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The Oresteia Character Analysis

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The Oresteia by Aeschylus, is a series of three Greek tragedies centered around the Atreides Curse. This curse began with King Tantalus, a son of Zeus, feeding the Gods his son, Pelops, and Demeter who was so distraught over her missing daughter, did not realize her meal was human. The first play in the Oresteia begins with Agamemnon arriving home from Troy with two slaves. His wife, Clytemnestra forces him to walk upon a red carpet and later kills him and his slaves whilst he is in the bath. The second tragedy consists of Orestes killing Aegisthus and his mother in order to take revenge. Orestes is then attacked by Furies, symbolizing the wrath and vengeance by tormenting Orestes for the rest of his life. The final play consists of Orestes pleading to Athena for help, in order to release the Furies whom have taken it upon themselves to take revenge for Clytemnestra. Athena holds a trial at Athens, to determine if Orestes was correct for enacting his revenge, and comes to the conclusion that he is. Thus, the Furies are to be kept at Athens and become goddesses called the Eumenides and will help good people and yet torture bad people. In the aftermath of this book the Achaeans evolved from a revenge issued form of justice, to a more civil, modern day one. Agamemnon begins with Agamemnon murdering his daughter, Iphigenia, before heading off to the battle of Troy. “Yes, he had the heart to sacrifice his daughter, to bless the war that avenged a woman’s loss, a bridal rite …show more content…

Thus, the plays suggest that murders would continuously happen without the use of the court system to determine whether the defendant is guilty or innocent. Ultimately, the trilogies ended us with a modern day use of justice, rather than the anger-driven revenge format, that had occurred

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“Killings”, Andre Dubus’ short story, revolves around a father who seeks vengeance against his son’s killer. The story is about the murders committed by Richard Strout and Matt Fowler in their attempt to get retribution and ease the pain in their hearts. The circle of killings is first caused by the murder of Matt Fowler’s son, Frank, by Richard, which leads to the retaliatory killing of Richard, by Matt. This infinite, unforgiving circle of killings and attempts at retribution is what Dubus portrays in a nonjudgmental view. The readers are left to see how the act of killing affects Richard and Matt and decide how much their retribution costs them.

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Forgiving someone is one of the best things you could do. However, for you to forgive someone, you must accept what has happened and be ready to move on. Forgiving someone gives them an opportunity to redeem themselves, and allows them to move on as well. By accepting the past, you might find reasoning within the mistakes of the others, and give you as better understanding of how you should act. Forgiveness is a large part of The First Stone, and within the story is a valuable lesson:

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ustice, fairness, and decency, abstract concepts that are innate in society and human nature. However, despite their near universal status in humanities mid, they often have different meanings for individuals. Aeschylus uses The Oresteia in order to explore these issues as characters in the play try to determine what it means to be just, what ought a just actor do, and what is the best model for achieving justice. The characters discuss ideas such as vengeance, reciprocity, balance, moderation, and finally the end result of the implied debate leads to a jury system. In this paper I will go over two of the several different interpretations of justice used in the Oresteia and compare and contrast them in order to demonstrate which is the best

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Andre Dubus, short stories contain a common theme of revenge, morality, and justice. In “Killings” published in 1979, Andre displays the theme of revenge and justice through the development of characters, the title of the story, and the thrill of the suspense. Dubus neglects to take sides with the characters in the “Killings”, which leaves it upon the readers to make assumption whether the killings were justifiable. Dubus has a very unique style of writing, the main characters in “Killings” were given a choice that could’ve led them to a completely different outcome. Dubus keeps the readers on their toes because the opposite usually ends up happening.

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Agamemnon shows his hatred for Clytemnestra and Aegisthus during his conversation with Odysseus in Book 11 of The Odyssey. There are few crimes more heinous than the plot of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra to kill Atrides Agamemnon. When Odysseus asks Agamemnon who killed him, Agamemnon replies “he (Aegisthus) killed me, he with my own accursed wife” (262). The way he speaks of Clytemnestra demonstrates his animosity for their betrayal.

