Analysis Of The Oresteia

Clytemnestra fits the character of one of the Argos’s contaminations because of her adulterous acts with Aegisthus and her psychotic murderous plans to kill her husband Agamemnon. In her point of view, justice will only be obtained of she avenges the death of her daughter Iphigenia by killing the one who murdered her, Agamemnon. Cassandra mentions this cycle of fertility and decay when she talks about “the babies wailing, skewered on the sword, their flesh charred, the father gorging on their parts” referring to Thyestes’ babies (A 1095-1097). More blood vengeance and violence only fuels what becomes a never ending cycle of death and decay within the House of Atreus. When Clytaemnestra finally kills Agamemnon she cries, “So he goes down, and the life is bursting out of him—great sprays of blood, and the murderous shower wounds me, dyes me black and I, I revel like the Earth when the spring rains come down, the blessed gifts of god, and the new green spear splits the sheath and rips to birth in glory!”, and she feels reborn from his death and even calls it a gift from the god (A 1410-1415). Not only does Clytaemnestra feel renewed from murdering Agamemnon, but she feels that it was the proper and just thing to do. Although the Furies don’t go after her since this is not a crime of matricide or patricide, killing her husband is unwise and unfair because in Agamemnon’s

Athena herself participates in the judgement not as an unbiased arbiter of justice, but as a participant in the conflict who compromises and gains advantage from the consequences of her judgment just as Apollo, Orestes, and the Erinyes did. Athena judges with the interest of Athens, her city, in mind. When her judgment releases Orestes, he promises that "if they [his descendants] always honor this city of Pallas with the spear of allies,

Throughout The Oresteia, the themes of justice and revenge are often used as reasoning for certain events that take place. In many instances, the characters refer to certain events as revenge, while others see them as justice. For example, Clytemnestra kills her wife in pursuit of justice, and can be displayed as just due to her motives and reasoning. Orestes’ killing of Clytemnestra may be viewed as just in his eyes, but in reality, is revenge. In The Oresteia, revenge, often portrayed as a selfish act, regards experiencing a spiteful joy caused by retaliation, while justice is displayed primarily as a rational decision, rather than an emotional one.

In the Oresteia, revenge drives the characters to act. Although they call it justice, it is not. Aeschylus uses net imagery to symbolize faith and destiny. When Clytemnestra murders Agamemnon and Cassandra, the net imagery acts as a symbol of terrible fate. However, then fate reverse. Now, Orestes is caught in Apollo’s net and kills his own mother. Lastly, Athene changes the meaning of the net from one of chaos to that of order and justice. These uses of the net imagery help the reader focus on a crucial theme in the play: the superiority of a formal justice system to one based on the individual quest for revenge by progressively altering the nets meaning and its affect on those around it.

Everyone is going to die. This is no secret to the audience of the Greek play Agamemnon. Rather than surprising us with the murders that befall at the hands of vengeance, the Greek playwright uses this common story to display the underlying theme that one must first suffer before they can reach the truth. To understand the significance behind the story of Agamemnon, one must understand the passions and how they relate to the human person, Zeus’s law of suffering into truth, and Aeschylus’s motives for writing Agamemnon and how he reflects Catholic teaching.

Through the three plays of The Oresteia, we are exposed to many opposing forces of power. Elements such as darkness, light, fate, patriarchy, and justice are intertwined to make up Aeschylus’ tragic tale, however all of these elements are directed by one central force: balance. The word balance itself suggests a state of equilibrium or a stable environment. Balance is often looked at as a scale; if one side of the scale is overpowering the other, then it creates a state of disorder, irregularity, and even chaos. Aeschylus meddles with the scales of balance but, in the end, reinforces the equipoise of power. I would argue that, not only does The Oresteia include balance as a critical underlying theme and is strategically used in determining the outcome of the play, but that the role of Athena is vital in creating this balance.

The bad actions of Clytemnestra are immediately seen in a negative way but she, at first, has avenged her daughter’s murder. What the chorus thinks of her is that she is an imposing figure, she is not noble and her information is unreliable. She is kind of underestimated and misjudged. She is presented as the bad woman but it is clear that the aim of Clytemnestra is taking her revenge. Aeschylus’ portrait of Clytemnestra can be seen as negative and positive; on one hand she seeks justice for her daughter, on the other she is completely incurable for the act of murder. She does not hide from her actions, instead she freely admits her murder and embraces the power and authority. It is through the inversion of traditional gender roles, adopting masculine speech, behaviors and activities, that she achieves her revenge for the sacrifice of Iphigenia. On one hand Clytemnestra’s revenge may have been seen as an upsetting act but on the other hand it let people (the audience) reflect on the traditional gender role of women in society. The power of Clytemnestra can be also seen through the chorus speech. It highlights her authority even if the chorus

