:97), 'faithful bedmate' (Foley 2003:92), 'trusted bedmate' (Wohl 1998:114). 65 When Cassandra first speaks, she speaks in the language of lament and prophecy-both accepted genres for women in tragedy.24 These invocations contain the pure sounds of horror, characteristic of tragic emotion; they clarify the prophetess's speech as 'emotional, involuntary and therefore without guile.'25 ~ µa(vETa( YE rnl. KaKwv KAUEL cppEvwv ('She is possessed by madness and hears only her own dark thoughts'); she is in the grip of Apollo's divine mania, as Clytemnestra disparagingly remarks in 1064, and thus her speech is involunta1y. Clytemnestra, however, does not know that Cassandra will rebel against Apollo's possession in favour of Agamemnon. In the next lines, Cassandra's visions begin: Ka. µw66EOv µE:v ouv· 1TOAAcl auv(arnpa, mhocpova, KaKa rnpTavm av8pOS' acpayELoV Kat m~8ov pavTtjplOV. (1090-92) Ca. Despised by the Gods, witness of many murders of its own kin, powerful in the slaughter of its men and the blood-drenched floor. Ka. µapTUp(owL yap To1a8' E':m Tid6oµm · KA.moµEva Ta8E ~pEcpTJ acpayaS' 01TTclS' TE aapKaS' 1Tp0S' 1TaTpOS ~E~pwµEVaS'. (1095-97) Ca. Running in blood. Look - Look - the witnesses: Children covering their eyes, Sobbing blood through their fingers, Children chopped up, screaming And roasted, eaten By their own father.26 While the chorus expect her to prophesy her own misfortunes (KptjoHv EoLKEV aµcpl. TWV auTflS' KQKWV, 'It seems she will foretell her own evil fate', .. 1083), her visions focus instead on the House of Atreus and the sufferings ~ that have befallen the ancestors of Agamemnon. Beginning with the entity of 24 See McClure 1991:93-97; Loraux 2002; Foley 2003:19-21. 2s McClure 1999:94-95. 26 Trans. Hughes 1999. She sees the children of Thyestes again in 1217-22: apaTE ToliaBE TOUS' 86µoLS' E':<PTJµEvouS' vfovS', ovE(pwv TipoacpEpELS' µopcpwµaaLV; 1Tal8ES' eavOVTES' WCT1TEpEL TTPOS' TWV cpC\wv, XE'ipaS' KpEwv rrA.tjeovTES' oLKdaS' ~opaS'· avv EVTEpOlS' TE CTTIAciyxv', E1TOLICTlCTTOV yEµOS', wv 1Tpfooua' EXOVTES', 1TaT~P EYEUaaTO. 66