Employing an advanced technique, Aeschylus fills his tragedy, Oresteia: The Agamemnon, with layers of multiplicity. Essentially, multiplicity in this tragedy entails using dialogues containing several meanings to convey truths about Greek society and to shed light on situations outside the current action. Aeschylus’ use of this dramatic tool contributes to the success of the novel and adds depth to the meaning of the characters’ conversations. Furthermore, it affords the audience an opportunity to personally interpret the underlying message is. Aeschylus does not use multiplicity as embellishment; rather, he uses it to present a developed argument enhanced by the characters’ experiences and positions in society.
While the majority of the characters
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Furthermore, it addresses in what way the queen’s actions disrupted the normal flow of society. After the chorus accuses her of polluting the city with her inhumane act, Clytemnestra protests this treatment and calls into question why the chorus “raised no opposition to this man”, referring to Agamemnon and his murder of Iphigeneia (Aeschylus ln. 1413). By incorporating this major plot issue into the conversation between the chorus and queen, Aeschylus unearths various opinions regarding this specific situation, but also the overall perception of “polluting acts” and how they affect Greek values (Aeschylus ln. 1421). The remainder of the banter between the queen and the elders of the chorus focuses on the difference between the two murders. Pollution in Greek society was taken quite seriously because they prided themselves on the appearance the put forth to other cities. An act of murder negatively impacts a community, and so often the citizens rise against the murderer: either retaliating with murder or exile. In this case, Clytemnestra convinced the chorus that “worthy was what he suffered” and she remained in power (Aeschylus ln. 1527). This ending unfolded through the multiplicities supplied in this section because the words of the chorus and queen were outwardly simple, but upon further …show more content…
592). Additionally, when Agamemnon returns, his wife greets him and pressures him into walking on precious tapestries meant for the gods. A few multiplicities indicate suspicion within the home. First, the tapestries are a deep-red color, like blood. By walking on this fabric, he is essentially walking through a trail of his blood to his death which awaits him inside. More importantly, the fact that Clytemnestra persuaded her husband by instigating competition through remarks about “what Priam would have done” and his “judgement” draw upon Clytemnestra’s deceptive side and show her power as a woman (Aeschylus ln. 934). The multiplicity in this instance is not a hidden meaning of words, but a subtle advancement of women in
It is without fail that throughout Aeschylus’ trilogy, The Oresteia, the presence of light and dark can be found in the characters, the plot and the themes. The trilogy follows the House of Atreus its emergence from darkness into the light. However, the light and darkness are often presented symbolically throughout the trilogy and often appear as pairs, which are constantly at odds with each other like Clytaemnestra versus Orestes and Apollo verses the Furies. Light and dark are not defined, nor strictly categorized, as good against evil, rather they move towards the primal versus civilized nature of the culture, and the two merging, and moving into a new era of Greek civilization. The dark is not pure evil, the light is not pure good; they are a coming together of two different times, and because of that transition, from primitive to civilized, tension builds and breaks, which causes the tragic events of The Oresteia throughout the three plays: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides.
Antigone is a play about the tension caused when two individuals have conflicting claims regarding law. In this case, the moral superiority of the laws of the city, represented by Creon, and the laws of the gods, represented bt Antigone. In contrast, Oedipus The King is driven by the tensions within Oedipus himself. That play both begins and concludes within the public domain, the plot being driven by the plague that troubles the city, and which is so graphically brought to life by the Priest. In both Antigone (ll179-82) and Oedipus The King (ll29-31) the city is likened to a storm tossed ship, and it cannot be merely coincidence that Oedipus The King was written at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, a time when Athens itself was suffering the effects of plague. Oedipus The King reaches its climax with a now blinded Oedipus daring to show himself to the people of Thebes, forgetting that he is no longer the leader of the state. In Antigone, it is Creons abuse of absolute power that leads to his tragic downfall. Whilst Oedipus determinedly tried to get to the root of his peoples ills, ultimately discovering that he was in fact the cause of them, Creon morphs from a supposedly caring leader into a tyrannical despot, eager to take the law into his own hands. It is the actions of Antigone that helps to bring about Creons fall from grace, as her steadfast refusal to accept th...
Aeschylus' The Oresteia features two characters burdened by seemingly hopeless decisions. First is Agamemnon, king of Argos, whose army was thwarted by the goddess, Artemis. Agamemnon was faced with the decision to call off the army's sail to Troy, and thus admit defeat and embarrassment, or to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, to satisfy Artemis whom had stopped the winds to delay Agamemnon's fleet. Second is Orestes, son of Agamemnon, who was given the choice by Apollo to avenge his father's murder, thus committing matricide, or face a series of torturous consequences. Although both Agamemnon and Orestes were faced with major dilemmas, their intentions and their characters are revealed through their actions to be markedly different.
The Theme of Corrupted Xenia in Aeschylus' "Oresteia" Paul Roth Mnemosyne , Fourth Series, Vol. 46, Fasc. 1 (Feb., 1993), pp. 1-17
1 Aeschylus, The Oresteia: A New Translation for the Theatre, Translated by David Grene and Wendy Doniger-O'Flaherty (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989).
