Orestes and Other Plays Free Ebook
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
FREEORESTES AND OTHER PLAYS EBOOK Euripides,Robin Waterfield | 288 pages | 15 May 2009 | Oxford University Press | 9780199552436 | English | Oxford, United Kingdom Orestes (play) - Wikipedia In accordance with the advice of the god Apollo, Orestes has killed his mother Clytemnestra to avenge the death of his father Agamemnon at her hands. Despite Apollo's earlier prophecy, Orestes finds himself tormented by Erinyes or Furies to the Orestes and Other Plays guilt stemming from his matricide. The only person capable of calming Orestes down from his madness is his sister Electra. To complicate matters further, a leading political faction of Argos wants to put Orestes to death for the murder. In the chronology of events following Orestes, this Orestes and Other Plays takes place after the events contained in plays such as Electra by Euripides and Sophocles or The Libation Bearers by Aeschylusand before events contained in plays Orestes and Other Plays Andromache by Euripides. Orestes presents a very different version of the myth which was also depicted by Aeschylus in The Eumenides. The Orestes and Other Plays begins with a soliloquy that outlines the basic plot and events that have led up to this point from Electra, who stands next to a sleeping Orestes. After Helen leaves, a chorus of Argive women enters to help advance the plot. Then Orestes, still maddened by the Furies, awakes. Menelaus arrives at the palace, and he and Orestes discuss the murder and the resulting madness. As Tyndareus leaves, he warns Menelaus that he will need the old man as an ally. Orestes, in supplication before Menelaus, hopes to gain the compassion that Tyndareus would not grant in an attempt to get him to speak before the assembly of Argive men. However, Menelaus ultimately shuns his nephew, choosing not to compromise his tenuous power among the Greeks, who blame him and his wife for the Trojan War. He and Orestes begin to formulate a plan, in the process indicting partisan politics and leaders who manipulate the masses for results contrary to the Orestes and Other Plays interest of the state. Orestes and Pylades then exit so that they may state Orestes and Other Plays case before the town assembly in an effort to save Orestes and Electra from execution, which proves unsuccessful. The off-stage assembly-scene Orestes and Other Plays by a messenger is immensely detailed, containing speeches from four different speakers as well as Orestes himself. Their execution certain, Orestes, Electra, and Pylades formulate Orestes and Other Plays plan of revenge against Menelaus for turning his back on them. To inflict the greatest suffering, they plan to kill Helen and hold her daughter, Hermione, hostage in order to escape harm. However, when they go to kill Helen, she vanishes. Orestes asks the slave why he should spare his life, and the slave supplicates himself before Orestes. Orestes and Other Plays then enters leading to a standoff between him and Orestes, Electra, and Pylades, who have successfully captured Hermione. Just as more bloodshed is to occur, Apollo arrives on stage deus ex machina. He sets everything back in order, explaining that he has rescued Helen to place her among the stars, and that Menelaus must go back to Sparta. He tells Orestes to go to Athens to the Areopagus Orestes and Other Plays, the Athenian court, in order to stand judgment, where he will later Orestes and Other Plays acquitted. Orestes and Other Plays, Orestes is to marry Hermione, while Pylades will marry Electra. Finally, Apollo tells the mortals to go and rejoice in Peace, most honored and favored of the gods. Aeschylus' play Eumenidesthe third part of his surviving Oresteia trilogy, enshrines the trial and acquittal of Orestes within the foundation of Athens itself, as a moment when legal deliberation surpassed blood vengeance as a means of resolution. As such, the fact that Euripides' version of the myth portrays Orestes being found guilty and resorts to bloodshed and blackmail to escape has been interpreted as deeply problematic for Athenian identity. It has been argued by some authors that Euripides uses the mythology of the Bronze Age to make a political point about the politics of Classical Athens during the Peloponnesian War. Orestes first played at the Dionysia during the waning years of the war, both Athens and Sparta and all of their allies had suffered tremendous losses. Euripides challenges the role of the gods and perhaps more appropriately man's interpretation of divine will. Orestes and others note the subordinate role of man to the gods, but the superiority of the gods does not Orestes and Other Plays them particularly fair or rational. William Arrowsmith praised the play as a sharp condemnation of Athenian society, calling it:. It is In addition to the will of the gods, the role of natural law and its tension with man-made law is noted. Orestes best embodies this value by sparing the life of the Phrygian, driving home the point the beauty of life transcends cultural boundaries whether one be a slave or free man. This was also the only successful supplication in the play. Vienna Papyrus G from HermopolisEgypt contains a choral ode with musical notation, [3] possibly composed by Euripides himself. