Atreus

The wisdom and pleasure of Edith Hamilton`s of “The House of Atreus” What choice would you make if you had a kill your mother because she killed your father? Would you leave your mother alone? But what if you are obligated to kill your father’s murder because the ancient laws of your gods tell you to do so? In the Edith Hamilton`s “The House of Atreus” Orestes is forced to make that choice in a situation that could argue that the death of his father could have been just ,but because he cannot let his father’s death call go unanswered at the same time there is another sacred rule to never kill your mother. The lesson in this is that through pain we learn answers then through that we form wisdom. Orestes himself says “I have been taught by misery” (Hamilton 349). They say that the House of Atreus is cursed by the gods. There is proof of that throughout the story. In the beginning Tantalus was a king who was favored by the gods beyond anybody. Yet he chose to throw it all away when the gods came down to dine with him. He had killed…

Eumenides summary Atreus and Thyestes are competing for the throne of Argos. Thyestes seduced his brother’s wife and was driven out of Argos by his brother. When Thyestes returns he and his brother seem to be cool with each other. At least that’s what Thyestes thinks. Atreus looks to seek revenge for what his brother did. Atreus murdered the two sons of Thyestes, and had them chopped up and cooked to be served to their father at his honor banquet. When Thyestes finds out he has eaten his sons,…

The house of Atreus is a Greek myth known during what is known as the Heroic Age. It is known that Tantalus went against the gods, and his descendants were cursed for their whole lives. This story is an example of how Greeks believed that you could inherent guilt, and someone’s misfortunes could have to do with the crimes of an ancestor. In ancient societies, the wellbeing of an individual wasn’t as cherished as the wellbeing of the family unit, what belonged to one person belonged to the…

Revenge for Masculinity “Away, morality!” exclaims Atreus to a servant who appears unconvinced by the former’s determination for suffering torment to be a just price for his brother’s crime (Seneca 404). With this simple statement, the king acknowledges morality as being compromised within his revenge scheme, but he thinks little of it; in fact, Atreus dismisses morality as though it were his servant. With this dismissal, he establishes that his revenge against Thyestes, tricking him to eat his…

Revenge for Masculinity “Away, morality!” demands Atreus. In dismissing morality as though it were a servant, Atreus acknowledges that his revenge scheme is unethical (Seneca 249) However, he disregards this and disregards moral justice. His revenge instead emerges as an expression of prideful rage that roots itself in a bruised and diminished masculinity’s attempt to assure itself of its strength. Self-value and rationality become irrelevant in this prideful attempt to reclaim masculinity as…

The curse of Atreus is said to be passed down through generation originating with Tantalus, king of Lydia. Tantalus was a hubris king who wished to test the god’s all-knowing ability. In order to test this ability, Tantalus killed his son Pelops serving him to the gods as dinner. The gods knew of this occurrence and were outraged by this test. They restored Pelops life and sentenced Tantalus to the underworld to be tortured for eternity. After Pelops was resurrected he married and had many…

and death. Titus Andronicus and Atreus both regard murder as a tool for their means and destroy as they please for their benefit. This is shown with how Atreus disgraces Thyestes by killing his sons in order to fulfill a revenge plot that goes against the furies. This is also shown with Titus when he sacrifices Tamora’s eldest son Alarbus for the gods and murders his own son Mutius to keep his honor. These important male characters have biased views in regards to the dead and religion which…

Mycenae’s Lion’s Gate and preliminary research on the Treasury of Atreus. He believes the gate had attachable lion heads that looked back because that would distribute the weight best considering the dowel holes; based on the bodies’ definition and the space for a mane, he thinks they are male lions. He believes the Lion’s Gate relief was at least inspired by Anatolians, specifically by the Hittites. Based on appearance alone, the Lion’s Gate is more three-dimensional than other purely Greek…

In Greek Mythology, the ancient Greek beliefs about mortality mainly revolved around the three stages of the Underworld. The first stage is The Elysian Fields. This stage was for heroes and people who accomplished great things on earth. The second stage the Fields of Asphodel. This level of the underworld contained zombie-like souls. The souls of these people weren't criminals or heroes. However, if you were a criminal, you would go to Tartarus. This stage was a dark land of souls that were…

Although murder is seen as the worst kind of evil in The Oresteia, Clytaemnestra is seen using the light imagery of fire while she defends herself against her murder of Agamemnon: “I sacrificed this man- I swear my hopes / will never walk the halls of fear so long / as Aegisthus lights the fire on my hearth.” (A 1461-63) This symbol of light represents the change that Clytaemnestra sees as she attempts to bring goodness into the house of Atreus. It is the first sign of goodness against the evil…