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Clytemnestra costanza casati6/24/2023 The events of Clytemnestra's life are not much rearranged here. She will be called ruthless, merciless, "cruel queen and unfaithful wife," but viewed from another angle, Clytemnestra fights honorably for her own well-being and for that of the people she loves. Clytemnestra is a masterpiece of justified rage on the protagonist's part, and a subtly subversive revision of a story many readers know from a different perspective. Aeschylus, Homer and Euripides generally portray Clytemnestra in a negative light, but Casati's reframing-from her title character's point of view-emphasizes the difficult circumstances that challenged a strong-willed woman in a time and place that did not reward such a quality. Costanza Casati's debut, Clytemnestra, is a dynamic retelling of the story of the much-maligned Spartan princess, sister of Helen, queen of Mycenae, mother of Iphigenia, Electra and Orestes (and others). "Kings are brilliant / mighty / godlike // Queens are deadly / shameless / accursed." Such has been the literary fate of Clytemnestra-adulteress, wife and murderer of Agamemnon in the Ancient Greek canon.
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