The Ancient Greek poet Aeschylus’ play The Agamemnon is a tragic play about the House of Atreus and its curse. In this play two characters, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, were both faced with difficult decisions. However, neither of their decisions are justified since their motives were not pure and they murdered their family members and expected to witness no retaliation. Agamemnon sacrificed his innocent daughter, Iphigenia, in order to lead his fleet to Troy, which was unjust and disrespectful in the eyes of Artemis. Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon for power over Argos, even though initially Power is an unjust motive and not a motivation of the blood feud, therefore Clytemnestra's only protection is extraneous. Both Agamemnon and Clytemnestra
Aristophane’s Lysistrata is a flawed classic filled with the power struggle between man vs. woman. It is entirely focused and written from the male perspective, in which male-privilege dominated and disregarded the women’s outlook entirely. This “classic” is full of misogynistic perspectives, and should be disregarded as a great piece in Athenian literature.
When a person is accused of a crime they are either found innocent or guilty. This is the basic idea of justice and it is what many feel needs to happen if someone has done something controversial. In the play The Oresteia by Aeschylus, the story of Clytemnestra guilt or innocents is questioned. She does many things that people are not too happy with and those controversial actions throughout the story, mainly in the first part Agamemnon get her into the trouble. As we explore the case that builds against her innocents by exploring the killings of Agamemnon and Cassandra and the boastful expression about the killings.
The play was considered comic by the ancient Athenians because of its rhyming lyricism, its song and dance, its bawdy puns, but most of all because the notion and methods of female empowerment conceived in the play were perfectly ridiculous. Yet, as is the case in a number of Aristophanes’ plays, he has presented an intricate vision of genuine human crisis. In true, comic form Aristophanes superficially resolves the play’s conflicts celebrating the absurdity of dramatic communication. It is these loose threads that are most rife with tragedy for modern reader. By exploring an ancient perspective on female domesticity, male political and military power, rape, and efforts to maintain the integrity of the female body, we can liberate our modern dialogue.
Aeschylus. Aeschylus, The Oresteia A New Translation for the Theater by Aeschylus,. Translated by Wendy Doniger and David Greene. University of Chicago Press, 1989.
The cyclic thread of vengeance runs like wild fire through the three plays in Aeschylus’s Oresteia. This thread, with its complexity of contemporary and universal implications lends itself quite well to – in fact, almost necessitates – deeply interested study. While a brief summary of the Oresteia will inevitably disregard some if not much of the trilogy’s essence and intent, on the positive side it will establish a platform of characters, events, and motives with which this paper is primarily concerned. As such, I begin with a short overview of the Oresteia and the relevant history that immediately precedes it.
In Aeschylus’ The Agamemnon, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra have to make tough decisions throughout the play, decisions they believe are justified. The actions of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra are not justified because they are caused by their blinding hubris and desire for power. Agamemnon makes the choice to kill his daughter just so he could lead his troops to Troy. Clytemnestra kills her husband, not just for revenge, but for his position and power as king of Mycenae. They make selfish choices and do not believe they will be punished for them. By exposing their true motives, Aeschylus makes it clear they are not justified in their actions.
The Chorus, in this play, guides the audience. In the end, it is up to the individual as to what reaction they have to the play, but the Chorus is there to, in a way makes this reaction more complicated. One could leave the play totally condemning Medea, but the Chorus display’s Medea in a way that makes the audience sympathise with her, and so the moral conclusions that need to be come to side, become more complex. The audience has to base their reaction to Medea on what crimes they have seen her commit, and on what they have heard of her through the Chorus. Their integral part in the play acts in many ways, to follow, revise, and extend the plot of the play, and to influence the opinions and sympathies of the audience. It is a literary, and dramatic device that Euripedes uses, and uses well, to help portray a tragedy, and also a moralistic play, in which the Chorus is the voice that provides the morals.
She describes to the chorus, “There spurted from him bloody foam in a fierce jet.” (1457) Her graphic description gives way to show how proud she is of what she has accomplished. Furthermore, this pride shows how savage and ruthless she had become. Her horrifying capability of being able to withstand the bloody gore of killing her own husband is tragic. The aftermath of the killing presents Clytemnestra as a proud woman who successfully achieved her goal. The remark of his blood “spreading, spattered me with drops of crimson rain” continues to develop this cynical nature that the thirst for vengeance had bestowed upon her. (1458) Her character is in full metamorphosis by the end of the play and she has flourished into this raging women. The transition of her demeanor suggests an insight on her true intentions and feelings when killing Agamemnon. Therefore, these intentions are to seek revenge for her daughter 's death.
Agamemnon is the first part of the trilogy known as the Oresteia. Agamemnon is a story where the main character sacrifices his own daughter to a God, Artemis to win a battle and then his wife revenge him for the sacrifice. The concept of fate plays an important role in the tilogy Agamemnon which led to the tragic endings of the play. According to the meaning of fate it means the development of events outside a person’s control, regarded as predetermined by a super natural power. Fate is what send Agamemnon to the war with Menelaus to fight against Paris, fate is what predetermined Agamemnon to sacrifice his own blood for the sake of his ship and companions and fate is what determined Cassandra his wife to plot to kill him and to revenge him for her daughter.