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 enraged her enough to kill Agamemnon in a bathtub. In this context, Clytemnestra is a neglectful mother that forgets that her son, Orestes, is becoming more aware of her treachery after the murder. In this manner, the theme of bad mothering is based on a massive form of motherly neglect for Orestes, which culminates in his desire to seek revenge for his father by killing his mother. These are important aspects of Clytemnestra’s selfishness, which has neglected to embrace the lover her son, Orestes. This form of bad mothering defines the monster within tht seeks control by the murder of her husband. In this way, Orestes grows up in a severely dysfunctional and non-nurturing environment due to the maternal neglect that he must experience in the home. The second play, The Libation Bearers, lays the foundation for Orestes to murder his mother, which is directly related to her hatred of men and her only son. Due to her hatred of men, such as her husband Agamemnon, Clytemnestra forgets that Orestes is also her son. In The Libation Bearers, Orestes confronts his mother about her selfish will to love another man and control the kingdom after the death of Agamemnon: “Clytemnestra: Thou growest fain to slay thy mother, child/Orestes: Nay, ‘tis thyself wilt slay thyself, not I” (Aeschylus, 1996, p.104). This dialogue defines the hateful and venomous self-centered of Clytemnestra, which Orestes countermands by making her take responsibility for her own murderous actions. In this way, Orestes may be the individual that kills his mother, but he more focused on the danger that poses to himself and other family members that defy her will. This form of abandonment is why Clytemnestra is such a monstrous smother, since she is only
The Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus (Oresteia, 2017). The Libation Bearers is the second play in the trilogy of tragedies. In the Libation Bearers, Orestes is the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. After many years of exile, Orestes returned home to Argos in secret to mourn the death of his father and to seek revenge for Agamemnon’s death to his murderers. The House of Atreus has a generation curse of bloodshed on the men in the family that seems as if it cannot be broken, causing the men in the family to kill or sacrifice their own child or family members. Apollo has also threatened to punish Orestes with further exile and more horrible consequences if he disobeys the god quest. But throughout the play, we will learn how one must come to reconcile with their fate. The chorus said that “blood, once spilt, does not seep easily into the earth. It "clots hard" and refuses to disappear.”
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
This fragmentation of his identity begins as result of a ‘secondary’ trauma (Willis, 2002). Titus experiences a second trauma in knowing that his children have suffered traumatic deaths and injuries (Figley & Klebe, cited by Willis, 2002). This ‘trauma infection’ (Willis, 2002) demonstrates how his children are connected to; and a part of his identity. This connection is also shown in ‘our bitter woes’ [3.2.3] with the possessive pronoun ‘our’ conveying the collective, inter-connected trauma of Titus and Lavinia. The oxymoron ‘speechless complainer’ also illustrates this, in Titus understanding Lavinia’s need to verbally lament, as he does. Therefore, when his sons’ die; part(s) of his identity die; when his Lavinia is mutilated and raped;
The poetic tone of Aristophanes' Lysistrata differs greatly from the poetic tone of the Greek tragedies we have read in class. However, after analyzing this Greek comedy, it seems to share some of the main characteristics of Euripides' Medea. Within these plays, we meet shrewd, powerful masculine women who use the art of manipulation to get what they want from others and to accomplish their goals. This theme of manipulation is employed through various means and techniques. The women of these plays also seem to contradict the stereotypical woman and have characteristics similar to the Homeric Greek warrior.
