Greek

Traged
WORLD
LITERATURE
y The
Orestei BOOK REVIEW
a
Submitted by: Vincent B. Santos
BSBA-HRDM 3-4N

Submitted to: Sir. Roderick Centeno

Professor

World Literature
Greek Tragedy The
Oresteia
Book Review

Submitted by: Vincent B. Santos

BSBA-HRDM 3-4N

Submitted to: Sir. Roderick Centeno

Professor

Introduction
Aeschylus (c. 524-456 B.C.E.) is known as The Father of Tragedy his plays
still can be read or performed up to now. The other tragedians are Sophocles
and Euripides; among them he was the first dramatist to perform his plays as
a trilogy. Only seven of estimated seventy to ninety plays written by
Aeschylus have survived into modern times, the best known is the trilogy
The Oresteia containing The Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and
The Eumenides.

The Plot Summary

I will start the story a generation before the Trojan War so that the readers
can understand where the trilogy came from. There two brothers, Atreus and
Thyestes contended for the throne of Argos. Thyestes seduced his brother's
wife and was driven out of Argos by Atreus, who then established himself as
sole king. Eventually Thyestes returned and asked to be forgiven. Atreus
pretended to be reconciled with his brother but secretly planned to avenge
the seduction of his wife and at the same time to eliminate a rival for the
crown by rendering Thyestes unclean in the eyes of the citizens of Argos.
Atreus murdered the two young sons of Thyestes, cut their bodies into
unrecognizable pieces, and had them served to their father at a banquet
given in honor of his return. Thyestes was horrified when he knew what he
had dined on. He cursed Atreus and all his descendants, and fled from Argos
with his only remaining child, the infant Aegisthus.
When Atreus died, the throne of Argos was inherited by his son Agamemnon,
who married Clytaemestra, the daughter of the king of Sparta. They had
three children: Iphigenia, Electra, and Orestes. The other son of Atreus,
Menelaus, married Helen, the sister of Clytaemestra and in due course
became the king of Sparta when her father died.
Onetime after Helen and Menelaus were married, Paris, the son of the king of
Troy, came to Sparta. He seduced Helen and carried her back with him to
Troy. Faithful to their oaths, the chieftains rallied with their armies to the call
of Menelaus. A great force was mobilized to capture Troy and restore Helen
to her rightful husband. Agamemnon, as leader of the largest contingent,
was made commander.
This is the part that will give the readers idea how the story of The
Agamemnon begins. The expedition assembled at Aulis, on the eastern
coast of Greece, but was unable to sail for Troy because of adverse winds.
Calchas, a soothsayer who accompanied the army, declared that the

goddess Artemis was responsible and could only be appeased by the

sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia. Agamemnon was appalled by
this command and refused to obey, but finally gave in to the pressure put on
him by the other chieftains. He induced Clytaemestra to send Iphigenia to
Aulis by claiming that the maiden was to be married to Achilles, the greatest
of the Greek heroes. When the young girl arrived at the camp, however, she
was sacrificed to the goddess. After this the wind changed, the army boarded
its ships and set sail for Troy.
Meanwhile, Aegisthus returned to Argos in the absence of Agamemnon. He
began to plot against his cousin in the hope of regaining what he considered
to be his rightful place on the throne, and of avenging the treatment his
father and brothers received at the hands of Atreus. Aegisthus discovered
that Clytaemestra had developed a bitter hatred for Agamemnon because of
the sacrifice of her daughter. Her enmity for her husband continued to
increase as she received reports of his infidelity with other women while on
campaign at Troy. Before long, Aegisthus and Clytaemestra became lovers.
They shared the same hatred for Agamemnon and began to conspire
together. They planned to murder him when he came back to Argos. The
siege of Troy lasted ten years. Finally the city fell and was sacked by the
Greek army, its temples were destroyed, and the surviving inhabitants were
sold into slavery.
The first part of trilogy The Agamemnon started in the Argos after the fall
of Troy. Agamemnon returns home with only one ship because his fleet was
scattered by a storm at sea. He is accompanied by his newest woman,
Cassandra, the daughter of the king of Troy. Aegisthus remains in the
background while Clytaemestra gives her husband an affectionate welcome
and the people of Argos applaud their victorious king. Later, Clytaemestra
traps Agamemnon in his bath and kills him with an axe. Cassandra is
murdered also. Clytaemestra and Aegisthus announce the murders to the
people, overcome the opposition of the Elders, and set themselves up as the
new rulers of Argos.
The second part of the trilogy The Libation Bearers takes place few years
later. This is the part were Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, has been living
in exile in the nearby kingdom of Phocis. In obedience to a command given
him by the god Apollo, Orestes returns to Argos to avenge his father. He
seeks out his sister Electra, then gains admittance to the palace by
disguising himself and kills Clytaemestra and Aegisthus. Orestes tries to
justify the murder of his mother, but in the final part of the story he is
afflicted with madness and flees in terror from the Furies, hideous spirits who
hunt down and punish murderers.

