The Cycle of Vengeance in Aeschylus’s Oresteia Essay -- Oresteia Essay

The Cycle of Vengeance in Aeschyluss OresteiaThe cyclical thread of vengeance runs like wild fire through the triplet plays in Aeschyluss Oresteia. This thread, with its complexity of contemporary and universal implications lends itself quite substantially to in fact, al some necessitates deeply interested study. While a picture summary of the Oresteia will inevitably disregard some if not practically of the trilogys essence and intent, on the positive side it will give a platform of characters, events, and motives with which this paper is primarily concerned. As such, I get with a short overview of the Oresteia and the relevant history that immediately precedes it.The house of Atreus is cursed, it would seem, with the lasting cycle of vengeance, the law of an eye for an eye. The curse originated with Tantalus, who angered the gods by eat them on the flesh of his own son, Pelops. Pelops was restored by the gods and effected the birth of both sons, Thyestes and Atreus. T hyestes angered his brother by seducing his wife and challenging his claim to the thr whiz. Consequently, Thyestes was banished from the kingdom, lonesome(prenominal) to be summoned back by Atreus in false friendliness. Atreus, in the trend of his grandfather, feasted the unknowing Thyestes on small bits of Thyestes own children. Upon discovery of his doing, the distraught Thyestes fled into expatriation with his only remaining son, Aegisthus. The Agamemnon picks up with Agamemnon and Menelaus, sons to Atreus, who joined together in the struggle of Troy after Paris, son of Priam, seduced Helen, wife to Menelaus. Angered by his unpitying man-sacrifices in the war, Artemis required that Agamemnon take the life of his daughter Iphigeneia in direct to save the army and fleet o... ...y nature one who questions, one who hesitates, one who considers his own actions from a variety of perspectives. This, by far, appears to be both the simplest and most sound argument. As Oedip uss persistent pursuit of truth and forever and a day questioning nature made him a hero in Sophocles Oedipus, so did the similar nature of Orestes in the Oresteia.Works CitedAeschylus. The Oresteia. Aeschylus The Oresteia. Tran. Robert Fagles. New York Penguin Books, 1979. 99-277.Aristotle. Poetics. Tran. Gerald F. Else. Ann arbour Ann Arbor Paperbacks, 1986.Finley, John H. Jr. Pindar and Aeschylus. Cambridge Harvard UP, 1955.---. Four Stages of Greek Thought. Stanford Stanford UP, 1966.Pollitt, J. J. Art and Experience in Classical Greece. London Cambridge UP, 1979.Taplin, Oliver. Greek Tragedy in Action. London Routledge, 1993.