What Is the Role of Fate in the Oresteia - Essay Example

What is the role of fate in the Oresteia? You may want to refer back to the Iliad in your answer.  “Oresteia” by Aeschylus is basically a trilogy consisting of the Agamemnon, Libation Bearers and the Eumenides which talks about the fall of the House of Atreus. Aeschylus throughout The Oresteia tries to convince that conscientiousness and sagacity determines the experience of people rather than fate, though Oresteia received major popularity as a three-act drama of family fate. Aeschylus in a remarkable way depicts his stance at various occasions throughout the play, the changing role of Furies to the Eumenides. Another important example is the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes which was a revenge for killing his own father. Foundation of Athenian Justice System in which the outcome is based on the reasoned decision of judges is visible in the climax. Important role in the plays is of Furies who are most influential in the third and final play The Eumenides. They are powerful and they punish those who bring crime in the world, they want to spread justice. In the final play the power is taken from fate and given to forgiving and rational Eumenides. This clearly shows that the role played by fate in Oresteia was not that impactful and constant. Fate though was the reason behind their job initially still they changed the role of fate easily, not having any difficulty in taking this step. Oresteia is full of incidents which clearly show that destiny, providence, fate and fortune are hardly present in the play; it is about vengeance, personal motives and revenge. The basic plot talks about return of Agamemnon from Troy to Agros and his murder by his wife Clytemnestra, and paramour Aegisthus, followed by Orestes who is the banished son of Agamemnon coming in the scene in order to kill his mother who is the murderer of Agamemnon along with Aegisthus. In the end he is absolved from the shame of matricide. The rule of Apollo, Zeus and Athena succeeds over the ancient power of the Erinyes and the revenge of the shedding of Kindred blood. Overall we can say that Oresteia received the title of family fate as it talks about the sad murders taken place within a family and by the family, Wife killing her husband and a child killing his own mother. It clearly shows that man is a puppet in the hands of the two competing forces of Fate, the Good which enables a person to walk on the right path, follow what is good and provides justice, and Evil which is ghastly, dreadful and the end is also terrible. The role of fate is here to decide the end, the winner is decided amongst them, the Good fares well however the evil is unfortunate. These are two opposing forces that never walk together or directly. If we talk about Eumenides, important characters here are of Clytemnestra, the Erinyes and Orestes. Clytemnestra uses a dialogue of blame and excuses to show that she was using a predetermined path, blaming fate for her act although she accepted that her killing was not a mistake, however fate was blamed. The sad killing of a mother by a son, fate is blamed however fate is just an excuse behind brutal revenge.  Clytemnestras here is depicted as a character with evil fate and thus the end is evil too. Her role in the plays gradually weakens in importance and persuades upon the action. She wakes up the furies for justice. Important question which rises here is that the destruction which is caused by the characters is just due to fate or not, here the problem of double determinism is visible, though the feeling of not being able to stop themselves leads to a combination of Zeus will and also the inner corruption of the characters who are a part of a cursed house. Fate was harsh on the house of Mycenae from storm sent by Hera and Athena destroying Greek ships to Clytemnestra killing his husband Agamemnon because of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, his liaison with Cassandra and her affair with Aegisthus. Fate had a strange role to play as Pelops brought a curse upon the house of Atreus. Pelop’s son Atreus brought an additional curse upon the family when he killed the children of Thyestes .Blaming the fate for all the actions was a usual task, whether it was Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia for his success in Trojan war. Strange game is played by Furies from the underworld that disturbs Orestes, and makes him go to Delphi in order to seek freedom from the bloodguilt of matricide. Apollo wants Orestes to go to Athens in order to attend the court founded by Athena so that court can justify Orestes and conciliate the furies. Overall the tragic trilogy of Agamemnon’s family talks about simplicity, murder, vengeance, dramatic restraint and revenge. Role of Fate and divine intervention in Orestia is dependent on some important factors and points, such as social position, guilt, responsibility and accountability. Murder of Agamemnon at the hands of Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus was not an act of fate of decision of fate only; both of them had a grudge against Agamemnon and a strong reason for their act. Believe in god’s commands and acting according is an integral part of Orestia which is visible by Agamemnon’s act of