This story is an assignment for my psychology class, Theories of Personality. The goal was to create a story in the likings of Homer, but to intergrate different theories and concepts that are associated with personality theory. Enjoy!
The Tale of Iphigenia (PSY219IN1)
Centuries ago, when the oceans were filled with fleets of great men, when gods walked among the humans as constant reminders of prominence, when the idea of sacrifice was second nature, a distinguished playwright, Aeschylus, told the tale of Agamemnon and the tragedy that followed his family. Early in his tale, though, there is mention of the daughter who seems to have suffered with the least amount of reason or logic. In an attempt to appease Artemis, the goddess of wind, and allow the ships to carry on warring, Agamemnon played the part that seems to be the hero, and sacrificed his daughter, Iphigenia. The young girl, under the belief that she was to be wed, was led out onto the rocks where she was bound and gagged, as her father slashed her throat.
Some may see Agamemnon as the hero of this story, doing what he must to save his country and fulfilling his primary duty of a warrior. Others see this act as incestuous, Agamemnon truly aroused at seeing his daughter gagged and suffering, her cries for her father muffled in the cheers of fighters. Iphigenia, though, is much more the hero than anyone could every really imagine. It is through her personality and her life that one can see just why she is the one who shines above her father and encompasses all that is great in the Greek world.
As a young girl, Iphigenia felt a strong longing for her father. It was something that she could never quite explain, and something that was completely unacceptable as a young girl growing up in the House of Atreus in Argos. Her father was a strong man, a warrior and king in all aspects of his life, and Iphigenia was merely a girl, meant to wait at home and serve the men in her life, until she was wed and would bear children. She saw this as her only purpose in life, but considering her state and her sex, there was nothing she could truly do about it. To help her deal with these emotions and this hatred of her sex, she externalized her feelings and instead placed her focus upon serving her father and the men at court. The longing that Iphigenia felt for her father, became balanced as she began to feel a hate for her mother, Clytaemnestra. She was enraged over the fact that her mother had born her a female, instead of a male, and had castrated her of the power she saw so passionately in her father.
Throughout all of her life, Iphigenia tried to suppress her thoughts of longing for her father; she also attempted to undo the thoughts by placing her longing on young boys her age, instead of her father. Iphigenia was always the extraverted feeling type, one who knew and accepted her place in the world and the expectations and standards of society, but one who also was very emotional from situation to situation. These characteristics, were what gave Iphigenia true strength, but at the same time led to her downfall.
One day, when Iphigenia had grown into a beautiful woman, ready to be married and worship a man who was not her father, it seemed as if the entire world broke out into a furious war over the strikingly glamorous Helen. In a fury of passion and heat from the war, Agamemnon killed a rabbit and angered the goddess Artemis. Iphigenia stood in a room, hidden from view, but still in earshot of every word that was being said. The leaders of the war gathered around devising the plan of how to please Artemis, but no matter what they came up with, there was no getting around the fact that the blood of a young virgin must be spilled. It was settled upon that Agamemnon, as king, would say that Iphigenia was to be married, take her away on the ship, and then sacrifice her to the goddess. Iphigenia stood in terror, but knew that this was what her people needed her to do, and it was finally a chance for her to satisfy her id and win the masculinity and power of her father that she longed for. Bravely, Iphigenia went along with the plan, using her emotional shifting that comes with an extraverted feeling type to romanticize the ordeal.
As Iphigenia lay bound on the rocks, she screamed and pleaded with her father to free her and let her live. Despite these pleas, she knew the strength of her father and that he would never choose family over his given title of king. Iphigenia embraced her animus, and finally took the powerful and masculine role she had envied. In her tragic death, Iphigenia was able to finally able to be satisfied and play the role that so few women of the time had a chance to embrace: the role of the hero.