Racines Andromaque

1633 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of Greek mythology on modern literature

Racines Andromaque

No ordinary surprise awaited the audience assembled at the Bourgogne when Racine's Andromaque made its appearance. In addition to being a tragedy of the order so long desired in vain, it was to them what the Cid had been to their progenitors in the days of Richelieu, the sudden revelation of a genius previously unsuspected. In framing his plot, Racine deviated very widely from the legend of the captivity of Hector's widow and son at the palace of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. Three distinct and conflicting interests are brought into play. Andromache is loved by Pyrrhus, Pyrrhus by Hermione, and Hermione by Orestes. It is only by becoming the wife of her tyrant that Andromache can save her son from being delivered up to the vindictive Greeks.; a deep-seated reverence for the memory of Hector struggles with the impulses of maternal affection, and at length, with a determination not to survive the marriage ceremony, she consents to the sacrifice required at her hands. Betrothed to Pyrrhus, whom she has left Greece to wed, Hermione, stung to madness by her humiliation, causes him to be assassinated on the altar steps just after the safety of Astyanax is assured, the chosen instrument of her vengeance being Orestes. But a fierce revulsion of feelings sweeps through her mind as the latter tells her of the crime she has urged him to perpetrate. Far from giving him the expected reward of his devotion, she assails him with bitter invective, falls into an agony of remorse and destroys herself on the bier of her victim. Stunned by the discovery that he has lost his honor to no purpose, Orestes is hurried by Pylades and other friends beyond reach of the punishment with which he is threatened. In elaborating this impressive s...

... middle of paper ...

...ady to obey her, and she has vowed revenge upon the foes of Pyrrhus. But Orestes, true to his love, will not forsake Hermione, until he is told that she is dead. On her way to the temple she met the bier of Pyrrhus, and, bidding the bearers halt, stooped over the body, then turned her head toward heaven and stabbed herself.

The play ends with a wild outburst of passion and despair from Orestes. He is the sport of the gods. In his anguish the day seems to darken round him, and he sees a vision of his rival and his love:

ORESTES: What? Pyrrhus! I meet thee once again! Pierced by so many blows, how hast thou escaped? Hold! here is my blow, which I have saved for thee. But what do I see? Hermione before my eyes clasps him in her arms. She snatches him from the threatened blow. Ye gods, what looks like she casts upon me! What demons, what serpents she brings after her!

Show More
Related

  • The Serpent and the Eagle: From Darkness to Light

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    It is without fail that throughout Aeschylus’ trilogy, The Oresteia, the presence of light and dark can be found in the characters, the plot and the themes. The trilogy follows the House of Atreus its emergence from darkness into the light. However, the light and darkness are often presented symbolically throughout the trilogy and often appear as pairs, which are constantly at odds with each other like Clytaemnestra versus Orestes and Apollo verses the Furies. Light and dark are not defined, nor strictly categorized, as good against evil, rather they move towards the primal versus civilized nature of the culture, and the two merging, and moving into a new era of Greek civilization. The dark is not pure evil, the light is not pure good; they are a coming together of two different times, and because of that transition, from primitive to civilized, tension builds and breaks, which causes the tragic events of The Oresteia throughout the three plays: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides.

    Read More

  • The Oresteia

    670 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... has been a change from old to new. When the play is over, although it is the end, it is the beginning of a new way of life for both the characters in the Oresteia and the Greeks.

    Read More

  • Self-Deception In Oedipus The King

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the previous paragraph, he is opening up of what the problem is and now he is going to continue telling his wife about the situation that shows that he has a tragic flaw. He says, “… I can hear him cry, “You are fated to couple with your mother, you will bring a breed of children into the light no man can bear to see — you will kill your father, the one who gave you life!” (Page 1146, lines 868- 882). While going to Delphi, Oedipus has a run in with an oracle that planned his life out for him. At this point of the Oedipus is going to tell her how his father died. He continues by

    Read More

  • Vergil's Ending In The Aeneid By Ariosto

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Suffering in the Oresteia

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this case, Orestes's suffering was answered. His fate was changed. However, it is important to note that Orestes did not commit hubris. He did not go out of the bounds of what the gods had set for him. Apollo told him to kill his mother, and he obeyed. Even though this contradicted the laws of the Furies, the help of the young, "new" gods prevailed. So, an answer to suffering is found in the end, but only for certain cases. Even in the final verses, a hint of change is found in the voice of the Furies, "All -seeing Zeus/ and Destiny, unite to seal our truce," (lines 1045-1046). It appears to be a case of a new generation of gods taking over an out-of-date decree.

    Read More

  • Theme of Revenge in Homer's Odyssey

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    Orestes’ revenge is the first important example of the gods’ revenge in the poem. In Book 1, Hermes told Aegisthus, “’Don’t murder the man,’ he said, ‘don’t court his wife. Beware, revenge will come from Orestes…” (Homer 260). King Nestor delivers the story of Orestes’ revenge to Odysseus’ son Telemachus, while Telemachus is visiting Nestor to discover answers about his fathers’ whereabouts. In Book 3 of The Odyssey, King Nestor tells this of Agamemnon, “…Aegisthus hatched the kings’ horrendous death” (Homer, 285). King Nestor continues on telling of the revenge Agamemnon’s son Orestes has on Aegisthus, “Orestes took revenge, he killed that cunning, murderous Aegisthus…”(Homer, 285). This example of Orestes’ revenge shows that the gods should be listened to or they will give horrific revenges to those who disobey.

