Oresteia Essay

Sleep Imagery in The Oresteia Sleep—it's what divides the day and the night; the conscious and the subconscious; the aware and the unaware. It's image, then, is a powerful tool for polarizing such extremes. In his trilogy, The Oresteia, Aeschylus utilizes sleep imagery to divide between those who are aware and those who aren't. Though sleep's meaning changes throughout the plays, Clytaemestra is always able to use it to her aid. Her story accompanies a shift in a justice system that

The War-of the-Sexes in Eumenides   In this essay I will examine the war-of the-sexes taking place in The Eumenides, the final play of The Oresteia. The plot of The Eumenides pits Orestes and Apollo (representing the male gods and, to a certain extent, male values in general) against the ghost of Clytemnestra and the Furies (equally representative of female values.) Of more vital importance, however, is whether Athene sides with the males or females throughout the play. The character

In this essay I intend to discuss how Aeschylus presents Clytaemnestra in the Oresteia and how he marks the extent to which traits of Clytaemnestra's character remain defiantly unchanged as she manipulates events and characters around her. Clytaemnestra is the only character who appears in all three plays in the trilogy, but despite her immense stage presence she remains a troublesome character to interpret due to the highly ambiguous nature of her words. I intend to show that the key to unlocking

The Powerful Clytemnestra in Aeschylus' Oresteia What Price Glory? was the title of a Maxwell Anderson play about World War I. Although the Oresteia deals with the period following a much different war, the same question can be asked of it. In the trilogy Aeschylus presents the reader with a stunning example of ancient Greek society, in which warrior ideals were firmly held, and glory in battle was considered the supreme good. The question of moral justification in the trilogy brings in many

Aeschylus Writing Assignment “The Oresteia” written by the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus, who showed three events of the play Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides. The three plays were performed at the annual Dionysia festival in Athens in 458 BCE. The play highlighted different types of themes but the most important one is the theme of justice and injustice. Both themes were seen in different parts of the play where even the gods played a role in determining the justice and

The Oresteia and Oedipus Trilogy have characters that either emotionally engage you to feel sympathy or sorrow for them while they go through troubles. There are also characters in these works that make you want to detest them on the basis of their character, actions, or behavior. The character that tugs at my heart strings the most between the works of Aeschylus and Sophocles is Antigone. The character between the Oresteia and the Oedipus trilogy that evokes contempt or anger is Clytemnestra. Antigone

a companion to aid them in their trials. At the conclusion of the stories, the characters fully comprehend that the wellbeing of the populous is more important than their own person gains. Both title characters from The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Oresteia undergo parallel journeys, with the most pivotal similarity being the effect that the community has on the shaping events that Gilgamesh and Orestes undergo. In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh begins as an inconsiderate ruler who does not respect

In the Oresteia Trilogy by Aeschylus, the theme of bad mothering is evident in the way that Clytemnestra abandons and neglects her son, Orestes. In the first play, Agamemnon, Clytemnestra has been planning the murder of Agamemnon for two reasons: (1) for the sacrifice of her only daughter, Iphigenia, and because she is in love with another man named Aegisthus. In the mean time, she refuses to be a good mother to Orestes, her son. This form of neglect is based on a hatred for her husband, which has

Justice and Social Order in The Oresteia   Democracy, emerging in the city-state of Athens, allowed unprecedented power to her citizens. Among these new powers was the ability to legislate. Yet, legislation was not without its problems. First the citizens must agree upon what is just and unjust, and then enforce the law by bringing the unjust to reconcile their guilt with the public through trial, and finally dispense the appropriate penalty. This evolution was not without concern. The Greeks

Progression from Evil to Good in Oresteia Aeschylus' use of darkness and light as a consistent image in the Oresteia depicts a progression from evil to good, disorder to order. In the Oresteia, there exists a situation among mortals that has gotten out of control; a cycle of death has arisen in the house of Atreus. There also exists a divine disorder within the story which, as the situation of the mortals, must be brought to resolution: the Furies, an older generation of gods, are in conflict