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Orestes and Agamemnon are two more characters that have an interesting father-son bond and are both very important to the plot of The Odyssey. Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra,

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The Oresteia is a trilogy written by the Greek author Aeschylus that comprises of three plays; Agamemnon, the libation bearers, and the Eumenides. The central theme of this book is “justice” which in the case of Orestes has led to exile. This book was written at a time when the star of Athens was in decline. It was a time that marked the establishment of a new socio- political order, a democracy adjudicated by the rule of law. This rule of law meant the institutionalization of justice (i.e. having a justice system), where cases are heard and verdicts are being reached based on evidence.

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In contrast, in the Oresteia, the myth demonstrates an overwhelming theme of justice. Agamemnons’ death here shows the curse hunting his household from generation to generation, starting from Agamemnon’s father

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In the novel, The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham, Michael, one of the central characters, demonstrates character traits of a hero and leadership qualities. He is considered a blasphemy in his community because he is telepathic; however, no one knows of his telepathy, except his telepathic group, since on the outside, he looks completely normal. Michael is originally from Waknuk, a religious community where people strictly believe in the true image of God, and later goes to a different school in Kentak. As the novel progresses, he becomes a hero to his community, friends, and to the people who matter to him. He is willing to risk his life that made it possible for him to rescue and guide his friends escaping from the persecution in Waknuk.

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They think tradition produces such an approach to the justice. Furies believe justice fails when Athena decides there will be a trial with Athenians being the judges . Mortals participating as decision makers while the divine justice being ignored causes Furies to think themselves as insignificant and they start showing humanely emotions such as rage . This shows even the powerful old gods demonstrate weak mortal behaviours which indicates their judgement could not be taken as absolute due to such weakness. The nature of justice and whether mortals should participate in it is one of the sharp differences in the opinion of the old gods and the

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Agamemnon’s taking of Briseis enrages Achilles and spurs him to remove himself from the war, leading to a massive death toll in the Achaean forces. In stealing Briseis from Achilles, he is not only robbing of him of a material prize, but also a symbol of honor, his geras, in Greek culture. In retaliation, Achilles removes himself from the war and prays to his mother, Thetis, that she will ask Zeus to damage the Achaean forces. Achilles’ only goal is that “even mighty Atrides can see how mad he was to disgrace Achilles” (1.488-490). Despite having no true grievance against the Achaean army as a whole, Achilles’ rage blinds him from the potential harm that may befall his troops.

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Oedipus the King is a tragedy that was written by Sophocles that emphasizes the irony of an irony of a man who was determined to trace down, expose and punish an assassin who in turn became him. Oedipus the King is also known as Oedipus Rex or Oedipus Tyrannus. The art is an Athenian play that was performed in ages approximated to be 429 BC. Oedipus the King would later in the play fulfill the prophecy that he would kill his father and later on marry his mother. There is a twist of an event in the play where Oedipus is looking for the murderer of his father to bring to a halt the series of plagues that are befalling Thebes but only to find he is in search of himself (Rado, 1956).

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The second example in which dominance of patriarchy plays a role and impacts the perception of justice is through the characterization and image of the Furies. The Furies try to achieve justice but an obstacle, male dominance or Apollo, prevents them from taking justice. The Furies mention, We are the Furies, yes, but now are rage that patrolled the crimes of men, that stalked their rage dissolves – we loose a lethal tide to sweep the world! (lines 514-517).

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His pride was wounded, and so he took Iphigenia to the temple of Artemis. In the skies, even the hunting goddess Artemis, was shocked at Agamemnon’s deed. She took one

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After Achilles’ has left Agamemnon realizes he has made a mistake which leads to him asking for Achilles’ forgiveness to return into the war, and fight for the Greeks. Agamemnon does this so that he can try to manipulate not only Achilles’ fate, but the fates of the Trojans. Agamemnon has influenced other characters’ fates. For example, Paris and Helen. Agamemnon was held responsible for influencing Paris to fight Menelaus to hold his marriage with Helen.

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