1. Electra disappears from the play before the actual action begins, and she neither takes nor is told to take any action. Can we see her as playing an important role in any way? The fact that Electra does nothing points directly to her most important function in the play: to serve as a contrast …
Little is known for sure about the life of Aeschylus. He seems to have been born about the year 525 BC, into an ancient family of the aristocracy, in the town of Eleusis. Eleusis was the home of the Eleusinian Mysteries, celebrated in honor of Demeter (whose name means Earth Mother) and Persephone, who reigned …
Zeus, Zeus, be witness of these doings! And look upon the orphan brood of the father eagle, of him who perished in the coils and meshes of a dread viper! (All quotations not otherwise attributed are from the literal translation of the Oresteia by Hugh Lloyd-Jones, published by the University of California Press in 1979; …
Restoration of Lawful Government and War Between the Sexes Two other themes play a part: the theme of the need to reverence, and restore if need be, lawful government, and the theme of the horror of a world where the sexes are at war, where women kill men, where the bonds of kinship and marriage …
Animal imagery Whereas the imagery of the Agamemnon, the first play in the trilogy, is all of a piece throughout, and it deepens and strengthens the heavy sense of hopelessness that pervades the play, in The Libation Bearers, the imagery is never quite as negative. More importantly, it shifts in a way that gives hope …
Aegisthus Aegisthus is now king of Argos. He is the son of Thyestes, bent on avenging on the son of Atreus the wrong done Thyestes by Atreus. His readiness to set himself up as a tyrant and his brutality toward the Chorus make him contemptible, even if he is not as complete a coward as …
Summary The doors open, and Orestes is seen, as well as the bodies of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Servants hold up the robe in which Clytemnestra entangled Agamemnon before she killed him. Some scholars believe that a group of citizens of Argos probably came on stage at this point, summoned to hear Orestes speak. …
Summary Aegisthus enters, saying that he has been told that strangers have come bringing the unwelcome news of Orestes’ death—another bloody burden for this bloodstained house. But is this true, or just the story of some terrified woman? The Chorus Leader answers that the thing to do is to question the strangers. …
Summary Orestes and Pylades approach the door and Orestes knocks. He calls out to the “boy” [slave] who is the gatekeeper, asking to be heard and let in. The slave who answers his calling and knocking asks him where he’s from. He orders the slave to announce him to those who rule …
Summary The Chorus Leader praises all that has been said as a proper honoring of the dead by lament, since no lament was raised when Agamemnon was buried, and urges Orestes to act now. Orestes agrees, but first wants to know why Clytemnestra has sent her futile offerings to the tomb of …
