Summary Of The Oresteia

In Aeschylus' trilogy, the Greeks' justice system went through a transformation from old to new ways. In the beginning of the trilogy, the characters settle their matters, both personal and professional, with vengeance. Vengeance is when someone is harmed or killed, and either the victim, or someone close to them takes revenge on the criminal. This matter is proven in the trilogy numerous times.

Chapter 1- Ten years after the Trojan War, everyone reached home except for Odysseus. He remained a hostage at Ogygia by Calypso. Meanwhile, Telemachus (Odysseus’s son) is told by Athena, disguised as Mentes, that his father will return home and tells him to dispel the suitors who keep devouring his father’s estate.

The Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus. It was originally performed at the Dionysia Festival in Athens where it won the first prize in 458 B.C. The play wants to reveal the idea of justice. Men and women are in conflict. This situation leads Clytemnestra to become not a wife and mother (which were the only appropriate roles for respectable women in ancient Greece), but a tyrant. Clytemnestra in ancient Greek, was the wife of Agamemnon. She is one of the main characters in the play and I can say that it is the most interesting one. By “interesting” I don’t mean that is a likable character because she is considered a murderer but it is important to analyze the reasons

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).

In the second play, "The Libation Bearers", awareness occurs during sleep rather than during waking hours. When Clytaemestra dreams Orestes is a snake that draws blood from her breast, the chorus says, "She woke screaming out of her sleep, shaky with fear…" (The Libation Bearers 535) Her fear came as a result of the realization that Orestes, her son, would harm her. This image of evil came to her in sleep, rather than while she was awake. Because she was aware of potential harm, Clytaemestra was able to act more cautiously. But despite efforts to protect herself, Orestes ultimately takes his revenge on Clytaemestra. Though dreams are not representative of perception in the first play, in the second part of the trilogy, they are seen as a definite type of awareness. Although contrary to the original meaning of sleep, a clear division is still shown between consciousness and ignorance.

Regardless of the time frame, Virgil’s Aeneid and Homer’s epic the Iliad share both a copious amount of similarities and differences. For example, many common themes such as heroism, fate, and destiny are apparent in both works. Within the Aeneid and the Iliad, it is seen that the wars going on during that time were glorious that is why the role of gods were significant in leading both Aeneas and Achilles and influencing fate. In both texts, it is clear from the beginning that the role of the gods is to make Aeneas and Achilles fulfill their journey The Iliad focuses on the end of the Trojan War and the damaging power, while the Aeneid is focused during the aftermath of the war and underlies the foundation for the new civilization. This paper will address and argue the comparison of the role of gods and how each of the authors representation of the gods have influence on the lives of mortals.

They declare that it is a law laid down by Zeus "that we must suffer,

The Fates of Greek mythology, otherwise known as the Moirae, consist of three deities who personify the concept of human destiny. Clotho, the youngest, spins the metaphorical thread of life; Lachesis measures the thread’s length, or the amount of time a human has to live; and Atropos, the eldest and most powerful, cuts the thread, deciding the moment of a person’s death. The Fates play

Justice and gender are put into relation with each other in Aeschylus’ Oresteia. In this trilogy, Greek society is characterized as a patriarch, where the oldest male assumes the highest role of the oikos (household). The household consists of a twofold where the father is the head, and the wife and children are the extended family. The head of the oikos is the only one who possesses the authority to seek justice. This is because the father acquires the authority through the inheritance law or male lineage. On the contrary, Greek society seems to transform to a matriarch when Clytemnestra solely murders Agamemnon because she, like primitive males, exercises destructive justice and enters the cycle

Historical texts stressed the severe impact of certain crimes on Greek society. For example, murdering one’s parents or abusing one’s children was especially heinous to the Greeks. The Erinyes (also known as the furies in Roman mythology) were a set of beastly-looking mythical figures that haunted those who had committed homicidal acts against their own family. They continued to harass and bring ill favor to those who committed these crimes, until they felt the restoration of justice – which sometimes involved the offender’s death. The most famous case of the Erinyes in Greek literature concerns the tale of Orestes, whose story features prominently in the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. In Aeschylus’ Eumenides, the Erinyes act as the prosecutor against Orestes after charging him with killing his mother, Clytemnestra. Orestes claims the matricide was justified, as Clytemnestra killed Orestes’ father, Agamemnon. This is an important story concerning homicide and ritual pollution, because Orestes insists on seeking a fair and proper resolution by appealing first to

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

The Monster Clytemnestra in Aeschylus’ Oresteia In the three-part play Oresteia, Clytemnestra is a character that manipulates, lies, cheats, and murders. From the very first moment we hear of her existence, we know she is unlike the women of her time. “Oh she’s a woman all right, a woman with a man’s heart.” (11) the watchman in the first scene of Agamemnon tells the audience.

In the Eumenides, Aeschylus manifests a new system of justice for the more civilised times. Orestes, plagued by the Furies, turns to Apollo (Eum: 88-90)

The play termed the Oresteia is actually a trilogy that is built around the family of Agamemnon. Traditionally, one of the primary themes of the three plays is a movement from a traditional belief in revenge for wrongs to one of justice and the rule of law. The purpose of this paper is to discuss all three of the plays and look at how justice is conceived in each.

The Orenda is a historical fiction novel depicting the lives of a Huron warrior, French Jesuit and young Iroquois girl during the french colonization of Canada. It is told in three perspectives by these characters, and spans several years, touching on the development of French-Native relationships and the personal growth of the protagonists. Carl Jung, a Swiss psychoanalyst, stipulated that four main archetypes of characters are recurring motifs in literature and stories. These archetypes are defined as highly refined elements of the unconscious, and can be associated with characters from The Orenda. The Shadow is the “dark side” of one’s personality, consisting of chaotic tendencies, impulses and the instinctual qualities of the subconscious. It can be demonstrated in The Orenda by violent natives, the conniving french-men and a mysterious medicine woman. A second of his archetypes is a combination of two things, the anima and animus. The anima represents the personification of female tendencies in a male, and the animus is the opposite, the masculine characteristics that appear in females. The anima and animus are demonstrated in The Orenda by the young girl Snow Falls, Huron tribesman Bird and young warrior Carries an Axe. The third major archetype found in this novel is The Self, a concept representing the unified consciousness and unconsciousness as one, but also as the coherent whole that binds all together, taking the form of Godly figures or abstract principles in