Agamemnon emerges as a rational general and king with his heart-wrenching decision to sacrifice his daughter; a decision that Cyltemnestra cannot accept nor understand. Agamemnon’s level of moral development rises to the highest level of Principled Conscious as he was able to put the numerous lives of men in the army before the one life in his daughter. (Kohlberg) “I loathe the kind of kinship that pours pain / into both hearts. But we have arrived / at a fatal place: a compulsion absolute / forces the slaughter of my child.” (510-513) Agamemnon admits there is no choice for it will either be him or the army who will sacrifice

In the first play, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra murders Agamemnon to retaliate for the sacrifice he made of their daughter, Iphigenia. Clytemnestra did this out of revenge, since the code of getting even demanded that someone’s murder must be avenged by their close blood relative. This called for torment at the hands of the Furies, who were female divinities of a terrible frightening aspect, that came upon anyone who murdered a close blood relative. In the second play, The Libation Bearers, Orestes kills Clytemnestra to avenge the murder of Agamemnon. This act is still maintaining the revenge principle, but it is committed primarily at the instigation of Apollo. Apollo takes center-stage in the third play, The Furies, to argue in defense of Orestes in a trial supervised by Athena. This ultimately leads to the end of revenge killing and the establishment of a new order of justice based on the laws of the

Also, her children will not stand by their mother who murdered their father. Another reason the Chorus argues against Clytemnestra’s position is because justice will come to those who deserve it. “The sword of Justice is being sharpened on the grindstone of Destiny to cut more pain” the Chorus means that the Gods are prepared to give punishment to Clytemnestra and she will not be able to escape it because it is her destiny (Agamemnon .1535-.1536). This is another point I agree with and it is similar to an eye for an eye. There is cycle of wrong doing that occurs throughout the play, Agamemnon killed Iphigenia, so Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon.

Agamemnon was a coward and killed his innocent daughter. In the Chorus’ retelling of his sacrifice to the gods, they do not approve of what Agamemnon did. They judge his actions by saying, “ [His] spirit set to the new quarter, impious, wicked, unholy, and from that moment he took to his heart unflinching resolve” (20). As for Clytemnestra Aeschylus uses Cassandra to predict her downfall by her own son. Cassandra says, “ Yet not unregarded of heaven shall we die… Exiled from this land, a wanderer disowned, he shall return, to put on this tower of unnatural crimes that pinnacle, whereto his father’s death is the leading spire” (42). Aeschylus sets up her fate and reveals it through Cassandra. Clytemnestra’s crime is the pinnacle of the blood feud and her crime is described by both the Chorus and Cassandra as disgusting. The actions of both Agamemnon and Clytemnestra are unjustifiable because they were based on selfish reasoning and the way they meet their fate is the best evidence for their heinous crimes.

Although many critics have argued that Euripides’s plays show that those who suffer become monstrous, rather than noble, because of that suffering, the reader can argue that this is true throughout all of Greek tragedy. This is true in Euripides’s play Medea and in Aeschylus’s play The Oresteia. In Euripides’s play, Medea’s suffering turned into a monstrous act after she is abandoned by her husband Jason for someone socially better. In The Oresteia, Clytemnestra’s suffering turns her into a monster because her husband, Agamemnon sacrifices their daughter to the Gods. Both Medea and Clytemnestra are part of a society and time where women had no say. The actions taken against these women by their husbands have led them to suffer and act in monstrous

Tragedies are a form of drama in which extreme human suffering is displayed in order to provoke certain thoughts within the audience and significant change within the society. Specifically, in the trilogy The Orestia, Aeschylus shows the never ending cycle of violence within the house of Atreus. The cycle acts as a “net” entrapping Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Orestes, and many other characters and producing actions throughout the play provoking the audience to contemplate right versus wrong, self-help justice (in the form of revenge) versus justice by trial, and honor versus dignity. While the audience views these characters as fictitious due to their mythical beliefs, a sense that these characters are real lingers within their minds due to the fact that the trials the characters face are understandable. As humans, we understand wanting revenge in order to pay

Agamemnon returns from Troy, a victorious general, bringing home spoils, riches and fame. He is murdered on the same day as he returns. Clytemnestra, his adulterous wife, has laid in wait for her husband's homecoming and kills him whilst he is being bathed after his long journey. During the Agamemnon, large proportions of the Queen's words are justifications for her action, which is very much concerned with the sacrifice of Iphigenia to the gods, in order for the fleet to set sail for Troy. Aegisthus, the new husband of the Queen Clytemnestra, and partner in the conspiracy to murder the war hero, had reasons, which stemmed from the dispute between the Houses of Atreus and Thyestes. Was the

In this paper, I will discuss the different ways Clytemnestra isn't your typical female character. In most of Greek mythology women were mostly seen as passive, weak, and constantly taking orders from men. She was the complete opposite, she was really a one of a kind. More masculine than some of the men in the stories, and definitely more masculine than feminine she was a very strong, solid, independent, powerful character throughout Agamemnon. The story definitely wouldn’t be as controversial as it was if it weren't for the boldness, extremely deceptive tactics, manipulative ways, and ruthless acts of Clytemnestra. She constantly defied the role that was given to women in the art of ancient Greece, she paved the way for powerful women characters for the future.