Summary/Mythology:
Aeschylus’s play Libation Bearers begins some years after the murder of Agamemnon, the king of Argos. Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, has come to Argos from exile to avenge the death of his father. Agamemnon’s murderer is his wife, Clytemnestra, which is also Orestes mother. Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, killed Agamemnon for sacrificing their daughter, Iphigenia, to the gods. After Orestes gives an offering to the river of Argos and Agamemnon, he sees Electra, his sister, 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 libations, or offerings, on behalf of Clytemnestra. However, 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.
While Electra and her slaves are praying, Orestes and Pylades appear from the trees. Orestes reveals that the oracle of Apollo told him that he needed to go back to Argos and avenge Agamemnon. Then, Orestes, Electra, and the Chorus sing and chant to Agamemnon asking for help and justification for their revenge against his murderers. Orestes then discovers that Clytemnestra had a nightmare that she gave birth to a snake, and when she fed it, the snake drew blood along with the milk. Orestes devises a plan to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Orestes sends Electra back to the palace, and advises the Chorus to help when he enters the palace. Orestes and Pylades enter the palace’s gate and knock on the imposing door. They wait until Clytemnestra opens the door, and Orestes says that he is a traveler from Parnassus and his messa...
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...on in their plan to take revenge on Agamemnon’s murderers. Orestes and Electra speak to their father rather than to the gods and ask for support in their scheme to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. The Chorus participates in both the strophes and antistrophes; however, Orestes does not participate in the antistrophes. This might be so because when Orestes introduces a topic in the strophe, Electra and the Chorus both reflect on what Orestes stated. Libation Bearers also introduces two new parts to the odes, an epode, a part of the ode that follows the strophe and antistrophe, and a mesode, a portion of the ode between the strophe and antistrophe. The mesode and epode act as buffers between the ideas of the odes, or the ode and the episodes. The mesode is used throughout the play; however, the epode is only used in the beginning when the ode comes before the episode.
In this essay I will examine the war-of the-sexes taking place in The Eumenides, the final play of The Oresteia. The plot of The Eumenides pits Orestes and Apollo (representing the male gods and, to a certain extent, male values in general) against the ghost of Clytemnestra and the Furies (equally representative of female values.) Of more vital importance, however, is whether Athene sides with the males or females throughout the play.
With the help of her sisters, they capture Elynas and lock him in a mountain. Upon hearing this blatant disrespect of their father, Pressyne punishes her daughters with a curse. Melusine is condemned to take the form of a serpent from the waist down every Saturday for the rest of her life.
The difference in Agamemnon’s and Odysseus’s approach of their homeland is a reason for their differing fates. Agamemnon, the king of Argos, returns from Troy after a safe journey. Once he lands on the shores of his native earth, his false sense of security renders him unsuspecting of the possible danger that lurks in his own home. His naiveté leads him to approach his home directly to show his people that he has returned. Since his subjects were no longer loyal to him, his exposure leads to his demise. Their disloyalty is revealed when Aegisthus, the man who plots to kill Agamemnon, gathers the town’s best soldiers to ambush the king. Agamemnon meets Aegisthus, who organized a banquet where the king and his company are mercilessly slaughtered. Because he fails to assess the danger that exists in his homeland, Agamemnon meets his end soon after his return.
When a person is accused of a crime they are either found innocent or guilty. This is the basic idea of justice and it is what many feel needs to happen if someone has done something controversial. In the play The Oresteia by Aeschylus, the story of Clytemnestra guilt or innocents is questioned. She does many things that people are not too happy with and those controversial actions throughout the story, mainly in the first part Agamemnon get her into the trouble. As we explore the case that builds against her innocents by exploring the killings of Agamemnon and Cassandra and the boastful expression about the killings.
The thesis of the Oresteia proves to be the sacrifice of Iphigenia, for it is with the death of a woman that the tables of the curse on the house of Atreus start to unfold. The sacrifice of Iphigenia becomes the start of the continued curse within this particular generation of the house of Atreus. Agamemnon, a misogynist, did not value the life of his innocent daughter over the spoils of men. It is significant that an innocent woman, ready for marriage, an act that brings together two households, was not married but instead murdered. Her sacrifice shows a separation between men and women along with failure within the household.
