1 / 12

The Oresteia

The Oresteia. 458 B.C. Aeschylus. Aeschylus, C. 525-456 B.C.E. Explores competing and often contradictory social, political, and religious forces in fifth-century Athens Soldier and playwright Came of age during the twilight of the ancient tribal ways

avani
Download Presentation

The Oresteia

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Oresteia 458 B.C. Aeschylus

  2. Aeschylus, C. 525-456 B.C.E. • Explores competing and often contradictory social, political, and religious forces in fifth-century Athens • Soldier and playwright • Came of age during the twilight of the ancient tribal ways • Polis (city-state) demanded a new system of law • Reforms toward democracy • Conflict surrounding the Areopagus

  3. House of Atreus

  4. Progression and Duality • Darkness to light • War => peace and a new harmony • Primitive ritual, vendetta => new order, law • Savagery => civilization • Moral struggle => enlightenment and truth • Painful recognition => self-awareness • Suffering => regeneration

  5. Central Oppositions • Masculine vs. the feminine • Apollonian vs. Dionysian • Oikos vs. polis • Physis vs. nomos • Themis vs. dike • War vs. peace • Light vs. dark • One vs. many

  6. Celebration • Man’s capacity for suffering • Man’s courage to endure hereditary guilt and ethical conflicts • Man’s battle for freedom in the teeth of fate • Man’s collaboration with the gods to create a better world • Progression through struggle, pain as a stimulus and a gift

  7. Agamemnon • Tragic Hero • Aspiration, overconfidence • Errors (hamartia, hubris) • Reversal of expectation (peripeteia) • Improved awareness (anagnorisis) • Defeat (not necessarily death) • Tragic choice of evils • Agent/victim of violence

  8. Images • Light and fire • Yoke, trap, net, snare • Zeus associated with iron • Helen associated with hell, lion cub, blood wedding • Sea storm

  9. Consider the following concepts in The Oresteia: • Fate (Moira) • Justice • Suffering • Revenge • Guilt / blood guilt • Hubris (excessive pride) • Host / guest relationship • The deities and their powers and demands • Old order to new • Moral ambiguity • Religion • Oaths

  10. John Collier, Clytemnestra

  11. Baron Pierre-NarcisseGuérin, Clytemnestra hesitates before killing the sleeping Agamemnon

More Related