Mythology And Legends Of Ancient Greek Film The Traveling Players ( 1975 )

She brings her husband to commit hubris against the gods by goading him to walk on a purple tapestry, here she again believes her actions justified by the gods and she has no blame to hold. She considers herself higher than even the gods and this is why her son is seen as the hero. Orestes sees himself as doing wrong when he has to avenge his father’s murder, and never feels pride over taking his own mom’s life. Apollo had asked him to avenge his father and in doing so Orestes would invoke the wrath of the furies.

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 interests of everyone and not just a single case or person.

When people wonder about Ancient Greece the first thing that comes to their minds is Greek mythology; gods and goddesses that have helped shape many historical events. “In ancient Greece, stories about gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters were an important part of everyday life.” (“Greek Mythology.”) The civilization showed that numerous characters and stories helped shape Greeks. The beliefs the Greeks had with mythologies was they understood the meaning behind all the characters that are known today. However, to the Greeks, they were not just characters, these were their gods and goddesses who gave them meaning and understanding of the world around them. Worshiping the gods and goddesses helped them with their religious rituals and the temperament of the weather. A famous wine-jar that was made during this time period was “Achilles killing the Amazon Queen Penthesilea, 540-530 BCE, black-figured amphora”. (Khan Academy) The civilization that they lived in grew around their worship and achievements.

Throughout the text, many references are made to a similar situation in the house of Agamemnon. This man, a friend of Odysseus, was killed by his wife and her lover, later to be avenged by his son, Orestes, who killed this same lover. Fatherhood has a powerful effect here as it does with Telemachus; Athena explains, “Haven’t you heard how Orestes won glory throughout the world when he killed

Have you ever acted out in retribution for something done to you? Some examples could be if you punched someone for intentionally kicking you, or if someone deliberately hurt the feelings of someone you love and you retaliated in kind. You probably thought the punishment you received for your actions was too harsh or lenient. Many factors went into the decision of what discipline you received for this act and some were fair while others probably were not. This is true for the actions of many people in Aeschylus’s Oresteia. In each of the three plays, someone is seeking vengeance for a wrong done unto them, someone they know/love, or both. For this paper, I will be focusing on the vengeance enacted by Clytemnestra, Orestes, and the Fates. The vengeance that each person enacted was deemed just or unjust depending on many factors including the people who were doing the judging. Vengeance in Aeschylus’s Oresteia is viewed through the social lens of the society that it was enacted in. This lens is made up of the popular values, beliefs, and social conventions of the period as well as the judge’s personal views and/or experiences. These factors (such as gender and relation to the victim, as well as the presence or absence of transgressions on the characters part) lead to different opinions about the guilt of the accused individual and the individual themselves. The view of vengeance in Aeschylus’s Oresteia is very subjective.

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.

To some, revenge may not seem like the outcome outweighs the process. To others, revenge makes the world go ‘round. The Odyssey, by Homer and later translated by Robert Fitzgerald, tells the story of Odysseus’ return home after the war in Troy. While he was away, a group of men, referred to as suitors, took over his estate and tried winning over his wife, Penelope. Through this epic, Homer uses precise word choice and specialized literary effects to suggest Odysseus’ actions and the actions of others fuel their fire from revenge. Revenge becomes an evident theme and factor in their lifestyles when actions of the suitors and Odysseus’ loyal men take place due to the actions of someone else.

Orestes’ father, Agamemnon, is suffered for the truth of the prophecy, the child is the price: if he kills his child, his country will win the war. Due to this prophecy, Agamemnon is tortured and agonizing between his two important roles: father of his family and father of the country. If he chooses his family and doesn’t kill his child, they will lose the war. All people in the country will be tortured as slaves and colonists. However, if he chooses the win, the peace and the pleasant from a family will not exist anymore. His family will be demolished. Eventually, in the middle of the story, he decides to kill Iphigenia. Agamemnon chooses his country, his subjects, and the win, not his family’s peace. He makes Iphigenia drink three solutions including the pills which make her die. “I feel like I’ve done something so wrong that my whole life, my family, nothing will be able to- the worst mistake. I got it wrong. It was wrong. It was wrong” (Aeschylus, 56.) This demonstrates how he is suffered by the truth that he killed his daughter. His choice, even

The chorus finds Aegisthus guilty of the treasonous act of killing the king and just hopes for Agamemnon’s son, Orestes to return and end this injustice.

