Oresteia story
The Oresteia (Ancient Greek: Ὀρέστεια) is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House of Atreus and the pacification of the Erinyes. The trilogy—consisting of Agamemnon (Ἀγαμέμνων), The Libation Bearers (Χοηφóρoι), and The Eumenides (Εὐμενίδες)—also shows how the Greek gods interacted with the characters and influenced their decisions pertaining to events and disputes. The only extant example of an ancient Greek theatre trilogy, the Oresteia won first prize at the Dionysia festival in 458 BC. The principal themes of the trilogy include the contrast between revenge and justice, as well as the transition from personal vendetta to organized litigation. Oresteia originally included a satyr play, Proteus (Πρωτεύς), following the tragic trilogy, but all except a single line of Proteus has been lost.
10 total · 1 choice · 6 major · 3 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| killing wicked people | choice | The social ethical dilemma at the heart of the story is whether a man may justly slay his own mother if she has killed his father. One argument against this was that husband and wife don't share blood whereas mother and son do; a counter argument was that a mother is merely a crucible for the father's seed and thus deserve far less loyalty from her offspring than do the father. |
| Ancient Greek mythology | major | Apollo, Athena, and the Furies made explicit appearances in part 3 and the morality of Orestes crime was debated with reference to things the Gods had done. |
| matricide | major | The point of the story was to debate whether Orestes' slaying of his own mother could possibly be justified. |
| mother and son | major | Clytemnestra and Orestes; Orestes occasionally reflected on his relationship to her |
| spouse murder | major | The story concerned the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra. |
| the desire for justice | major | Apollo in particular was concerned with seeing justice visited on Clytemnestra; the Furies were keen on seeing Orestes suffer justice (as they saw it) for committing matricide. |
| the desire for vengeance | major | Electra and Orestes wanted to avenge their father Agamemnon's murder at the hands of Clytemnestra. |
| brother and sister | minor | Orestes and Electra |
| husband and wife | minor | Agamemnon and Clytemnestra |
| mother and daughter | minor | Clytemnestra |