Analysis Of ' The Oresteia '

The cyclic thread of vengeance runs like wild fire through the three plays in Aeschylus’s Oresteia. This thread, with its complexity of contemporary and universal implications lends itself quite well to – in fact, almost necessitates – deeply interested study. While a brief summary of the Oresteia will inevitably disregard some if not much of the trilogy’s essence and intent, on the positive side it will establish a platform of characters, events, and motives with which this paper is primarily concerned. As such, I begin with a short overview of the Oresteia and the relevant history that immediately precedes it.

Oresteia is a script whose story goes on by recalling Orestes’ lost memories. The main idea which is prevalent throughout this story is about finding the truth hidden in the acts of revenge, lies, and fates which are intricately intertwined. However, as the truth does not always give us hope and pleasant, in this story, the characters are suffered by the truth and the way to find it.

In parts of the tragic anthology, Iliad, the author Homer allows the reader to distinguish the various types of heroes presented and the characters that each one of them shares. He succeeds in implementing stages of Aristotle’s poetic definitions of tragedy while shifting his characters to his own Epic Tragedy. The author also prepares the reader in comprehending the differences between his and Aristotle’s definition of the Tragic Hero. In this paper, principles in Aristotle and Homer’s Tragic Heroes will be presented in relation to Achilles and Hector. These two characters will also be compared and contrasted in order to highlight their tragic characters in the anthology. Achilles, a demigod with great strength focuses on his honor and

In the trilogy Oresteia, the issues concerned are the transformation from vengeance to law, from chaos to peace, from dependence to independence, and from old to new. These four significant changes all take place throughout the play and are somewhat parallel to the transformations that were going on in Ancient Greece.

The story of Orestes is found in many ancient Greek plays, most of which take place during or after the Trojan War.

In pieces of classical writing, including Euripides’ and Sophokles’ Greek tragedies, as well as the more personal, philosophical writings of Seneca, Cicero, and Plutrach, the consolation of loss is deeply interwoven with myth and drama. The idea of the consolatio focuses on a sense of survival and endurance of grievers, and the role that friends and loved ones play in this survival through comfort. The underlying theme in these tragedies is that the feeling is universal, and in no way experienced alone, and this paper will explore this concept beginning with Greek tragedy, focusing on how these stories can console the reader, and their exploration into the loneliness of grief. To elaborate on the Roman perspective, the techniques of Seneca and Cicero’s writings are shown to reflect and emulate these Greek ideas, demonstrating consolatio through examples of myth and universal truths to reveal an overall similarly minded approach to consolation in Greece and Rome.

When considering ancient Greek life, theater was massively important. This is apparent by the Theater of Dionysius’ placement in the city state of Athens, with its close proximity to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. The Acropolis by definition meant the high point of the city state, and was on a plateau. Its raised status highlights its importance, thus radiating that importance onto nearby structures as well. Although the Greeks valued rational and reason, they also valued their emotional side as well. All plays were dedicated to the god of emotion – Dionysius. Much of what we know of the comedic aspects of Hellenic Greek theater productions comes from the plays of the playwright Aristophanes. Aristophanes’ plays express to the

The beauty of tragedy is its ability to capture the audience and evoke a particular emotion in it. Tragedy, as Aristotle defines it, “accomplish[es] by means of pity and fear the cleansing [katharsis] of these states of feeling” (Poetics 1449b 27-28). Aristotle claims that tragedy offers some certain value for the audience – a social and psychological value – through the empathy it sets in place for the audience. Sophocles’ tragic play, Antigone, is no exception to the magnificent use of pathos with the intent to create a valuable katharsis in tragedy for the audience. The intense feelings of suffering felt by the audience are beneficial to those watching as they experience these feelings in

A tragic hero demonstrates three critical effects on the audience. First, the audience emerges an emotional devotion to the tragic hero; second, the audience dreads what may transpire the hero, and finally, after the tragedy strikes, the audience condolences the distressed hero. The independent members of the audience go through a purgation because of these inevitable attachments. Evidently, a tragic hero must be a multiplex and vigorous title character such as Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King” and “Antigone”.

