When Orestes returns from exile he says to his sister Electra that he was told by Apollo to avenge their father 's death by killing their mother. After Orestes has murdered both Aegisthus Clytaemnestra, he is to stand trial for his actions which are the events that take place in The Eumenides. During the trial Orestes believes that he was in the right for killing his mother because he was instructed by a divine being, Apollo, to do
bathed after his long journey. During the Agamemnon, large proportions of the Queen's words are justifications for her action, which is very much concerned with the sacrifice of Iphigenia to the gods, in order for the fleet to set sail for Troy. Aegisthus, the new husband of the Queen Clytemnestra, and partner in the conspiracy to murder the war hero, had reasons, which stemmed from the dispute between the Houses of Atreus and Thyestes. Was the murder justified retribution for a callous and dispassionate
allowed for her to more easily kill him. The war had great influence on the murder of Agamemnon. While Agamemnon was away in Troy, Clytemnestra carried on an affair. Her lover and the affair were primary motives for Clytemnestra to kill her husband. Aegisthus, her lover, admits to being an influence on Clytemnestra 's actions; “To lure him to the trap was plainly women 's work; I, an old enemy, was suspect” (1718) His influence help to contribute to her act of disloyalty to her husband. This incident
by Sophocles, I came to the conclusion that it was just another retelling of The Libations Bearers by Aeschylus. In Aeschylus The Libation Bearers right after Orestes’ kills Aegisthus there is dialogue between his mother and himself. Before the dialogue happens Orestes’ brings his mother over to where he killed Aegisthus, so that she could be killed by him too. The dialogue that happens between the Orestes and his mother is that she is trying to get him to not kill her because she is his mother
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
blurs with revenge. Embodying this play by Sophocles, is revenge, the central theme focusing on how it affects the perpetrator. Electra is an important example of this central theme. The only way to ease her suffering is to see Clytemnestra and Aegisthus dead. “For her, the living are agents of the dead and hardly to be separated from them” (Scodel, R. 1984. p. 80.). Electra takes it upon herself to see them put to death, with adultery, murder and hatred are moral motivations driving her. However
In the story of Electra, Chrysothemis “is in many ways the invisible woman” (Choate 183). As stated by Amber Jacobs, “her name has been committed to our mythical corpus, yet with a seeming insignificance” (Jacobs 179). Sophocles is the only Greek playwright who mentions her in his version of Electra’s tale. As the tale goes, Chrysothemis was viewed as the obedient daughter, and in an effort to uphold the story of Electra as well as the social norms of the time, Sophocles depicts Chrysothemis as the
Electra In Euripides' 'Electra', there are a number of parts, speaking and non-speaking, that reveal the redeeming features of the otherwise pitiful characters. This essay will consider the roles of Orestes, Electra, Clytemnestra, the Peasant and Aegisthus (whose actions are only reported to us). It is arguable that the characters are not redeemable due simply to the plot of the play: a son returns, kills his father's unworthy successor, his mother (with the aid of his sister) and was sent away
Euripides and Sophocles wrote their own versions of the Electra story. The basic plot is as follows: Agamemnon is killed by Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus after he returns from the Trojan war to reclaim his sister-in-law Helen from the Trojans. Electra and her brother Orestes plot to kill their mother and her lover to revenge his death. Both authors wrote about the same plot, but the built the story very differently. Sophocles focused on Orestes, and Euripides focused more on the
responsible for one of your family member's deaths is Athenian justice. This type of lethal justice is executed by Orestes and Electra. Before proceeding to the house of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, they plot the murder of their father's murderers. They decide Orestes will murder his mother, and Electra will dispose of Aegisthus. Orestes is the most focused of the two; but Electra, although timid in the beginning, is the most masculine. Both of these personality traits are key to their plan coming
day of his return, she murders him (Aesch. Ag. 1241-1345). Through this murder, she maintains power with her new lover, Aegisthus and removes
Odysseus and his crew, the suitors, Poseidon, Aeolus, Hyperion, Agamemnon, Aegisthus, Melanthius, Melantho, Telemachus, and Polyphemus. Each one of these characters does something wrong and receives a harsh punishment. In the Odyssey, justice, when done, always allots a large punishment, never a small one. Aegisthus courted Agamemnon's wife and then killed him. The justice of the Gods is a swift and powerful one. However, Aegisthus had been warned: 'we ourselves had sent Hermes, the keen-eyed Giant-slayer
the history behind this blood feud of vengeance begins with Atreus and Thyestes. Atreus tricks his brother Thyestes into partaking of his own children (another possible Hannibal sequel). It is then that Agamemnon, next generation to Atreus and Aegisthus, only surviving son of Thyestes opens up this series of misfortunate events as seen in the trilogy. The series of events takes on a heightened role as Agamemnon is brutally killed by his wife, Clytaemestra and in turn her son Orestes kills her.
slave. The fates of Cassandra and the House of Atreus collide with Agamemnon's return to Mycenae, where his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus plot his murder. Aegisthus and Clytemnestra both seek revenge: Clytemnestra for her daughter's sacrifice and Aegisthus for the overthrow of his father and the sins of Agamemnon's father Atreus, of which Aegisthus was the only survivor. While Heaney probably drew from many classical sources for his poem, the section entitled "Cassandra" seems especially
associated with the murder. Although, in this play, the death of Aegisthus and the matricide of Clytemnestra are placed in the opposite order of the other plays where Clytemnestra is killed after Aegisthus. Euripides also includes Electra in his presentation
by Atreus in false friendliness. Atreus, in the mode of his grandfather, feasted the unknowing Thyestes on small bits of Thyestes’ own children. Upon discovery of his doing, the distraught Thyestes fled into exile with his only remaining son, Aegisthus. The Agamemnon picks up with Agamemnon and Menelaus, sons to Atreus, who joined together in the war of Troy after Paris, son of Priam, seduced Helen, wife to Menelaus. Angered by his ruthless man-sacrifices in the war, Artemis required that Agamemnon
prolonged and treacherous. A few examples of revenge in the poem include Orestes’ revenge on Aegisthus, Zeus’ revenge on Odysseus and his men, and Poseidon’s revenge on Odysseus. These different examples of revenge in The Odyssey show the importance of the gods’ revenge in the epic journey of Odysseus. 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
The Portrayal of Women in Homer's Odyssey In the first section of Odyssey, mortal women are presented to us as controlled by the stereotypes and expectations of the culture of the day, and it is only within that context that we can consider the examples Homer provides of women to be admired or despised. He provides us with clear contrasts, between Penelope and Eurycleia on the one hand, and Helen and Clytemnaestra on the other. In Penelope’s case, it is made clear that her freedom of action
In Homer’s the Odyssey, the theme of justified and deserved revenge and vengeance is very prevalent. The ancient Greeks believe in, Nemesis the Greek goddess who gives justice to people who receive what they do not earn, like unfair riches or unfair hardships. She also deals revenge on the people who are arrogant to gods. Nemesis often causes resentment in the people who get away with crimes or have undeserved good fortune. Because she brings losses and suffering or happiness and fortune to deserving
The Strong Women in The Orestia by Aeschylus To most readers, the women of The Orestia are evil and vindictive, a disgrace to all chaste and righteous women. Aeschylus portrayed women as equals to men, which was not the opinion of most Greeks at the time. Although he showed some of his women characters as evil, he granted them power, and emasculated the men around them. Unlike Homer, the women of Aeschylus show both ranges of emotions, both the good and the bad. A woman portrayed as a villain