The Eumenides: Play Analysis

In this play the main themes include revenge, justice, deceit and fate, Clytemnestra kills her husband as revenge for sacrificing their daughter and his infidelity, while ironically she also was having an affair, she feels her actions are justified and the chorus of elders are swayed to believing her so many ethical strands have become tangled by the tragic history of the family of Atreus.

The next play in the trilogy, the libation bearers, takes place about seven years after the events in agamemnon, orestes the exiled son agamemnon has returned ins secret by the commandment of Apollo, he comes back with vengeance as his sole purpose, Apollo’s oracle tells him that if he doesn’t carry out this quest, he will be served horrible punishments.

In the prologue, the priestess of Apollo, chants about the mythical history of the temple which describes the old and the new gods, which also states orestes’s conflict between old and new conceptions of justice. Orestes arrives the Delphi with bloody hands and stained sword, followed by the furies whom ae after him, he seeks retribution for his actions from Apollo, Apollo acknowledges responsibility for his actions, since he commanded him to avenge his, father. Early in the play, it can be noticed that the theme of the play has been set, the clash between the old (The furies) and the new gods (Apollo), and a conflict between two ideologies of establishing and maintain justice on earth. Clytemnestra appears brief in this play, but for the part that she appears, she emphasizes that the furies do not let orestes escape for they are the enforcers of the ancient law of blood and revenge. The furies lament that Clytemnestra’s murder will be avenged by a member of the family thereby carrying the curse of the house of Atreus into another generation. The furies claim they didn’t avenge Agamemnon’s murder because he was not a blood relative of Clytemnestra, but Apollo emphasizes that marriage is the most sacred of all bonds, and that if they ignored the murder of a husband by a wife, they had no right to

He tells her that if she saves him, the people of Argos would be allies of Athens.

Athena appears and asks both parties to explain themselves and reminds them, that her temple is a place of justice, upon hearing what the furies have to say, she remarks that seem more concerned with the forms of justice rather than justice itself. After hearing both orestes and the furies side, she decides to set up a court comprised of Athens finest citizens, to judge the matter. In court Apollo appears and defends his actions, stating the bond of a father to a son is stronger and more important than that of a mother to a son, Apollo concludes with a shameless offer to bribe the jurors if they vote in favor of Orestes.

The court acquits orestes and the furies angered by this swear to unleash havoc but Athena been just, ties to convince them otherwise, promising them a sanctuary of their own in the city, where the citizens can worship them and make offering, they bulge at first but later accept her offer.

The Eumenides ends on an exalted note of reconciliation and optimism, and also captures the true nature of justice, justice will now be secured by an impartial and rational human