Suffering is a universal concept, every human has felt the pangs of the grief it causes. This agony is also incredibly ancient, epics and poems from Greece and Rome tell stories of how these people suffered, thousands of years ago. Furthermore, the sources of misery that expresses in these antediluvian pieces of literature are much the same that are felt in the present, humans still feel identical pains. The Seneca revision of Medea is a Roman take on an ancient Greek tragedy that centers on a woman deep in burdensome grief. The play brings to the foreground numerous different ways that people perceive are the sources of their wretched feelings, even to this day. As such, story proceeds on two sides: those who wish Medea to leave and forced

Reading through three related stories, we discover different motifs denoting author’s thought in different time.Without any doubt, the tragic essence goes through the Three Theban Plays. As Sophocles meditates the philosophy of the tragedy all along his life, the tragic essence expands from individuals in a society. The conflict in each play becomes increasingly complicated. In Antigone, we can clearly distinguish the conflict between Antigone and Creon, family and politics. However, in Oedipus at Colonus, the play merges all the conflicts happened to former plays and enhances the theme of the story. The later part of this trilogy, especially the ending of Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, reveals a darker and deeper phenomenon of Thebes and projects it to Oedipus. The prophet plays important role of forming the story line and tragic image of Oedipus, but the root causing the series of tragedy of the characters is not gods’ command. It is degeneration of people, which is pathetic to humanity. Finally, after suffering from family complex and exile, Oedipus is not only a victim of the society, but also the reflection of the twisted humanity of Thebes.

In the Poetics, Aristotle provides an outline of how the artist is to portray or represent the perfect Tragedy. A Tragedy, of course, was nothing more than a drama, in which the characters appeared "better" than in real life (in a comedy, they appeared "worse," according to Aristotle). Aristotle's Poetics makes several references to other dramatic works to illustrate his points, but he most commonly calls upon The Odyssey to support his argument for how a dramatic structure should be designed. However, along with the Odyssey, Aristotle extensively references Sophocles' Oedipus Rex. Both poetic works were enormously popular in their time (the former had been passed down orally for generations, and the latter won the top prizes at the dramatic festivals). Therefore, Aristotle is comfortable using both to support his viewpoint concerning Tragedy and the Tragic Hero. This paper will analyze the standards that Aristotle sets out concerning the definition of the Tragic Hero and show how Sophocles' Oedipus exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a Tragic Hero.

Tragedy can either be the darkest part of life for one person or it can be a learning opportunity for the other person. Of all the tragedies written in the literate, “Oedipus the King” written by ‘Sophocles’ is one of the oldest and the most prominent tragedy written till date. It is the story of the king, who is brutally left to die by his own parents, luckily survived, unknowingly killed his own father and married his mother. Although this story was written 2000 years ago, but it still has a great significance in the modern world. Of the most powerful tragedies of the time, “Oedipus the king” discloses such values and situations as parental aggression, child abandonment, self-confidence, ability to handle trauma, and parent-child intimate relationship that people are struggling with in today’s world. Sophocles reveals these behaviours and incidents through the actions of Oedipus.

play has the perfect Aristotelian tragic plot consisting of peripateia, anagnorisis and catastrophe; it has the perfect tragic character that suffers from happiness to misery due to his hamartia (tragic flaw) and the play evokes pity and fear that produces the tragic effect, catharsis (a purging of emotion).

Oresteia is a script whose story goes on by recalling Orestes’ lost memories. The main idea which is prevalent throughout this story is about finding the truth hidden in the acts of revenge, lies, and fates which are intricately intertwined. However, as the truth does not always give us hope and pleasant, in this story, the characters are suffered by the truth and the way to find it.