The Oresteia serves as an example of humanity’s social, political, and intellectual progression. The play depicts Agamemnon’s consequences that emerged from his murder of Iphigenia and his death,while simultaneously touching upon aspects of monarchy, curses, God’s role, and the concept of revenge. Yet, its concentration on revenge is no coincidence because the Oresteia’s last book Eumenides, which takes place in democratic Athens, symbolizes governmental changes from the previous book. These changes establish the idea of the “ old,” and the “new,” since they offer comparisons between Agamemnon’s monarchical Greece and Orestes’s democratic Greece. The “ old,” Greece relied on a justice system that prompted the furies involvement in addressing…
Comprising the first two thirds of The Oresteia, “Agamemnon” and “Choephoroe” tell of the vengeful efforts of Clytemnestra and her son Orestes, respectively. This is especially tragic because they are each taking vengeance upon a family member to avenge another family member. More importantly, each of their acts of murder do not go unpunished. The prevailing theme that can be interpreted in “Agamemnon” and “Choephoroe” is the idea that blood vengeance does not atone past offenses, but rather…
The parallel transformation within the order of justice and therefore the gender equation becomes evident because the Oresteia triplet progresses. within the 1st play, Agamemnon, Clytaemnestra murders Agamemnon to penalise the sacrifice of Iphigeneia in accordance with the ethic of revenge, the brutal code of revenge killing that demanded that a personality's murder be penalise in a similar way by his/her shut relative. It conjointly immersed torment at the hands of the Furies, feminine…
Many people today and in the past are familiar with the term “guilty or innocent”. This common idea of justice is what many feel needs to be followed if someone is to commit a crime. The play, The Oresteia by Aeschylus, contains question in this idea by featuring a character named Clytemnestra who does something controversial and receives a questionable or unquestionable punishment depending on one’s opinion. Clytemnestra puts forth many controversial actions throughout the story, mainly in the…
Employing an advanced technique, Aeschylus fills his tragedy, Oresteia: The Agamemnon, with layers of multiplicity. Essentially, multiplicity in this tragedy entails using dialogues containing several meanings to convey truths about Greek society and to shed light on situations outside the current action. Aeschylus’ use of this dramatic tool contributes to the success of the novel and adds depth to the meaning of the characters’ conversations. Furthermore, it affords the audience an opportunity…
Aeschylus’s trilogy The Oresteia is a play of immense proportions, and at its heart it is a study of morality and the palpable tension of the competing ideas of dikē – justice or right. It depicts a societal change from one form of justice and law to another; from the law of the old gods to the law of the new. The third play in the trilogy, The Eumenides, depicts the culmination of this conflict, where all the individual conflicts reach their conclusions and the overarching themes of the trilogy…
Sophia Vietti Ms. Hickey Latin II May 18th 2018 The oresteia and the Athenian legal system The Oresteia, an Ancient Greek manuscript, is a follow up of the book The Iphigenia and follows Agamemnon’s wife, Queen Clytemnestra, murder of Agamemnon after the Trojan war. The story of the Oresteia is a long Greek play made to explain the new Athenian legal system supposedly made by the goddess Athena in the third act of the play. The main idea of the Oresteia is that injustice and…
Around 1250-1200 BCE in ancient Greece, trouble was brewing in the city of Argos, following the alleged Trojan War. Aeschylus’s The Oresteia depicts an ancient family’s struggle for vengeance and justice. Throughout The Oresteia, the descendants of brothers, Thyestes and Atreus, appear to have been in a seemingly ceaseless cycle of blood crimes in the name of vengeance. These descendants were constantly pursued by the wrathful Furies, which represent the ancient law system of Greece. The Furies…
The Oresteia, by Aeschylus, is a collection of three tragedies written about the events that occur relating to the House of Atreus. The main story revolves around the mission of Orestes, who travels great length to avenge his father 's death. Orestes’ father, Agamemnon, was murdered upon returning home from battle, by his wife Clytemnestra. Throughout the play, woman are used to demonstrate how traditional gender roles can be rejected and highlight the sexist nature of traditional greek society.…
The world in which The Oresteia takes place is one where light and darkness are just two of many images used to enhance all viewpoints of the society that “Clytaemnestra” “Agamemnon” and “The Libation Bearers” occupy. The evolution is shown throughout the tragedy of The Oresteia, beginning in “Agamemnon”. The first play begins with the watchman noticing a signal fire upon a mountain, which lights up the night sky, therefore, alerting Argos that the Trojan War is finally over. Light and darkness…