Reaction Paper On The Oresteia

The Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus. This trilogy consists of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers or The Choephoroe, and The Eumenides. The only extant example of an ancient Greek theatre trilogy, the Oresteia won first prize at the Dionysia festival in 458 BC. Many consider the Oresteia to be Aeschylus' finest work. The principal themes of the trilogy include the contrast between revenge and justice, as well as the transition from personal vendetta to organized litigation. The Oresteia is an interesting story that is special in many ways towards literature and Greek mythology history.

Aeschylus is often described as the father of tragedies. Academics' knowledge of the genre begins with his work,and understanding of earlier tragedies is largely based on inferences from his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in theater, allowing conflict amidst them; characters previously had interacted only with the chorus. Aeschylus was born c. 523 B.C. in Eleusis and died when he was 67 in Gela. Only seven of an estimated seventy to ninety tragedies written by Aeschylus have survived. These seven plays were consisted of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides, Seven Against Thebes, The Persians, The Suppliants, and Prometheus Bound. His first play was performed when he was

Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae and was the brother of Menelaus. Clytemnestra was his wife, and with her Agamemnon had four children, Orestes, Electra, Iphigenia, and Chrysothemis. As Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was taken by Paris, commencing with the Trojan war, Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia to the god of the hunt and the forest, Artemis, to obtain a favorable wind for the Greek fleet. His actions caused Clytemnestra to go into mourning and they make her want to seek out revenge on