The Oresteia - Book Report/Review Example

Later, Aegisthus triumph the death of Agamemnon. The second of the three tragedies entitled The Libation Bearers deals with the revenge Orestes due to the murder of his father which was committed by his own mother. Orestes decided that the best way to avenge his dad's death was to actually kill his own mother. His plan was painfully to him for the death of her mother meant him being considered as an orphan. Apollo commanded him with the plan. To achieve his intention, Orestes is forced to sneak in cover up into the dwelling of the usurper.

Although he strongly believed that his father deserves justice for his murder, his conscience was still bothered by his plan to kill his own mother. As to his culpability a debate takes place amongst the gods, several support the endeavor, whilst the others discriminate against Orestes, in anticipation of godly knowledge, personified in Athena, stabilizes the assertions on either side and marked the end to the lengthy train of crime and vengeance which had desolated the royal abode of Atreus.

Eumenides is the third story of The Oresteia. Orestes was hunted by The Furies. Consequently Orestes sought the aid of Apollo. Apollo told Orestes to visit and speak to Athena. When Orestes met Athena, she arranged a trial for Orestes. The Athenian citizens are the jurors of the trial to determine the guilt of Orestes. The case of Orestes was a subject for debate among the citizens as well as the gods. The Furies believed that Orestes deserves to be punished for his murder of Clytemnestra. They insisted that Orestes should have shown respect for his mother because she was the one who gave birth to him.

Apollo thought otherwise. He stated that Clytemnestra committed a crime against his husband and Orestes had the right to take vengeance for his own father's death. After the disputes, the trial ended with a tie vote which led to Orestes' freedom. Identify and discuss the general forces or motivating factors at work in the plays. Illustrate these with specific references to individuals and events. The general forces that are at work in the trilogy were revenge and guilt. Examining the trilogy as a complete work, it will be noticed that in the Agamemnon subjective free-will triumphs in the plan and perpetration of the endeavor; the primary character is an unlawful man, and the section ends with the victory of impudent and overconfident autocracy.

In the Agamemnon the deed is somewhat the verdict of fate and partially the consequence of Orestes' normal desires, his yearning to take vengeance his father's loss. In the Eumenides Orestes becomes simply the inactive mechanism of chance, all liberty of deed being transmitted to the gods, with Pallas at their head. Thus the opposition involving the holiest of human associations which frequently happens in life as a difficulty not to be unraveled by man, is here symbolized as an issue of disagreement among the powers above.

The trilogy shows a profound symbolical connotation. The Titans indicate the gloomy inexplicable influences of primitive nature and are almost associated to Chaos; the younger gods characterizes what penetrates into the sphere of consciousness, into a world that has