Oresteia Essay

The Oresteia depicts the transformation of a system of justice which is unorganized and based on vengeance into an organized system of justice based on law. This transformation is effected by several changes involving both gods and humans. Among these changes are: the shift from a view of the individual as the victim of a crime to a view of the community as the victim of the crime; the change in the nature of the Furies, who start as vengeful spirits and have their nature so completely changed that

democratic system. Even Homer, when writing his epic works, seems to hint at a better way to resolve conflict than the “eye for an eye” mentality. The Iliad acts as book ends to the transformation of blood justice to a trial by jury as presented by The Oresteia; and that transformation positively influences how Western culture deals with justice. Blood justice to the Ancient Greeks is their way of enacting retribution on parties that did them wrong. The punishment required by blood justice must fit the

Language of intelligibility: it is my belief that this class, Drama in Context, ultimate goal is to use various theater styles to teach us the importance of understanding language of intelligibility. It is important to remember it is impossible to completely understand the context of when plays were written. The further through time and space we travel to the original production of a performance the harder it might be to mesh our language of intelligibility to that of the playwright. As thinking

Play Analysis Essay 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

makes the whole world blind.” Gandhi’s assertion challenges this moral code established in both the Odyssey and the Old Testament, just as Aeschylus challenges the validity of vendetta as a successful technique for maintaining societal order in his Oresteia trilogy. The revenge ethic plays a key role in the story because it makes justice the personal responsibility of the person insulted; the killer must be killed, and the act of retribution must be carried out by the most appropriate person--preferably

Agamemnon, she is viewed as haughty and despicable and everyone hates her for it. She walks out of the palace and starts talking about how her vengeance has been enacted and that it is justifiable. The chorus hears her and asks, “how you can swagger so over the butchered body of your husband” (Aeschylus, Agamemnon lines 1596-1597). They continue further saying”, Woman, what foul food nursed deep in the earth, or what drink drawn from the flowing sea could you have tasted to take on yourself so horrible

Orestes: An Innocent Hero      Throughout time there has been a universal question that does not yet yield a universal answer. All people have a different view on whether or not it is right to avenge the killing of another, through the death of the killers. In America during this day and age, it is the obligation of the court system to decide whether or not a murderer should be put to death. Most of the time, the criminal is sentenced to a prison term, but when a judge decides

In The Eumenides and Agamemnon of The Oresteia trilogy, Aeschylus constructs an over-arching metaphor for elements of the new Athenian democracy. The chorus in each play represents the people who feel under-represented and disrespected, by the society's changing values. In The Eumenides, the chorus of Furies is frustrated with the younger gods and infringements on their power; in Agamemnon the chorus fears more the control of an effective woman in Clytemnestra rather than the leadership of fruitless

opinions will be needed in order to come to an impartial, righteous conclusion. Throughout history, the transition of multifaceted judicial systems correspondingly evolves as society does. The Greek tragedy, Oresteia, exemplifies the evolution of justice through the story of one young man. In Oresteia, a disgusting web of murder suffocates the House of Atreus. A father kills his daughter and he is in turn is killed by his

scholarly and agonized than Orestes who better fits in the robe of a Classical Greek revenge hero. Jessica Price observes: “An onslaught of tragic elements appear in both Hamlet and The Oresteia. Hamlet's hamartia in William Shakespeare's Hamlet leads to his succumbing to corruption and his eventual demise. In The Oresteia by Aeschylus, Orestes' hamartia takes a slightly different course, causing him to stumble, but not completely fall.” While Orestes never indulges in long existential speeches or philosophical