The last part of the trilogy The Eumenides begins few days later. Orestes
seeks refuge in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. Finally he arrives at Athens
and throws himself on the mercy of the goddess Athene. The Furies follow
him there and insist that Orestes must be punished for killing his own
mother. He claims that he acted according to Apollo's dictate and is not
responsible for the crime. Athene arranges a special court to hear the case,
but the jurors are unable to reach a verdict. Athene casts the deciding vote
and Orestes is blameless. The Furies angrily threaten vengeance on Athens,
but Athene clams them by the offer of a position of honor in the cult of her
city. They accept. The ancient Furies are transformed into benevolent spirits.
Their name is changed to the Eumenides, or "kindly ones," to symbolize their
new character.

The Opinion
I commend the patience and strategy of what Aegisthus did in the story,
were he just waited the right time to come on how he can seek the justice for
his father and brothers, and hoping to regain what he considered to be his
rightful place on the throne. I like also the strength that Clytaemestra
showed in the story because even though her daughter had killed because of
the decision of her husband Agamemnon, and she still stand by her own
even though she knew that she is fooled by her husband while his in the
expedition. I cant blame also Agamemnon for what decision he made on her
daughter because he is the commander of the expedition were the decisions
of the whole is in his hands. And maybe he cannot succeed the fall of Troy if
he doesnt follow the quest of the goddess Artemis, even though its also
difficult for him to decide still he showed strength for being a great
commander and warrior.
The situation of Orestes in the story is difficult because he is just following
the command of god Apollo but then he cannot accept the truth that he
killed his own mother. And because of the Furies he is suffering with madness
and trying to escape from his sin. Thats why I do understand why he seeks
for refuge in the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi because he did it just to obey
his command. Because of it he went to the Athens and seeks for mercy of
the goddess Athene. I like the character of Athene because of her kindness
and fairness although she knew how heavy the sin of Orestes and the Furies
wants him to punish still Athene balanced the decision making on what she
will do with Orestes in the end Athene made a decision that Orestes is
innocent on what he did and she offer the Furies a position of honor in the
cult of her city as the benevolent spirits and thats why they change their
name as The Eumenides to symbolize their character meaning the Kindly
ones.

The Conclusion
The trilogy The Oresteia tries to tell the communication with the gods and
goddesses within the human. It shows how gods and goddesses control the
life of the human. On how human obeys the gods and goddesses even
though its difficult for them to follow but for the sake of what is the reason of
it or what theyre fighting for they will do it.
On the other hand, I also observed that human beings think about justice as
a rational concept, institutionalized in their communities, but they also have
strong emotions about justice, both within the family and the community.
The revenge moral belief attached to those powerful feelings in The
Oresteia stands exposed as something that finally violates our deepest
sense of any possibility for enduring justice in our community, for it commits
us a never-ending cycle of retributive killing and over-killing.
The final image that story stresses for us that in our justice we must strive to
move beyond merely personal emotion, the basis of personal revenge,
towards some group deliberations, but in the new process we must not
violate our personal feelings or forget they have their role to play. If justice is
to be a matter of persuasion, it cannot violate the deepest feelings we have
about justice. If such violation takes place, the city will not thrive. The Furies
will see to that.