Violence and death are not lacking in the stories and myths adapted for the stage by the tragedians of ancient Greece. However, these actions are almost never depicted explicitly on stage: the murders take place off stage while the audience is only aware of the sound of the victim's last screams, the characters on stage recount violent events with words after they have already happened without the audience seeing them. Typically, the public only sees the aftermath of such an event, if at all. Instead of re-enacting these fateful encounters on stage, Greek tragedians of classical antiquity (such as 5th-century Aeschylus and Sophocles) may have chosen to communicate these events through vivid metaphors. The implementation, or reification, of these metaphors can be done bloodlessly while still evoking powerful and emotionally resonant images of real-life violence and death. In this way, metaphors for tragedy – such as the carpet scene in Aeschylus' Agamemnon and Antigone's "marriage" to death in Sophocles' Antigone – enable a tragic poet working within the constraints of staging ancient Greeks to depict violence on stage in a way that more effectively informs audiences about the characters or themes of their work. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"?Get the original essayIn Aeschylus' Agamemnon, the king of Argive, recently returned from a ten-year battle with Troy, is killed by his wife Clytemnestra for sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia at the start of the war. Although it is a defining moment in the Greek myth surrounding Agamemnon's return to Argos, this act takes place out of sight. The real climactic scene of the play comes when Clytemnestra presents a red carpet for Agamemnon to ride on from his chariot. Apparently, this is an act of love and respect for her dear husband who valiantly fought and defeated the Trojans in battle, and this is clearly how Clytemnestra wishes Agamemnon to receive his gift: "Such is my greeting which he well deserves. » (Aeschylus l. 903). However, like much of Clytemnestra's speech in this play, her words here are double-edged. She relies on her husband's pride to infer that she has such esteem for him that he might rightly step on (and thus ruin) expensive and luxurious red dresses. Indeed, such a presumptuous action is recognized by Agamemnon as "worthy of the gods, and of no one else", and he therefore initially refuses his wife's request (l. 922). In contrast, from Clytemnestra's point of view, Agamemnon is the miserable killer of her beloved daughter; these red robes thus represent the innocent blood he shed and the life so recklessly trodden in pursuit of glory in the Trojan War. Iphigenia's sacrifice is of course never shown in Agamemnon, but this scene offers the audience a sort of metaphorical reenactment. of Agamemnon's engagement in this act which also serves to vividly illustrate Clytemnestra's own position on the matter. While Agamemnon initially refuses Clytemnestra's offer to walk the red carpet, his perseverance eventually wins out, and his "feet crush the crimson" as he walks with his wife towards their home (l 957). This action has two levels of meaning. The first is that it demonstrates Agamemnon's pride and expanded sense of self, a trait that Clytemnestra knows she can rely on. After a few lines of exchange between the spouses, he deigns to perform an act that he recentlyqualified as permitted only to the gods. This does not mean that he now considers himself a god, but rather that he has always believed himself worthy of one. Any prior objections were likely an attempt to save face in the eyes of his peers. This scene reveals his true character as Clytemnestra perceives him: proud and shameless. The second level of meaning is that of the metaphor of Iphigenia's death. Agamemnon's feet destroy the precious crimson fabric, much like how, in Clytemnestra's eyes, he destroyed the life of her precious daughter. Although subtextual, this reading is undoubtedly evoked by the audience by the bloody coloring of the carpet and the act of destruction. Agamemnon's walking the red carpet echoes his previous actions, and Clytemnestra sees this as further proof of the wretchedness of his character which condemns him to die at her hands. This metaphor of Iphigenia's death thus performed on stage has a dual purpose: to provide a means of depicting this violent action (while adhering to the conventions of ancient Greek tragic theater) and to physically manifest the way in which Clytemnestra perceives wrongdoing of her husband. Likewise, in Sophocles' Antigone, the metaphor of "marriage with death" expresses much more than the action symbolized. In this play, Oedipus' cursed daughter is sentenced to death for performing the proper funeral rites for her brother Polyneices against the orders of King Creon. Once again, the actual event of Antigone's death is not shown, but imagery of her metaphorical death is provided repeatedly throughout the play that precedes it. Once Antigone is found guilty of this crime, other characters and even Antigone herself begin to speak as if her death would be more of a marriage. After questioning her and discovering her motivations for defying his decree, Creon responds: “Go down below and love, / if you must love, love the dead” (Sophocles II. 591-592)! Antigone is a being made to love, according to her, but the unfortunate circumstances of her birth and her family lineage exclude any possibility of normal, non-incestuous love. She cares deeply for her family, a feeling that likely reflects her father's incestual relationship with their mother. Her father and two brothers being now dead, Antigone's love can only be addressed to the deceased. The metaphor continues with references to his eventual tomb, a place described by the sympathetic chorus as a “bridal vault where all rest” (l. 899). This combination of marriage and death in a single image is reinforced by Antigone's words when faced with the reality of her fate: “O tomb, my nuptial bed” (l. 977). Here, no husband is explicitly provided for Antigone to marry, but it is clear enough, through the repeated association of these two major life events, that the very act of dying will be a kind of "marriage » with death. Although Antigone later describes herself as going to "marry the lord of dark waters" and a messenger refers to her as "the bride of death," this metaphor of marriage to death further evokes the steadfast love of Antigone for her late parents than a suicidal infatuation with the concept of dying itself (ll. 908, 1238). Discussing Antigone's death in such terms is somewhat euphemistic, but the real purpose of using these images is to highlight her feelings of love that extend beyond the grave. Again, her death is not shown on stage, but the realization of this metaphor is shown afterwards: the messenger's account of the discovery of Antigone's body hanging by her corporeal bridal veils realizes this thus far only hinted at to imaging. Even though it occurs out of sight, his death can be clearly imagined, and the presence of this.