J. Kostova

Lit Hum/ Fall 2015

Aeschylus, Oresteia

LIBATION BEARERS  

A libation is a ritual pouring of some liquid in honor of gods, heroes or the dead.  Who are "the Libation Bearers" in the play of that name?  Why are they pouring libations? To whom?  Why are they having difficulties with this ritual?  How do they subvert it?  Can you make some connections between the libation carried out in Libation Bearers and other unorthodox rituals performed in the trilogy?

What patterns of imagery do you see in Libation Bearers? Do any of the clusters of images from the first play, Agamemnon, carry on into the second?  Trace one image through the play(s), or make a list of images that repeat.

Why does Aeschylus include the rather comic speech of the nurse Cilissa (Lib. Bearers 734-765)?

Is the Clytaemnestra in Libation Bearers different from the Clytaemnestra in Agamemnon?  Is the Agamemnon in Libation Bearers different from the Agamemnon in Agamemnon?

At the end of both Agamemnon and Libation Bearers a killer displays the bodies of his/her two victims and explains his/her motives for killing them.  Given this major structural similarity, is Orestes' version of this scene in Libation Bearers anything other than a repetition of Clytaemnestra's in Agamemnon—i.e., is Aeschylus' point that Orestes' behavior recapitulates his mother's, or does he use echoes of the earlier scene in Orestes' scene to emphasize how the son's killings differ from the mother's?

 EUMENIDES

The Eumenides, the title of which means “The Kindly Ones,” features a jury trial of Orestes, with the Furies as prosecutors and Apollo as the defense attorney.  Apollo is the sun god; the Furies are the daughters of Night.  What are some of the other differences between these divinities and what they represent?  Consider the nature of Athene; in what ways does she resemble the Furies, in what ways Apollo?

Orestes leaves before the end of The Eumenides, and his case ceases to be the focus of discussion.  What larger issues than the murder of Clytaemnestra is the play "about"?

Are you satisfied by the argument offered by Apollo that enables Orestes' side to win?  Does Athene's justification that she always sides with the male seem to have anything to do with administering "justice"?  Is the vote for Orestes unanimous?  Why might Aeschylus want the audience to feel somewhat dissatisfied with the verdict?

Why is there no mention in The Eumenides (even by the shade of Clytaemnestra) of all the terrible things Agamemnon and his family did to motivate his murder?

Consider the last speech (and the action on stage) of The Eumenides in light of the first speech of Agamemnon.