Philosophy – Ethical Leadership. Iphigenia At Aulis By Euripides

Ethical Leadership in Iphigenia at Aulis
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Ethical leadership requires leaders who can lead his people by following the moral beliefs of the society and honoring each one of them. Roe and Greece were characterized by a lot of legends and myths governing the people's way of living. For example, in Euripides's Iphigenia in Aulis, the Atreides family members are faced with various intolerable demands of the gods which in turn, result to murder, lust, and revenge (Euripides, Child & Lumley, 1909). Agamemnon is faced with the challenge of making decisions that would, in turn, have an impact on his leadership. Therefore, based on the narration, most of the decisions that he makes are by those expected from an ethical leader.
The initial display of an ethical leader is shown in the scene whereby, the Greek armies are already in Aulis, waiting to begin the journey for fighting the Trojan War. However, the Calchas makes it clear that the winds will not be allowed to blow until the leader of the Greek forces, Agamemnon, sacrifices Iphigenia. This is a belief among the Greek people, and it means that when the leader's daughter is sacrificed, then they stand a chance of winning the war. In a real-life situation, this is a challenging decision to make. However, given the fact Agamemnon has to display an ethical leadership by doing what the society thinks is right, he has no option rather than to order the sacrifice to be fulfilled. Although he is reluctant at doing so, his daughter offers to be sacrificed in front of the whole army. She does this to honor the requirements of the Gods. Therefore, in this case, Agamemnon shows an aspect of ethical leadership by obeying the demands of the gods. He knew that such a day was coming and if he were not for the idea of obeying the beliefs of the society, then he probably would have sent the daughter away to prevent her from being murdered.
Also, Iphigenia is a good example of an ethical leader because she believes that the society has to offered what they believe is right before the eyes of the gods so that they can receive favor from them. Sacrificing oneself is not an easy thing to do, and therefore, Iphigenia even shows stronger leadership skills than her father who tries to stop her death by sending a warning letter to Iphigenia's mother. Towards the end of the novel, it is revealed that someone exchanged the body of Iphigenia with that of a deer hence preventing her death. She then grows up in the temple. An ethical leader has the obligation of meeting the demands of the people that they lead to ensure that they avoid chaos at all costs. In this case, the soldiers were expected to be fighting in the Trojan War but were not ready to leave until the sacrifice was made. Therefore, in an attempt to protect the lives of the other people, Iphigenia chose to take the burden of being a leader by accepting to be offered as a sacrifice. This can be related to modern day life whereby, leaders in organizations have to perfo...