Aeschylus Eumenides Essay

In The Eumenides and Agamemnon of The Oresteia trilogy, Aeschylus constructs an over-arching metaphor for elements of the new Athenian democracy. The chorus in each play represents the people who feel under-represented and disrespected, by the society's changing values. In The Eumenides, the chorus of Furies is frustrated with the younger gods and infringements on their power; in Agamemnon the chorus fears more the control of an effective woman in Clytemnestra rather than the leadership of fruitless

Oresteia - The Issue of Justice in Aeschylus' Eumenides The concept of justice is manifested through the three plays of Aeschylus' Oresteia. The old tradition of justice, the private blood feud, caused an ungoverned succession of violent acts that spiralled uncontrollably. Aegisthus, Clytemnestra's lover, is introduced in Agamemnon; he desires vengeance for the plot contrived by Agamemnon's father (Ag: 1605-1611).1 Neither Agamemnon nor Aegisthus took part in this "plot" and yet as the chorus

The Philosophy and Psychology of Sophocles’s Antigone and The Eumenides in Aeschylus’ Oresteia There is a consensus among readers of the poetry or plays written in the fifth century that the plays succeed with inspiring profound movement on the audience. The methods or reasons for the reader to be moved by a text are often disputed. Specific to tragic works the concepts of philosophy and psychology are critical elements to understand the cause of the stirred emotions of individuals who

From the classical period until present day, artists have attempted to portray Aeschylus’ The Eumenides in various forms of art. However, in order to appreciate the work of these artist one must first become familiar with the subject of the myth they depict. According to Greek and Roman mythology, the Furies were female spirits of justice and vengeance. Known especially for pursuing people who had murdered family members, the Furies punished their victims by driving them mad. There are various

The Eumenides, Women’s Standing Put to Trial The Ancient Greeks revered theatre and performance and used drama as a way to present the established rules and lifestyles of their society. Drama represented society’s expectations of gender roles, laws, the Gods, and tradition, functioning much like modern day fables. In his play Aeschylus’ The Eumenides displays the magnificence that was Athens’ democracy and justice system and the story of how it came into being. The creation of Athens’ legal system

The Importance of Gender in Aeschylus' Oresteia          Gender is made explicit as a theme throughout the Oresteia through a series of male-female conflicts and incorrectly gendered characters dominated by the figure of Clytemnestra, a woman out of place. This opposition of gender then engenders all the other oppositions of the trilogy; conflicts of oikos and polis, chthonic and Olympian, old and young can be assigned to female and male spheres respectively.  In this essay I will look at how

The Oresteia The Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus. This trilogy consists of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers or The Choephoroe, and The Eumenides. The only extant example of an ancient Greek theatre trilogy, the Oresteia won first prize at the Dionysia festival in 458 BC. Many consider the Oresteia to be Aeschylus' finest work. The principal themes of the trilogy include the contrast between revenge and justice, as well as the transition from personal vendetta to organized

4 Life Lessons From Aeschylus's Oresteia Greek tragedy contains valuable life advice. Revenge! Faster, Kill, Kill! Aeschylus (525-455 BC) retells a story first made popular by Homer. What develops in “Oresteia”’s three tragedies – “Agamemnon”, “The Libation Bearers” and “The Eumenides” could be the plot of “Revenge! Faster, kill, kill!”, but behind all this fun stuff philosophical questions peek out. Beyond the stories told in ancient tragedies, there are topics that were of interest and dispute

unchanging like so many want to believe. For the Ancient Greeks in the 8th century, blood justice is the only way to settle disputes. By the mid-400s BCE, there are glimpses of what will later become a trial by jury in a democratic judicial system. Aeschylus’ plays show a distinct shift from blood justice to a more democratic system. Even Homer, when writing his epic works, seems to hint at a better way to resolve conflict than the “eye for an eye” mentality. The Iliad acts as book ends to the transformation

The trilogy of Aeschylus’ The Oresteia follows a bloody feud within the House of Atreus. With this feud there are many boundaries that get crossed and challenged dealing with revenge and murder. A clear shift in justice is observed over the course of the three plays and Aeschylus shows that this shift in justice as an evolution that must happen to shape a society. The Oresteia provides a message that a society must come together to define justice in order to become unified and it must protect the