Oresteia Essays

Blood for blood – a life for a life: this is the form of justice that exists in Aeschylus’s 2500-year-old trilogy, The Oresteia. But there are many kinds of justice, and Aeschylus explores its many forms: Familial and ensconced in law, reciprocal and democratic. Our modern world has organised justice – we have law courts and jurors, murder as manslaughter, conspiracy, association and attempted but Aeschylus asks: can there be one right way to determine justice? This underlying theme along with the

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

Since the beginning of time, vengeance or retribution has been part of the human condition. This is chiefly true in Aeschylus's trilogy the Oresteia. One of the underlying themes in these works is the concept of “an eye for an eye” (Hammurabi). Atreus and Thyestes start the blood feud of retribution when Atreus tricks Thyestes into consuming the cooked flesh of his own children. It is then that Agamemnon, son of Atreus, and Aegisthus, the only surviving son of Thyestes, open up this series of misfortunate

family, death, gender, and justice. Plato’s The Republic also has themes like justice, morality, education, and wisdom. These two texts have helped define people and how they will act towards one another in their community. Gender is a big theme in Oresteia. Aeschylus has shown that his view of society is having men in charge. When the play was first written in 458 B.C. it was a time where the male was shown as the superior role over females. Even though they are portrayed as the better gender in this

In the trilogy The Oresteia, Aeschylus shows the never ending cycle of violence within the house of Atreus. The cycle acts as a “net” entrapping Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Orestes, and many other characters. This net has not only encapsulated characters but it also produces actions throughout the play provoking the audience to think of several different conflicted loyalties. Specifically, the rendezvous between Clytemnestra and the chorus highlights right versus wrong, self-help justice (in the form

Illusions, Imagery and Manipulation In John Lewin’s adaptation of Aeschylus’ Oresteia, many situations throughout establish a lasting tone that characterize the ideas and situations being presented, figurative language and imagery are used very actively throughout all three acts on the Oresteia that depict a lasting tension between the characters. Throughout this trilogy, the characters are characterized directly and indirectly through their words and actions. The poetic language used throughout

When observing the series of events that transpire throughout the course of The Oresteia, the three plays, we do see something of a fixation on revenge, taking vengeance for being wronged in many different scenarios, many of them resulting in deaths. In many of these situations, vengeance serves as their form of justice, though whether they are one and the same is the question. The expression goes that "An eye for an eye makes the world go blind" but another saying says that "Justice is blind"

when it comes to people basing actions from emotional distress. When referring to revenge, people tend to feel no remorse once they have been wronged by someone especially someone they love. Throughout the three different stories told in Aeschylus’s Oresteia, the reader can learn how each person seeking revenge ends up as the victim due to their actions taken as personal gain of power. Agamemnon is the first example of personal gain of winning a war through sacrifice of his daughter. This sacrifice would

The Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by ancient Greek playwright and tragedian Aeschylus. Consisting of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides, The Oresteia follows the story of the curse on the House of Atreus. It is considered Aeschylus’s finest work and is the only existing example of an ancient Greek theatre trilogy in western literature. This essay will discuss the portrayal, significance and development of the oikos in The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus through the

will conclude whose vengeance was more acceptable. Excerpts from Earl Showerman, a Shakespearean expert and excerpts from Aeschylus The Oresteia and Shakespeare's Hamlet will support who was more justified in avenging their father. Going over the characters stories is important in deciding on whose vengeance is more justified. First events in The Oresteia, in Agamemnon, Orestes father, Agamemnon was killed by his wife Clytemnestra and her new lover Aegisthus. The reason Agamemnon sacrificed

In The Eumenides, Orestes’s crime of killing his mother is unfairly punished by the Athena and her men, and it reveals the injustice done to Orestes’s mother Clytaemnestra. The story starts off by Lord Apollo and the Furies arguing for the justice Clytaemnestra’s murder. Both of them have completely different view of the situation, Apollo and Orestes both argue that what the latter did was just, since Clytaemnestra killed Orestes’s father unjustly. On the other hand, the Furies wholly disagree to