Telemachus and Pisistratus arrive at Sparta. When they arrive Menelaus is hosting a double wedding feast for his son and daughter. Then, Menelaus serves Telemachus and Pisistratus food. Telemachus is amazed by Menelaus of how he takes care of the palace. Menelaus tells him a story that he has been wandering the sea for seven years and discovered that his brother Agamemnon was murdered. He also shared Telemachus that he lost a lot of friends during the Trojan war. He was deeply sudden with all these discoveries and realizes that it is better to stay home with his family and with his people by living honorably in Sparta. That is why the city of Sparta is well take care of because of his stay and ruling. Menelaus is satisfied with his city. Then, Menelaus talked about Odysseus and how he misses him so much and Telemachus cries. The room was quiet then Helen, Menelaus’s wife walks
As the bards sang, and the guests talked amongst one another, Telemachus watched his house get destroyed by the brazen suitors. Telemachus takes no initiative to rid the suitors of Odysseus' palace. He grieves his father is dead and that there is no one to remove the suitors. As Telemachus was sulking about his father, Athena appeared in disguise as Mentor. She approached Telemachus and urged him to drive the suitors from his house. Mentor and Telemachus devised a plan to repulse the suitors. First, Telemachus was to order an assembly where he would give orders to the suitors. Then he was to go to Pylos and Sparta to learn if his father was still alive.
"…fear in sleep's place stands forever at my head against strong closure of my eyes, or any rest:" (Agamemnon 14) So says the watchman, who begins "Agamemnon", the first play of The Oresteia. As guardian of the house, the watchman is fearful of falling asleep because it leaves him unaware of what is happening. Though he is awake to see the beacon in the distance, he is oblivious to the mutinous plans taking place inside the house. The reference to sleep in his speech emphasizes his lack of awareness for the evil taking place right under his eyes. Clytaemestra, planning to kill her husband upon his return, takes advantage of those who are unaware like the watchman. Because of their sleep, she is able to plot against her husband without their knowing. When Agamemnon returns home, Clytaemestra says to him "…my hearts unsleeping care shall act with the gods' aid to set aright what fate ordained." (Agamemnon 912) Just as "sleeping" represented obliviousness for the watchman, "unsleeping" represents awareness for Clytaemestra. N...
Ariosto adapts and transforms Vergil’s final episode of The Aeneid into his own conclusion in Orlando Furioso. The final scenes in the epics parallel one another in many ways, yet also show distinct differences. Ruggiero and Rodomont represent Aeneas and Turnus, respectively, and the actions of Ariosto’s characters can be interchanged with their corresponding characters’ acts in The Aeneid. Ariosto reminds us of controversy and questions that Vergil elicits in his conclusion and responds interpretively, reshaping the ending and clarifying ambiguities.
The cyclic thread of vengeance runs like wild fire through the three plays in Aeschylus’s Oresteia. This thread, with its complexity of contemporary and universal implications lends itself quite well to – in fact, almost necessitates – deeply interested study. While a brief summary of the Oresteia will inevitably disregard some if not much of the trilogy’s essence and intent, on the positive side it will establish a platform of characters, events, and motives with which this paper is primarily concerned. As such, I begin with a short overview of the Oresteia and the relevant history that immediately precedes it.
...of office. During his rule, Elagabalus’s grandmother conspired against him, promoting his cousin, Alexianus. Elegabalus adopted his cousin and continued to remarry, hoping to have a child to become his heir. At a last resort, Elagabalus attempted to have Alexianus, who was now Alexander, murdered. His attempts failed, and finally, Elagabalus and his ally, his mother, were murdered, their bodies dumped into the Tiber and their memories forgotten.
Euripides'version is much more dramatic. The play begins with Electra's marriage to a peasant. Aegisthus had tried to kill Electra. but Clytemnestra convinced him to allow her to live. He decided to marry her to a peasant so her children will be humbly born and pose no threat to his throne. Orestes and Pylades arrive. Orestes says that he has come to Apollo's shrine to pledge himself to avenge his father's. murder. Orestes, concealing his identity, talks with Electra about the recent happenings in Mycenae. She admits that she is sad that her brother had been taken away at such a young age and the only person that would recognize him to be her father's old servant. She also discusses her scorn of Aegisthus desecrating the monument over. Agamemnon's grave and his ridicule of Orestes. When the old servant. arrives, after being summoned by Electra, he recognizes and identifies.
Love, lust and infatuation all beguile the senses of the characters in this dreamy and whimsical work of Shakespeare, and leads them to act in outlandish ways, which throughly amuses the reader. True love does prevail in the end for Hermia and Lysander, and the initial charm of infatuation ends up proving to have happy consequence for Helena and Demetrius as well. Even when at first the reader thinks that, in theory, the effects the potion will wear off and Lysander will once again reject Helena, Oberon places a blessings on all the couples that they should live happily ever after.
Her sister Chrysothemis tells Electra that she has seen Orestes lock of hair on Agamemnon burial site. Electra dismisses this and proposes that she and Chrysothemis are now responsible for avenges
In Aeschylus’ The Agamemnon, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra have to make tough decisions throughout the play, decisions they believe are justified. The actions of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra are not justified because they are caused by their blinding hubris and desire for power. Agamemnon makes the choice to kill his daughter just so he could lead his troops to Troy. Clytemnestra kills her husband, not just for revenge, but for his position and power as king of Mycenae. They make selfish choices and do not believe they will be punished for them. By exposing their true motives, Aeschylus makes it clear they are not justified in their actions.