    Read More

  • oedipus

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...k him years to understand that what he did was wrong and with his guilt, he takes his own sight from him. As he climbs this hill to get back some peace he become a prophet and predicts Polynices death, which he accepts it his death. At the end of Oedipus’ life he has a peaceful death and will protect the city of Athens. I think that the three themes of this play, illustrated that no matter how hard someone tries to predict their lives, it will always be in fates hand. And something greater than Oedipus want what is best for him, like the gods giving him a peaceful death.

    Read More

  • Oedipus Rex: An Emotional Battlefield

    1811 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...e truth. This scene is the single greatest and most powerful scene of the play, and possibly all of theatre because it captures the very essence of the entire work. However, it is not the apparent climax. Instead, this scene completes the characterization of Oedipus as he conquers his tragic flaw and fully exhibits his most heroic traits. However, the ultimate irony of the play occurs at this point as well. Oedipus emerges both victorious and beaten. By triumphing over himself and his tragic flaw, Oedipus has begun the rapid descent into the deepest reaches of tragedy ever performed. This scene epitomizes Oedipus as one of the greatest tragic heroes ever created by chronicling the completion of the battle between Oedipus’ searing, sizzling, scalding anger and his attempts to control, expel, or extinguish it as he finds the truth he searches for throughout the play.

    Read More

  • Oedipus the King: The Tragic Flaws Of Oedipus

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    The great Sophoclean play, Oedipus Rex is an amazing play, and one of the first of its time to accurately portray the common tragic hero. Written in the time of ancient Greece, Sophocles perfected the use of character flaws in Greek drama with Oedipus Rex. Using Oedipus as his tragic hero, Sophocles’ plays forced the audience to experience a catharsis of emotions. Sophocles showed the play-watchers Oedipus’s life in the beginning as a “privileged, exalted [person] who [earned his] high repute and status by…intelligence.” Then, the great playwright reached in and violently pulled out the audience’s most sorrowful emotions, pity and fear, in showing Oedipus’s “crushing fall” from greatness.

    Read More

  • Theseus Research Paper

    910 Words  | 2 Pages

    One day, a duke named Perotheus, petitions for Arcite’s freedom. Theseus agrees on the condition that Arcite must be banished forever from Athens. Arcite returns to Thebes, he is miserable and jealous of Palamon, who can still see Emelye every day from the tower. But Palamon too grows more sorrowful than ever; he believes that Arcite will lay siege to Athens...

    Read More

  • Oedipus Tyrannos by Sophocles

    1607 Words  | 4 Pages

    Sophocles uses a mixture of both visual and emotional imagery to create the morally questioning, Greek tragedy ‘Oedipus Tyrannos’. He presents the audience with an intense drama, which addresses the reality and importance of the gods that the Greeks fervently believed in. The play also forces the audience to ask themselves if there is such a concept as fate.

    Read More

  • Love, Lust and Infatuation in Midsummer Night’s Dream

    1461 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the first part of the play Egeus has asked the Duke of Athens, Theseus, to rule in favor of his parental rights to have his daughter Hermia marry the suitor he has chosen, Demetrius, or for her to be punished. Lysander, who is desperately in love with Hermia, pleads with Egeus and Theseus for the maiden’s hand, but Theseus’, who obviously believes that women do not have a choice in the matter of their own marriage, sides with Egeus, and tells Hermia she must either consent to marrying Demetrius, be killed, or enter a nunnery. In order to escape from the tragic dilemma facing Hermia, Lysander devises a plan for him and his love to meet the next evening and run-off to Lysander’s aunt’s home and be wed, and Hermia agrees to the plan. It is at this point in the story that the plot becomes intriguing, as the reader becomes somewhat emotionally “attached’’ to the young lovers and sympathetic of their plight. However, when the couple enters the forest, en route to Lysander’s aunt’s, it is other mischievous characters that take the story into a whole new realm of humorous entertainment...

    Read More

  • Orestes In The Odyssey

    211 Words  | 1 Pages

    The Dilemma that Orestes is facing is deciding whether to obey Agamemnon or Clytemnestra. With whatever Orestes decides might or not affect his fate. If he decides to kill Clytemnestra, he will be hunted down by the furies who are out to kill him. Orestes decides to obey the God of Apollo, which he will then sacrifice himself in order to keep the peace.

    Read More

  • The Importance of the Tutor in The Flies

    1718 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Jean -Paul Sarte's play, "The Flies", the main character Orestes manages to lift a curse that has plagued the dwellers of Argos for decades. Both the current king of Argos and Zeus himself are perpetuating this curse for as long as possible for the curse keeps the people subservient and in a state of mourning and terror of their own actions; two things that both the king and Zeus favor in their rule over people. Orestes was actually a resident of Argos and is the first child of the Queen Mother and the dead king. He returns to Argos with a traveling companion, the Tutor, who used to be the child's teacher in the ways of the world. Now the man is Orestes' slave and close advisor. Orestes' stance towards the Tutor and their past relationship essentially effects his ability to break the curse in Argos.

    Read More

  • Tragedy In Oedipus The King

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    Eventually Oedipus discovers that the prophecy that he had worked so hard to avoid had already come true. Praying or speaking to the Gods, he believes that he is “cursed in [his] birth” (Sophocles 232), as well as “cursed in marriage” (Sophocles 232). When he discovers that his wife (who is also his mother) had killed herself, Oedipus brutally gouges his eyes out. At first this action may seem reckless, but despite the pain, Oedipus believes that it is the right thing to do. During his realization, Oedipus says, “Too long you looked on

    Read More

More about Racines Andromaque

Open Document