The Reading Of The Day Selected From Euripides 's Hecuba Toys

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.

The king challenges the tremendous role gods play in humans’ fate by suggesting that the Greeks retreat while they still can in order to escape their seemingly inevitable deaths. He angrily exclaims, “so it must please the Father’s overweening heart / to kill the Achaeans here” (14.83-84). Agamemnon accuses the gods of being so intoxicated with power that they derive pleasure from manipulating the fates of humans. He blames the gods’ carelessness and penchant for intervening in mortals’ lives for the Greeks’ lack of success in battle. Agamemnon offers a view of competing agencies between gods and humans, in which gods always win; however, he implies that surrendering can enable the Greeks to escape their cruel fate and finally prevent the gods’ agency from prevailing. Agamemnon’s previous lamentation justifies this suggestion to retreat and reinforces his notion that there is “No shame in running, / fleeing disaster, even in pitch darkness. / [It is] Better to flee from death than feel its grip” (14.96-98). Agamemnon decides that having his agency triumph over that of the gods will prove his authority beyond a doubt. This logic leads to a shift of values: retreating now seems more enticing than achieving glory through military victory. Agamemnon expresses his desire to thwart gods’ agencies by suggesting that the Greeks retreat to avoid

illustrated the struggle between men and women, democracy at play and the rise of a tyrant. With the theme tyranny in mind, we look to find examples that illustrate the former. The most appropriate example of tyranny is the famous carpet scene between Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. It begins with Agamemnon returning from the Trojan war along with Cassandra, is greeted at the palace with a long red carpet presented by Clytemnestra his wife. The carpet symbolizes tyranny in it’s imagery through colour, betrayal and logic.

Aristophanes’ play, The Clouds, has an inconsistent message about morality. Morality is the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Morality affects our action, thoughts, and what is perceived as good and bad. For the ancient Greeks nomos was the concept of law and moral conduct, while physis was natural behavior. In both plays there were incidents that have a moral argument. In The Cloud, there are scenes where morality is question about what a character is doing. Compared to Euripides’ play, Electra, morality is a key issue. Some people may say that in The Clouds, the moral argument is view differently than in Electra. In this paper I will argue that the concept of what is moral is different yet the same for the characters in both plays and some characters are more vulnerable to having their sense of morality swayed.

*** What questions do you think the play Agamemnon would have let the audience ponder? How does this inform us of Greek morality? What role do the gods play in these stories?***

Agamemnon, however, portrays an unconscious despot. None of the crimes committed by him were done alone, and all were committed against subordinates in his kingdom. The list of his crimes are numerous. The chorus claims Agamemnon's guilt in leading many Achean youths to their slaughter "for the sake of another's wife" at Troy (Ag., ln. 445-55). Though

It is seen here that the way justice was enforced by the civil authorities was highly unsuccessful. Further, to contrast Caesar’s epic, the way God’s carry out justice is much more efficient. This classical society is one revolving around moral absolutes, but are controlled by immortals that seem to have none. At once, the magistrates, the people, and the cities are informed and are stirred up by this information. They prepare to capture the fugitive, but it is already too late, “Orgetorix mortuus est.” Nevertheless, the Helvetiians continue to wage

In the face of such a moral dilemma, Agamemnon shows weakness as a leader as he envies the life a slave. His moral development at this stage is not fully developed as he cannot bring himself to make a decision. Agamemnon blames Helen, Menelaus, and Paris for the grief that afflicts him. (70-79) As he blames others and envies those with easier lives, he comes to the conclusion that despite his choice, the doom of his child is apparent.

Agamemnon holds much power as a king, and derives his control through his men and through symbols of authority. With hundreds of soldiers ready to fight on his command, they all heed his every word with complete obedience. Even when Zeus sent Agamemnon a false dream, Nestor and the other men of the council accepted it, saying “If any other Achaean had told us of this dream/ we’d call it false and turn our backs upon it.”(II. 96-97) An otherwise poor strategy to stage a full on attack on the Trojans, the council allowed his plan because he was king. Their loyalty for their king was stronger than the disbelief of the doubtful scheme he proposed. Agamemnon’s power is also drawn from the scepter that was passed down to him. Built by the hands of

A tale of sacrifice and murder based in pride and all for the sake of regaining a broken marriage. In Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, the reader is witness to the aftermath of a great war and difficulties associated with a bitter house hold plagued by death. The reader is only in contact with a small amount of the King of Argos, Agamemnon, but his role in this play and in many others is easily one of the most significant. In other words, every action committed by Agamemnon creates an event in the play that must be accounted for. Without our loyal king willing to do anything for his nation, these plays would not stand cohesively.

Euripides, in his tragedy, ‘Medea’ has embodied values of his time by critiquing and questioning his own social, cultural and historical context. The play, sensitive to the zeitgeist and its influence on philosophy, was written having recourse on the apprehensions and morality of non-partisanship and equilibrium, set against a discordant society. The characterisation of Medea allowed Euripides to challenge customary xenophobic beliefs delimitating the humanity of herself and others. The obstinacy of such values gave birth to the rebel with a cause.

Throughout layers of themes in The Agamemnon Aeschylus taints the reader's opinion of the justification of Agamemnon’s and Cytemnestra’s actions. His opinions are shown through the chorus and Cassandra, all supporting the fact that the two characters were irresponsible making their decisions unjust. While the character's circumstances are easily debatable, none of their sins were justifiable.

The play’s first stasimon, also known as the “Ode to Man”, is one of the most obvious clues that the divine is superior to humans. The stasimon describes the wondrous power of human beings while stresses that only if we honor the laws and the “oath-bound justice of the gods” (370), can we be successful. In the case of human refusing to respect the gods, our special status would fall. The play starts with Antigone, late king Oedipus’s daughter, agonizing to her sister Ismene over the death of her brothers Polynices and Eteocles, who die over a bloody conflict over Oedipus’ succession. In her agony, Antigone describes the bloody civil war as the “final penalty to Zeus for Oedipus” (3). Zeus, according to Antigone, is the master behind Oedipus’s downfall and the plague against her family. Since Eteocles was the ruler of the city, and Polynices rebelled, Creon, the new king, decrees that no one shall bury Polynices. Creon justifies his decisions based on the chorus’s statement that “chance and the gods” make him king (157) as well as the consideration that the decision would bring stability. Creon also claims that as long as he remains “reverent to Zeus” (304), his words will carry absolute authority.

The theme of “Justice and Judgment” from Agamemnon relates to that of “Wisdom and Knowledge” because the characters try to justify their actions as

To understand the essence of the assembly, it is easier to view them as an advisory council. Where the commanders of the Achaean force advised Agamemnon on appropriate courses of action. Agamemnon’s power is not absolute, he needs to maintain the confidence of his