I enjoyed reading these plays, and imagining how they would be staged. The theme of revenge vs. justice is still a timely one today, and I thought the layers of old gods vs. new gods, and to a lesser extent, gender politics, added psychological depth to the story.

I can imagine the characters as actual people, with their messy motivations and emotions. Clytemnestra, left alone for over a decade as her husband is off at Troy, her oldest daughter killed by this same man. I honestly can't really blame her for wanting to kill Agamemnon herself, especially since he tricked both of them by saying he had found a husband for Iphigenia in order to get his daughter to come to where he was. To then turn a celebration into a murder is really evil. But "an eye for an eye" really does just cause an endless trail of tragedy.

It's fascinating to see the Furies turned into some kind of auxiliary for the Fates. I wonder why Aeschylus did that, or if that was already an accepted mythology that he capitalized on. It contains aspects of karma for me, the idea that these beings who demand payment for crimes should morph into beings who deal out destiny. So interesting. ( )

Compelling meditations on vengeance and justice, intermixed with visions of destiny and gender. Also highly lyrical. ( )

I read Robert Fagles translation; it is accessible while retaining the powerful and subtle language and imagery of Aeschylus’ work. This (Penguin Classics) edition includes a well-written and very useful introductory essay, The Serpent and the Eagle – A Reading of 'The Oresteia', written in collaboration with W. B. Stanford (as are the notes). The introduction, about 75 pages long, gives a wealth of background information to complement the reading experience of the dramatic trilogy itself – this particular reading employs a Hegelian approach, though not too obtrusively. – "The Oresteia is our rite of passage from savagery to civilization," as Fagles/Stanford aptly puts it in the introduction. It is also one of the most fascinating works of drama I have ever read; impressive both in its breadth of scope and depth of detail. I wouldn't hesitate to call it a work of genius, and to my mind, here Aeschylus in many ways dwarfs even a younger giant such as Shakespeare. The fact that this is the only trilogy that has survived since antiquity, makes me mournful for all that has been lost – including the satyr play that originally accompanied the performances of this trilogy, Proteus. From the introductory essay: "For all its optimism [in the final part of the Oresteia], the Proteus may have reminded the Athenians that their lives were based on conflict, indeed that Athena had prevailed over Poseidon for possession of their city. So in the trilogy we reach an accommodation with the earth, but the sea, like Poseidon in the Odyssey, may remain to be placated." It's an intriguing thought - and for sure, I can easily see the use of a bit of comedy, as well as the presence of the more uncultivated and rustic satyrs, after the intense and bloody rite of passage - from a self-perpetuating cycle of vengeance to the rule of law - from chaos to order - of the Oresteia.




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. ( )

Agamênon mostra sua volta da guerra de Troia, na qual saiu-se bem após matar a própria filha, Ifigênia, em sacrifício aos deuses. A morte de Ifigênia não é bem recebida pela mãe, Clitemnestra, esposa de Agamênon, que a vinga assassinando o próprio marido com a ajuda de seu amante, Egisto.
A segunda parte, Coéforas, narra a volta de Orestes, filho de Agamênon, orientado pelo deus Apolo, para vingar a morte do pai. Ele é ajudado pela irmã, Electra, que era mantida como serviçal no sótão do castelo por sua mãe, Clitemnestra. O amante dela também é morto por Orestes com a ajuda de Electra e do deus Apolo.
A terceira parte, Eumênides, traz a ira de Clitemnestra, já morta, materializada nas Fúrias, que são vistas somente por Orestes e responsáveis pela sua loucura. Narra também a a nálise do crime de Orestes: o assassinato da própria mãe, julgado pela deusa Atena.
Se há uma palavra que pode descrever estas tragédias, é transcendental. Catártica seria uma outra boa palavra e suficiente. Não sei se as traduções captam toda a profundidade dos diálogos insanos, mas há em Esquilo uma vocação universal que todo leitor ou espectador sente enquanto o lê ou assiste, encenado, e isso porque estas são 3 histórias tão universais, unidas pela fábula, isto é, a efabulação mitológica. ( )

I found this cycle of plays to be quite profound for what it has to say about breaking a cycle of violence and revenge. The exploration of what justice is can also be seen as the plays progress. I think this is a classic that I will be revisiting again. ( )