In this week’s review, I am looking at the Oresteia by Aeschylus, which is composed of three plays: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers and The Eumenides. I’ve been meaning to read Aeschylus’ tragedies for a long time, however, it has always escaped me, whether that be because of my fondness for Sophoclean tragedy over Aeschylus’ or because of school exams looming over the horizon, I am unsure. Anyhow, with that being said, let’s delve into the misery and tragedy that is the house of Atreus.
In the first play, Agamemnon, Aeschylus depicts the victorious return of the king from the Trojan War and his murder by his wife and his cousin Aegisthus as revenge for sacrificing their daughter Iphigeneia so they could set sail for Troy and Aegisthus as revenge for his father. At the play’s end, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, her lover, rule Argos.
The second play, Libation Bearers, takes its title from the chorus of women servants who come to pour propitiatory offerings at the tomb of the murdered Agamemnon. It details the revenge of Agamemnon’s daughter Electra and his son, Orestes. Orestes then slays Aegisthus, but Orestes’ subsequent murder of Clytemnestra is committed reluctantly, at the god Apollo’s bidding. Orestes’ attempts at self-justification falter, and he flees, guilt-wracked, maddened and pursued by the female incarnations of his mother’s curse, the Furies.
The third play, Eumenides, opens at the shrine of Apollo at Delphi, where Orestes has taken sanctuary from the Furies. At the command of the Delphic oracle, Orestes journeys to Athens to stand trial for his matricide. There the goddess Athena organizes a trial with a jury of citizens. The Furies are his accusers, Apollo his advocate. The jury is evenly divided in its vote, and Athena casts the tie-breaking vote for Orestes’ acquittal. The Furies then turn their vengeful resentment against the city itself, but Athena persuades them, in return for a home and cult, to bless Athens instead and reside there as the Eumenides (“Kind Goddesses”) of the play’s title. The trilogy thus ends with the cycle of retributive bloodshed ended and supplanted by the rule of law and the justice of the state.
Something I found myself considering is whether Clytemnestra was justified in murdering Agamemnon. In the first play after committing the act, she lays out the facts, speaking of the injustice that was Agamemnon sacrificing her daughter, and how the chorus of old men were silent before and are now the first to voice their heartache for their fallen leader. I feel some sympathy for Agamemnon. The entire Greek army was stranded on Aulis, literally a thousand ships waiting to go lay siege on Troy, having been promised unfathomable amounts of treasure and glory, and now the only way to get off the island is by sacrificing this poor girl. It’s not exactly the easiest of decisions and truly shows the kind of relentless leader Agamemnon is.
This idea of a cycle of bloodshed is quite interesting to me, not only because of how deep the roots go in the house of Atreus down from Tantalus to Atreus to Thyestes etc. But also because of the imagery in the play, the parallels created. Before the first play, Iphigenia was sacrificed and her body laid on the floor, when Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon his bod laid on the floor, and when Orestes murdered Aegisthus and his mother he threw their body in the same spot they threw his father’s.
The parallels are quite interesting to look at, and it’s also interesting to see how this cycle of bloodshed started due to divine intervention (Artemis forcing Agamemnon to sacrifice his daughter) and how it ended thanks to divine intervention (Athena's deciding vote in “The Eumenides”). It was, I think the only “happy” ending I think I've ever read in a Greek tragedy which was quite nice cause I like Orestes as a character, however, I think the amount of guilt he showed before he killed his mother is greatly overstated.
Whilst I understand that hesitation before killing is something that really isn’t shown in Greek literature (or maybe it is and I’m just not that well versed) I think people have really picked this apart. There was a moment of hesitation when Orestes asked Pylades what he should do (and even then it was only because Clytemnestra tried convincing him otherwise) to which Pylades simply reminded him that Apollo ordered it, and with a slash of a sword all his guilt disappears.
One theory that I had was that the furies could be a manifestation of Orestes’ guilt. Constantly following him wherever he goes, whether that be the oracle at Delphi or the acropolis at Athens. And once more, only disappears thanks to divine intervention i.e Athena and the court stating his innocence. I feel the ending would be better if they ignored the furies being celebrated in Athens and just ended it with a happy Orestes walking off in the sunset, I think that would be the perfect happy ending, despite how corny it sounds.
In how it compares with the only other existing trilogy in Greek literature, The Three Theban plays, I would have to side with Oedipus on this one. I don’t know what it is, but Sophocles’ style of writing is much more appealing for me at least, in its character description, in its advancement of the plot and its ability to retain your interest even though certain scenes which may be less exciting than others. That isn’t a criticism of Aeschylus’ writing, just an explanation of whom I prefer.
In summary, even though his primary focus in the Oresteia was ethics, justice, crime/punishment, and changes in the social order - the subjective emotions and psychologies of characters are conveyed powerfully. Orestes is not really "heroic" in a Homeric sense, but he presents a less egoistic and more god-fearing type of man in a tormenting pursuit of righteousness - a personality I prefer much more than than the typical stock of hero, we often find in Greek literature.
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