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be Orestes and Other Plays and removed. In Grene, David; Lattimore, Richmond eds. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Translated by Wilson, Andrew. The Orestes of Euripides. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 15 January Plays by Euripides. Agamemnon father Clytemnestra mother Aegisthus stepfather Orestes brother Iphigenia sister Chrysothemis sister. Oresteia BC, Aeschylus Electra c. Orestes and Electra. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. Orestes | Greek mythology | Britannica A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as "the Erinyes, that under earth take vengeance on men, whosoever hath sworn a false oath". According to Hesiod 's Theogonywhen the Titan Cronus castrated his father, Uranusand Orestes and Other Plays his genitalia into the sea, the Erinyes along with the Giants and the Meliae emerged from the drops of blood which fell on the earth Gaiawhile Aphrodite was born from the crests of sea foam. Virgilprobably working from an Alexandrian source, recognized three: Alecto or Alekto "endless"Megaera "jealous rage"and Tisiphone or Tilphousia "vengeful destruction"all of whom appear in the Aeneid. Dante Alighieri followed Virgil in depicting the same three-character triptych of Erinyes; in Canto IX of the Inferno they confront the poets at the gates of the city of Dis. Whilst the Erinyes were usually described as three maiden goddesses, the Erinys Telphousia was usually a by-name for the wrathful goddess Demeterwho was worshipped under the title of Erinys in the Arkadian town of Thelpousa. The Erinyes live in Erebus and Orestes and Other Plays more ancient than any of the Olympian deities. Their task is to hear complaints brought by mortals against the insolence of the young to the aged, of children to parents, of hosts to guestsand of householders or city councils to suppliants— and to punish such crimes by hounding culprits relentlessly. The Erinyes are crones and, depending upon authors, described as having snakes for hair, Orestes and Other Plays heads, coal black bodies, bat's wings, and blood-shot eyes. In their hands they carry brass-studded scourges, and their victims die Orestes and Other Plays torment. According to some sources, [ citation needed ] the three classic Orestes and Other Plays sprang forth from the spilled blood of Uranus when he was castrated by his son Cronus. The sisters are:. Pausanias describe a sanctuary in Athens dedicated to the Erinyes under the name Semnai:. Hard by [the Areopagos the murder court of Athens] is a sanctuary of the goddesses which the Athenians call the August, but Hesiod in the Theogony calls them Erinyes Furies. It was Aeschylus who first represented them with snakes in their hair. But on the images neither of these nor of any of the under-world deities is there anything terrible. There are images of Pluto, Hermes, and Earth, by which sacrifice those who have received an acquittal on the Hill of Ares; sacrifices are also offered on other occasions by both citizens and aliens. Orestes and Other Plays fragments dealing with the Erinyes are found among the earliest extant records of ancient Greek culture. The Erinyes are featured prominently in the myth of Oresteswhich recurs frequently throughout many works of ancient Greek literature. Featured in ancient Greek literature, from poems to plays, Orestes and Other Plays Erinyes form the Chorus and play a major role in the conclusion of Aeschylus 's dramatic trilogy the Oresteia. In the first play, AgamemnonKing Agamemnon returns home from the Trojan Warwhere he is slain by his wife, Clytemnestrawho Orestes and Other Plays vengeance for her daughter Iphigeniawho was sacrificed by Agamemnon in order to obtain favorable winds to sail to Troy. In the second play, The Libation Bearerstheir son Orestes has reached manhood and has been commanded by Apollo 's oracle to avenge his father's murder at his mother's hand. Returning home and revealing himself to his sister ElectraOrestes pretends to be a messenger bringing the news of his own death to Clytemnestra. He then slays his mother and her lover Aegisthus. Although Orestes' actions were what Apollo had commanded him to do, Orestes has still committed matricide, a grave sacrilege. In Athens, Athena arranges for Orestes to be tried by a jury of Athenian citizens, with her presiding.