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
Orestes and Electra's desire for revenge is understable, although some individuals protest that their actions are not. The murdering of Aegisthus and, in particular, Clytemnestra is viewed critically by the society and even the gods. The reason Electra killing Aegisthus is not as controversial is because he is not an immediate relative, where as Clytemnestra is. Her
I do believe in justice Orestes should avoid this revenged on his father, and accused her mothers of murder with the council and with Athena’s. In the other hand I can feel the anger from Orestes because it is sad to see that your own mother was the first person to violate and the one who create a plan with her lover in order to murder Agamemnon. For this reason I can say it is a hard decision to say if Orestes is the bad person in here, or his mother by planning a and knowing that she was going to create a crime against the king. I can conclude that Athenians decision could be more critical and to dig more deeply by looking the real purpose of this entire event in order to determined if Orestes deserved to be accused of murdering. How I mention before Athena’s was the one who determined the future of Orestes by looking on the fact that she is the Goddess of
Aeschylus’s play Libation Bearers begins some years after the murder of Agamemnon. Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, has come to Argos from exile to obtain revenge for his father’s death. The murder of Agamemnon is his wife, Clytemnestra, which is also Orestes mother. Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, killed Agamemnon for killing their daughter as a sacrifice to the gods. After Orestes gives an offering to the river of Argos and to Agamemnon’s tomb, he sees his sister Electra approaching Agamemnon’s tomb with her slaves. Orestes and Pylades, Orestes’s friend, go into hiding while Electra approaches the tomb. Electra has come to Agamemnon’s grave to make an offering on behalf of Clytemnestra. Electra does not know what to say on behalf of Clytemnestra, so she asks the Chorus, the slave women, for advice. They pray for Orestes to come back.
You love this man, the man you should have loved you hated” (The Libation Bearers 890-894), the character Orestes goes on to say, “destiny is handing you your death” (The Libation Bearers 898). These two quotes from Orestes show that he believes what he is doing is just and that is fate that requires him to murder his own mother for her crimes. This once again reveals the theme that justice in this culture, needs to be given in a form of revenge. The final time that justice is addressed in the text is when the
Clytemnestra had to deal with things that a wife should not have to deal with. Was it him sacrificing his own daughter for the gods, or even him having a mistress while he was gone at war.Agamemnon's main goal was to show that he had dominance over her along with his kingdom. She envied the fact that he was able to make these decisions without any sense of sympathy for anyone. The death of Agamemnon was revenge for the death of her daughter. Agamemnon killed a deer in a grove sacred to Artemis so the gods did not provide wind for the sail boats once they tried to set sail to Troy to go to war. Then it is revealed
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.
It see ironic that Agemenmon foreshadows his own murder, “ .. in my view, not without some risk.”(line.). For when Clytemnestra coaxes him to walk upon the red carpet, she essentially is leading the lamb to his death. It is only a tyrant, a cruel, devious women who could
Society establishes a set of expectations by which males and females are expected to conduct themselves. For example, a mother is expected to nurture her child, stay at home to take care of her children, be patient, be kind, love unconditionally and to never get angry. If a mother does not live up to these expectations established by society, then that mother is deemed a “bad mother.” Since a mother gives birth to her children and nurtures them, a mother who kills her children is considered to be unredeemably bad. Medea, in the play of the same name, kills her two sons and by societal standards, she would be deemed a bad mother. Contrary to society’s expectations of mothers, I will argue that Medea is not a bad mother. I will do this by proving that: Medea defies the social conventions of motherhood in three ways; she kills her children in order to protect them; and, that she rebels against her husband’s control and male domination by depriving him of his “immortality” by killing his sons and ending his bloodline.
Likewise, the Chorus is significantly wrong in mixing up the presence of Clytemnestra for what it truly implies, when they can't trust she will be Agamemnon's executioner. Clytemnestra's activities do, however confirm another social generalization in the play. That ladies are conniving. Obviously, it could likewise be said that Agamemnon is dishonest, since he relinquished his own little girl. At the finish of the play, when the Chorus ridicules Aegisthus by calling him a lady for not going to war and utilizing misdirection to give just desserts to Agamemnon, does this inquiry or fortify generalizations?
In this paper, I will discuss the different ways Clytemnestra isn't your typical female character. In most of Greek mythology women were mostly seen as passive, weak, and constantly taking orders from men. She was the complete opposite, she was really a one of a kind. More masculine than some of the men in the stories, and definitely more masculine than feminine she was a very strong, solid, independent, powerful character throughout Agamemnon. The story definitely wouldn’t be as controversial as it was if it weren't for the boldness, extremely deceptive tactics, manipulative ways, and ruthless acts of Clytemnestra. She constantly defied the role that was given to women in the art of ancient Greece, she paved the way for powerful women characters for the future.