The Oresteia is a play that is filled with conflict, and malice. In the first play, Agamemnon, The king Agamemnon and his wife Clytemnestra are at ends because Agamemnon killed their daughter. Although Agamemnon has his own flaws and sins, I think that he is a better person than Clymestrea. But what does it mean to be a good person? I think that a good person is someone who is selfless, loyal, and loving. Clytemnestra shows none of these traits. Agamemnon was selfless. This is apparent when he sacrificed

Manipulation: the skillful handling, controlling or using of something or someone. Throughout John Lewin's adaptation of Aeschylus' three-part Oresteia, the characters utilize the art of manipulation in order to achieve their own ends. This form of persuasion is first seen in the words of Queen Clytemnestra in her initial aim to take revenge upon the murderer of her child; then to condemn the son that slew her. Mortals are not alone in these acts of manipulation. Both the ancient and young deities

An archetype is an image, a descriptive detail, a plot pattern, or a type of character that occurs multiple times in myth, literature, religion, or folk lore. Archetypes often provoke emotion in the reader as they awaken an image, calling illogical responses into play. Many novels, legends, and myth are made up of archetypes which causes similarities in the plots of many novels. For example, the Helper God, the golden place, seasons and metamorphosis are archetypes that make up modern literature

Andrea Aranda Tom Whittington December 8th, 2014 English 11th "C" Beowulf Vengeance Essay It is often believed amongst the people in this world that justice is revenge. Whether it's justified or just looked for, the need for justice in the lives of people will always be boldly present until something is done about it. The poem "Beowulf" harbors amongst many other themes the theme of revenge, being considered the overwhelming motivation for some particular characters to do what they do. It in

Epic poetry is basically a long narrative poem, that is based on stories that are larger than life. For instance it is about the grandeur of warriors, bravery of heroes, various Gods, kings and their kingdoms. In style and theme, it is majestic. It basically incorporates mythicism, religious affairs, legend, folktales, historical events that are of national significance. It sometimes involves events that are of universal significance aswell. National significance basically is taken in a sence that

1. Oedipus Rex was tragedy play written in 430 B.C.E. by Sophocles then translated by F. Storr. Oedipus the King takes place in Thebes and the Oedipus at the Colonus happens nears Athens. The environment for these characters is in the Heroic Age. This time period the Greek gods have left plant Earth and relocated to Mount Olympus. Now the world is left with heroes like Oedipus. Life for a lot of people was starting to look bleak as the pelage was upon them. Daily life for the people of Thebes were

The choice to retaliate or forgive when wronged is a crucial decision everyone must make. Vengeance and virtue are deeply ingrained in the human condition, transcending all cultural and societal barriers. In literature, vengeance, and virtue are universal themes, as seen in Alexandre Dumas’ novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, and William Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest. However, when it comes to the fundamental aspects of the human condition, the value of virtue far outweighs the value of vengeance

In Aeschylus' two plays Agamemnon, and The Libation Bearers, he demonstrates that a crime committed cannot go without the proper justice served. As read in Agamemnon, Clytemnestra believed she had to take matters into her own hands and get justice for her daughter because he was away at war for ten years, sacrificed their daughter Iphigeneia, and was unfaithful to Clytemnestra. This form of justice served was also seen when Orestes slayed his mother, Clytemnestra and her lover in The Libation Bearers

Within the Greek myths and mythos the gods and goddesses, although human, are all powerful and all knowing. Disobeying or angering these mighty beings always leads to a negative outcome. From Athena turning Arachne into a spider for boosting about being better. To Leto sending Apollo and Artemis to kill Niobe’s 12 children for boosting about bearing more children then her. Not even Oedipus in Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex is spared from the gods’ wrath. There are many symbols that reveal how a possible