Aeschylus Vendetta

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In Aeschylus’ The Agamemnon, the vendetta is the central idea of the play that is replaced by law due to the destruction it was causing to the House of Atreus. The blood feud is replaced by law through the character, Orestes, due to its detrimental effect on society. Aeschylus contrasts Clytemnestra and Orestes’ personalities. It was necessary for Orestes to end the blood feud because it resulted in the deaths of this family. Due to Clytemnestra’s hubris, she believes that she is ending the blood feud by murdering her husband; however, she is entering herself into the vendetta. Aeschylus hints at the idea of law replacing the vendetta to foreshadow the later coming of Orestes. The vendetta had to be replaced by law because it was causing the downfall of the House of Atreus. Atreus began this curse when he murdered Thyestes’ sons, boiled them, and fed them to their father. Cassandra states, “As infants slain by their parents as they appear, their hands full of the meat oh which he ate, whose own flesh it was, carrying, oh pitiable burden! the hearts and inward parts, of which their father tasted” (Aeschylus 40). Thyestes then cursed the …show more content…

The Chorus states, “Oh, does Orestes haply live, that by the grace of fortune he may return to this land and slay the pair victoriously?” (49). The Chorus states that Orestes will return to Argos and they foreshadow Clytemnestra and Aegisthus’ death. The Chorus then says, “Not if heaven guide Orestes back to the land” (50). Heaven in this case refers to divine retribution. Orestes seeks retribution from the gods, especially Apollo. Unlike Clytemnestra, who was an instrument of the curse, Orestes is an instrument of the gods. Orestes acted passively, unlike Clytemnestra. He was divinely directed by Apollo to commit matricide, bringing the vendetta to an end. He then sought purification

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