When Calchas talks of the coming wind and calls for no further delay in preparation for the sacrifice, Iphigenia realizes that she would really be offered as a sacrifice. This prompts her to escape. The scene captures the minds of the viewers as they sympathize with the poor girl. Iphigenia gets depressed, which results into her suffering. The fact that the people she trusts are devising plans to end her life troubles her a lot. The challenges make her escape in the hope of saving herself from their cruelty. However, she does not succeed in making such effort. Despite the fact that she knows about the conspiracy, her captors are eager to continue with the sacrifice. The fanatical beliefs lead a king and his cohorts to the sacrifice, which one perceive as cruelty for the sake of honoring the Greek gods.
As it is depicted in the scene, a number of issues arise. They include human sacrifice in honor of the gods and the disdainful attitude to human life, even if it is a poor child. Indeed, the nature of sacrifices is evidently inhuman. Iphigenia is scared to go through it, which will cause the failure of her planned marriage. She must have felt cheated and naïve that she was unaware of the plot beforehand. Her escape is a clear indication that she does not agree with the idea of her sacrifice. Human sacrifice, though common in the Greek traditions, was always a horrific moment for the victims. In fact, historical accounts indicate that they had always tried to escape from such extreme acts.
The scene also leads the audience into examining the societal value of the life during that period. The planned sacrifice of the king’s daughter is an indication that the society and its leaders have no respect for the human life, especially where the issue of religion is involved. One could presume that a king would spare his child from death, but the scene indicates quite opposite. It is evident that the society attaches little or no value to the life of an individual as kings do anything for the purpose of pleasing the gods. Although it is presumed that victims bravely seal their fate, the situation is hard to accept, which makes most of them attempt to escape.