Free Penelope and Ulysses by Zenovia

we would have heard her pleas in Ithaca.
    We would have heard her
    had you not sealed her mouth
    and then proceeded to seal her eyes and her life.
    AGAMEMNON: This is the law, and the law is the law.
    I am bound by the laws of my country.
    This has been a yoke of necessity—
    to have no personal life
    because my people, my country
    come before my needs as a man.
    Do not moralise to me!
    How many men can sacrifice their own child
    to prove their love for their country?
    Can you? I suspect you could.
    You did not spare other men’s children in war.
    ULYSSES: There is also another law,
    and that is “blood will have blood.” 30
    AGAMEMNON: There you go again, moralising to me.
    Is this the madness you are suffering from?
    Iphigenia, my poor daughter.
    If only she knew how much
    she has blessed with her blood
    this war of honour and justice.
    I ask you once again
    to remember your place and position,
    for I will not suffer this weakness in you.
    I will not suffer your moralising to me.
    I love and loved my daughter.
    This was the most painful duty I had to conduct.
    I had to offer part of me as an offering
    so that the army could see that I was and am
    a man of honour and self-sacrifice.
    I am so bound in the laws of our land,
    the laws of our gods,
    the laws of our civilised code and way of life,
    that I would and could
    cut into the heart of my daughter.
    Is there any greater loss to a father
    than to offer his child as a sacrifice
    to save his country?
    It was difficult but achievable.
    Could you have done it?
    With those bloodstained hands,
    could you have done it?
    Don’t judge me as an ordinary man,
    for I am of the land of the law,
    of the blood of the land,
    and of the people.
    My will is of metal and my heart is of stone.
    How do you think I have become master over so many lives?
    By showing weakness in emotion?
    Practising humanitarian acts of kindness and justice
    to those I need to use and harvest
    to bring expansion and glory for my country?
    Your country, Ulysses.
    You should be praising me.
    It does not matter what you have to do
    as long as gain and profit is the result.
    And well you know that the ordinary man
    does not want to think and make decisions.
    He is cowardly and lazy, and that is why
    I have the power and permission from my people
    to keep them in the privileges they are used to.
    They do not want to lose their way of life and living,
    and therefore we need to continue
    our expansion and conquest of others.
    ULYSSES: Great, Agamemnon.
    What a great political animal you are.
    And when you stop the rhetoric,
    it comes down to the ground
    where the blood has been spilled,
    where it will continue to be spilled.
    You and I are murderers of the young and innocent.
    AGAMEMNON: A murderer, Ulysses?
    How do you think you became master of all these lands?
    Did you not murder men, women, and children in their sleep?
    So that you can become a master in this land.
    So that you can have servants doing your work in the fields.
    So that you can fornicate all day and night without worrying
    about earning your living by working.
    How do you think you got this privileged life?
    How do you think you got these lands
    and these rights that other men do not have?
    Do you still insist that you are mad?
    ULYSSES: You are right. I have done all these things.
    I am lost.
    I am confused.
    I am losing my mind.
    AGAMEMNON: So be it! Enough!
    [ To a soldier outside the door ] Take Ulysses son.
    He must be outside. I saw him as I came in.
    Bring two strong horses and tie
    one on the left arm of his son
    and the other on the right arm,
    and then ask the soldier to get the horses to run
    in different directions.
    Do this now!
    Come, Ulysses, to the window,
    so that you can see.
    Since you are claiming that you are mad,
    you will neither know the danger nor care.
    [ Screams are heard from Telemachus, Ulysses’s son .]
    TELEMACHUS [ offstage ]: [ screaming ] Father, where are they taking me?
    AGAMEMNON: Come, Ulysses.
    This