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What Are The Gods's Role In The Oresteia

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The Gods play vital role in the development of the story as they seek to influence the behavior of the human world. The Gods incentivize human behavior by offering them exchanges in order to create a narrative behind their strength. An example of this is seen as Agamemnon murders his daughter Iphigenia in exchange for better winds His murder exemplifies how the Gods seek to manipulate behavior since the seek to test human’s persistence. Agamemnon’s decision to appease the Gods for favorable wind is shown as Calchas states “ 'My captains, Artemis must have blood!... the glory of my house -a father's hands are stained, blood of a young girl streaks the altar. Pain both ways and what is worse? ( 203, 210-211 p 59). Iphigenia’s sacrifice God’s grasp prevailing over …show more content…

Moreover, if Artemis can bless humans like Agamemnon with wind,then she could curse those who go against with other natural phenomenon. Evidently, Gods like Artemis achieve legitimacy by invoking fear upon citizens. By achieving legitimacy, Artemis through manipulates Agamemnon into committing heinous acts since she is well-aware Agamemnon’s needs for war. It is apparent the imbalance of power found in the relationship between Gods and humans encourages a behavior that appeases the ruling class: the Gods. Similarly, David tries to appease God in order to benefit from his power. David’s covenant with God comes at a price because David has to oblige to God’s commands. The covenant which David agrees to is analogous to a contract since it stipulates his requirement to keep his new role as king. God states “ I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you… But my loyal love will not be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will stand before me permanently; your dynasty will be permanent ( 7:11 , 15-17

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