thinking about this moment in the count of monte cristo when the count compares villefort's household to the house of atreus. does that mean gerard de villefort mirrors agamemnon? it kinda makes sense, i think. agamemnon sacrifices iphigenia to appease artemis; otherwise, the greek fleet cannot sail to troy. as commander of the achaean forces, his rank and duty demand that he make this sacrifice. villefort's actions parallel agamemnon's. every horrific choice he makes is done to preserve his reputation and public standing. but who exactly is "iphigenia" in his case? i feel like her archetype is split across three characters in the novel: edmond, benedetto, and valentine. initially, it is edmond who is sacrificed on the altar of villefort's career and sent to chateau d'if. then villefort almost buries benedetto alive in a box to conceal an illicit affair in order to preserve his social standing. and finally, although it is madame de villefort who is actively poisoning valentine, it is made possible by villefort's inaction as he wants to avoid a massive public scandal and therefore refuses to launch an investigation. so, she is also "sacrificed" for the same reasons. in all three cases, the victim is saved by sheer coincidence. edmond manages to escape from chateau d'if which was considered to be impossible, benedetto is saved by bertuccio, and valentine's death is faked by the count, who whiskes her away to safety. all three cases remind me of the version of the myth where artemis snatches iphigenia off the altar at the last second. now, when it comes to clytemnestra, i'm quite conflicted. an obvious choice would be madame de villefort: while her actions do not result in villefort's physical death, they result in his mental demise. her actions, however, are not driven by vengeance as they were in clytemnestra's case, but by greed. that being said, her greed in some sense is fueled by motherly love for edouard, which kinda parallels clytemnestra's love for iphigenia. her plan to redirect valentine's inheritance to edouard may also parallel clytemnestra's plot to secure her rule over mycenae with aegisthus. the agent of vengeance in this case is edmond, so clytemnestra's role is split between two characters. villefort's downfall is orchestrated by both: the count acts as a catalyst by literally handing héloïse the weapon and together they destroy villefort's household from within. another thing that came to my mind is that villefort lowkey briefly occupies orestes' narrative position by the end of the book. he is the one who gives madame de villefort an ultimatum, thus pressuring her to take poison. after her and edouard's deaths, like orestes, he is driven into madness. it is a bit far-fetched though, i think. finally, since the curse of the atreides started with atreus himself, noirtier is the one who plays this role in villefort's family. the letter addressed to noirtier was the very reason villefort condemned edmond to chateau d'if, thus dooming himself. hence, it can be said that noirtier brought the "curse" upon the villefort family, albeit not directly.
kianamaiart
dailybridgerton
snowghoul
tangentwithtanner
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