killing his daughter Iphigenia in response to the command of the goddess Artemis, who was holding the Greek ships. Another angle to Agamemnon’s brutal act is he trying to maintain his personal honors before his army. Revenge, which is another important player along with fate, plays an integral part here. Clytemnestra’s cruel act of killing her husband had many personal factors such as Agamemnon’s relationship with his mistress Cassandra. She is a symbol of severing of morality from the oikos. Act of adultery and murder of her daughter was two crimes Agamemnons committed which were deliberate or accidental reasons of his death. Agamemnon’s crime was not just that he killed his own child, his daughter but also his sins against marriage which was by committing adultery and his struck at the status of a woman within a marriage. The role of motherhood is questioned here and in the Eumenides the role of motherhood is eradicated. Aegisthus supported Clytemnestra in killing Agamemnon, not because it was about fate or it was suppose to happen and his involvement was an act of destiny but his own grudge against Agamemnon is a crucial factor here. The grudge or the problem Aegisthus had was not personally with Agamemnon but with his father Atreus. Atreus got to know that his brother Thyestes was also involved in adultery with his wife slew Thyestes children and served them to him at a banquet. Aegisthus here wanted revenge for his father, this clearly depicts family retribution and revenge and not just plain fate. Role of Fate is visible here as chances are given and the chances are a game of fate. These incidents are clearly depicting the curse on the family and the house of Atreus. The play shrouds in mystery however it is all about justice. Disapproval or discontentment of God towards is attempted to fuel Clytemnestra. She tries to persuade Agamemnon to walk on the fine tapestries into his house. Here the usage of tapestries can be seen as a sacrilegious act as it is similar to the sacrificial destruction of objects. Agamemnon chose to please his wife, risking divine displeasure; he also was visualizing his families’ curse, where the oikos continued to wound itself. History clearly shows various arguments on the actual reason of Agamemnon’s death or the justifications given for his death. Lesky in 1983 supported the death of Agamemnon as he killed Iphigenia. He supported the death as the result of the earlier wraths of Artemis or the will of Zeus. Fate again is given an importance here as Agamemnon is seen as a pawn of the gods, he obeyed the command of Zeus and killed his daughter, and this obedience angers Clytemnestra and is the major cause of Agamemnon’s murder. Divine displeasure was clearly indicated in the return journey of Agamemnon from Troy. Storm made the journey miserable which was caused the the “She gods” we can realistically refer Trojan champions Aphrodite and Hera with this. The major factor here is the conquest and ill treatment of their Trojan by Agamemnon and his army which made them angry. Agamemnon was not loyal towards his wife, his cousin and also certain gods and thus it was his action or actions and acts of his ancestors which provoked their hostility towards him. The character of Clytemnestra depicts bad fortune or bad luck as she was killed at the hands of her son Orestes, who grew up in an exile. Clytemnestra killed her husband out of motherhood where she was unhappy that her husband killed her daughter and fate here had different plans which led her murder by his own son. Orestes here was not following the command of the god Apollo and he was basically taking a revenge for his father’s death. Clytemnestra was just punishing her husband for the sacrifice of Iphigenia. Fate played a twisted role here again in the play where it justifies all the murders where the justification is true for one and it act against the other one. If we give her a benefit of doubt we can easily understand her action. Arrogant and proud Agamemnon over his victory of Troy gets his lesson. Clytemnestra is unhappy with this arrogance of Agamemnon due to his victory as she feels this victory was due to the sacrifice of her daughter and this triggers her bitterness and anger. Clytemnestra is totally on the mercy of the Gods. Her one child is taken from her in sacrifice to Artemis, and Orestes killed her. Clytemnestra can be seen here to shun religion in her refusal to offer Agamemnon’s ghost remembrance resources. Spirit of Agamemnon’s spirit is not at rest and Clytemnestra also sends mourners to appease his spirit, who are Trojan women who are affirmed enemies. The most influential scene of the play was the carpet scene where the Clytemnestra attempts to bring the families daemon to bear on Agamemnon. The moral downwards spirit of the oikos are encouraged by Clytemnestra which thus in the end acts against her and causes her death by the hands of her own son. To conclude we can safely say that fate had a major impact and was the reason of the murders taking place but the revenge also played his part well. Agamemnon and Clytemnestra made the gods angry, Clytemnestra invited Agamemnon to walk on fine tapestries and Agamemnon was complying. Here both of them can be viewed as the victims of fate, which are under the families Daemon. Read More