Euripides Iphigenia Among The Taurians

This is what prompted Electra and Orestes into action. Their senses were presumably on the mark considering their mother's reaction upon hearing of Orestes' death. Her primary concern is her own well being. Orestes' feigned death cleared up any misconceptions readers might have had as to what Clytmaenestra's true sentiments were, and gives more definition unto the rationale behind Electra and Orestes' conduct.

Suddenly, Aigisthos ruled covering Agamemnon's state. Although in the end, Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, appeared to revenge for his father and killed Aigisthos together with their mother. Menelaos and Helen were celebrating the separate marriage of their son and daughter. Telemachos and Peisistratos arrived at the court of Menelaos and Helen where they were welcomed. At dawn, Menelaos questioned why Telemachos occurred to Lacedaimon.

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

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.

choruses in their songs and dances.” Moreover, Aeschylus’s plays were known for their grand and beautiful language, complex plot structure, and their resonant themes. Their tragedies include the lives of individuals and their relationships to the gods. As shown in the Oresteia, the gods’ plans are carried out through human motives including the desire for vengeance. Importantly, the plays do not end in violence, but rather end in triumph in the rule of law, and in joy and reconciliation.

The act of revenge in classical Greek plays and society is a complex issue with unavoidable consequences. In certain instances, it is a more paramount concern than familial ties. When a family member is murdered another family member is expected to seek out and administer revenge. If all parties involved are of the same blood, the revenge is eventually going to wipe out the family. Both Aeschylus, through "The Oresteia Trilogy," and Sophocles, through "Electra," attempt to show the Athenians that revenge is a just act that at times must have no limits on its reach. Orestes and his sister Electra, the children of the slain Agamemnon, struggle on how to avenge their

The Oresteia trilogy, including the tragedies Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Furies, explores the theme of revenge on most of the characters. These plays contain a strong sense of brutality against civilians because there were lots of slaughtering within the house of Atreus. The decision of Agamemnon sacrificing his youngest daughter, Iphigenia as a stepping stone to travel and conquer Troy provoked the death of several others throughout the play. Agamemnon clearly faces a dilemma between war accomplishments and his daughter, but in the end he chose to have what was best for his people. Because of this decision, justice was viewed as an act of retaliation because the characters in Oresteia takes the role of providing punishments to another individual for their past wrongs. Aeschylus presents the first play, Agamemnon as Clytemnestra sets a plan to kill Agamemnon, the second play, The Libation Bearers as Orestes avenging against Clytemnestra for murdering his father, and the third play, The Furies as Orestes getting tormented by matricide. This must be understood that acts of vengeance fails to achieve true justice because it only creates disharmony in society. Although the characters of Aegisthus, Clytemnestra, Orestes, and the Furies were driven by revenge on someone else, Aeschylus reveals a final verdict in court is the best way to achieve justice for societies.

Most readers are aware of the many famous deaths or acts of death within the Shakespearean plays. And when the main characters die in Shakespeare’s plays, indeed, the readers would categorize the play as a tragedy. The problem with any tragedy definition is that most tragic plays do not define the tragedy conditions explained or outlined by Aristotle. According to Telford (1961), a tragedy is a literary

A tragic story has its own occur of events. The main factors that always end a tragedy is through conspiracies, love, or hatred. In the story Antigone written by Sophocles, it demonstrates a tragedy filled with consequences to the characters. Antigone shows similarities to Aristotle’s paradigm because of the plot, characterization, and actions that were pursued throughout this story. In Aristotle’s Poetics, he puts his view of how a tragedy should be portrayed to make the concept of it more understandable towards the audience. Through the usages of Aristotle’s criteria it will help analyze topics that demonstrates the views of Aristotle.

Several years after the king Agamemnon was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and the man she had been having a relationship with that was Aigisthos, his son Orestes returns home with Pylades to grieve his father’s death. Orestes has been in exile for many years but secretly returns home to Argos. He was sent by an oracle of Apollo to get revenge for the murder of Agamemnon and punish his father’s murderers with death. Apollo threatened Orestes by means of horrific punishments, including leprosy and further exile, if he does not accept on the terms of his quest. The issue later on in the play is that he does not know that the murderer of his father is his mother.

Throughout the play, characters like Tiresias and King Laius respond to suffering in a way that protects others. On page 177, Tiresias is reluctant to share Oedipus’

Returning from hiding, Orestes secretly visits Agamemnon's tomb, and leaves a lock of his hair, as an “ offering of manhood and grief” (5). Emphasis is put Orestes readiness both physically and mentally to avenge his father, as he was too young to do so in past. After plotting his revenge with Electra, Orestes confronts his mother, disguised as a weary traveler with false news of his own death. Her words “Like a storm striping an old tree bare” ( 334), suggest that she was emotionally unaffected, relieved even, by her son's death, reinforcing the absence of her want to be a nurturing, motherly figure. Tension in this second act of the trilogy only grows, until finally the ¨two

Hundreds of years ago Greek plays were very popular. People would plan to go to these plays for entertainment and to have fun with their friends. These plays would also help to teach the audience all about Greek mythology. The main character in these plays often had something tragic occur at the end, such as death. This character was the referred to as the “tragic hero.” A couple hundred years later a Greek philosopher named Aristotle described tragedy with 4 simple elements, nobility of the character, the flaws of the tragic hero, the start of the tragic hero’s downfall, and his/her punishment. In Things Fall Apart, Oedipus, and Antigone there is a character that shows this definition of tragedy by the end of the book and or play. This is usually caused by something called hubris, excessive pride. Things Fall Apart, Oedipus, and Antigone all fulfill Aristotle 's definition of tragedy.

He let go of the burning desire to avenge his father, and so in an ironic twist, the villain in the beginning becomes the victor in the end, after realizing that following duty blindly is a recipe for disaster. On the other hand, Aeschylus’ views on vengeance and filial duty are completely dichotomous to Shakespeare’s. The Oresteia promotes vengeful acts, even going so far as to have Apollo, god of light, sun, and knowledge, not only give Orestes the order to slay Clytemnestra , but to provide him asylum when the Furies begin to haunt him (Bates 2-3). Orestes’ responsibility to avenge his father was held to a high standard throughout the tale, to the point where the entire 3rd play, The Eumenides is about Orestes going to trial to be told that his actions were just. Although there is the issue of Orestes’ conundrum, where he is bound both by his duty to avenge his father, and his duty to be loyal to his mother, Athena, god of law and justice, concedes that Orestes’ duty to his father took higher priority that his obligation to his mother.

“Indeed, before the servants, behind eyes that feigned grief she hid her laughter over what has occurred fortunately for her. But the news so plainly told by the strangers means utter ruin for this house … Miserable woman that I am! How the old unbearable troubles of every sort that occurred in this house of Atreus have always made my heart ache within my breast! But never yet have I endured a blow like this. For all the other troubles I bore patiently, but my beloved Orestes, on whom I spent my soul, … I hear that he is dead. But I am on my way to fetch the man who wrought destruction on our house, and he will be glad enough to hear this news.” (Line 735-765)