Even though Agamemnon made a success for his homecoming, what was waiting for him was her wife’s conspiracy with Aegisthus and his death (262-263). Namely, his nosmos was rather a failure and he also faced fate of his failed household. This Agamemnon’s gives a comparison with Odysseus future success for preserving his family and throne. Furthermore, Clytemnestra’s unfaithfulness and infidelity provides a foil to Penelope’s faithfulness and loyalty. Clytemnestra’s merciless and brutal actions, not sealing Agamemnon’s eyes while he was dying, adds contrasting characteristics between Odysseus and Agamemnon’s wives. Note that here, the story of successful vengeance for Agamemnon by Orestes gives a foil to Telemachus’ weakness and deficiency. Orestes here is depicted as a heroic example with murder of Aegistus after he comes of age (264). On the contrary to Orestes who saved his household and restored order in his family’s kingdom, Telemachus, as he came of age, couldn’t serve as protecting his household and repel his mother’s suitors in the absence of his father. In the light of comparing each heroic figures’ sons, the son of Achilles is also depicted as successful warrior with great strength and fame in the battlefield against Trojan, adding a foil to Telemachus’ unsuccessful position as a son (266).

Throughout the course of Homer’s epic The Odyssey, Odysseus and his son Telémakhos both share a passion for each other and courage, yet also differ in that Odysseus has a seemingly higher intellect and is not as careless as his child. The term “Like father, like son” paints an accurate portrayal of the relationship between Odysseus and Telémakhos. The devotion they have for glory and their family is shown constantly. They also share a distain for the suitors that have invaded their home. However, Telémakhos lacks his father’s wit and cunning and is prone to mistakes, showing that he is yet to develop fully as an adult. Their relationship is still a very strong one though, because as soon as Telémakhos realizes the beggar’s true identity,

And jurors all in silence recognize this court / Which I ordain today in Perpetuity / That now and always justice may be well discerned" (571-574). This quote exemplifies the importance of justice in society. It displays how justice must always be recognized in a matter of life or death. Within the trial, Orestes says that it was Apollo's oracle that commanded him to kill his mother. Ultimately, justice prevails, for Orestes is acquitted. One can conclude that it would not be just to punish Orestes because he was advised by Apollo to kill his mother.

The house where Clytemnestra and Electra lived in was dark with all the past troubles that it had. Orestes was the one that was suppose to bring it light, make it have a new start. When the nurse first heard about Orestes’ fake death she said “The old troubles of the house of Atreus, so hard to bear” (line 921). Nurse believes that there is no hope left for the house of Atreus. But when Orestes finally does kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus they would be able to see light again.

I used to not understand. But as in almost all versions of stories you people now days might have read or heard, Orestes went crazy after the revenge. How is that? After killing the murderer of our father, he becomes all mad but not feeling relish? Isn’t that funny? I would used to think that way. Maybe because I am Elektra, the crazy Elektra I was. Now after centuries, I’ve been here reflecting on the past. Orestes is not weak nor coward. He thinks that it would be just to kill Aegisthus who took over the place of our father. But Clytemnestra, our mother that we should have not killed. It is not just, while I used to believe that it would be just. I understands her or I would be the one who can understand her closely (Murry 63-4). Since I’ve done the same as what she had done. I could understand Orestes’s madness and fear. An eye for an eye, and there would be no end. No end of killing till the end of the blood of Tantalus we bear. Should I forgive? should things be different if I had forgave our mother and had not killed her? Through the glimpse I had about the upper-world now, there is something call law and order. Even the most high ups are bid by the law. If we had it in my old days, if I could be more forgiving. Rest… my heart and my

Unfortunately, the same fate awaits him if he commits matricide, thereby avenging his father. Orestes chooses the latter and is besieged by 'the hounds of mother's hate.' (Lib: 1055-6). Through this sequence of murderous events, Aeschylus demonstrates the complexity and futility of the blood feud as a system of justice. There are no winners, and the cycle of violence does not end. Thus, this cycle of vengeance is not justice.