CLASSICS 2D03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 30: Etiology, Euripides, Homicide
17 Sep 2016
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Orestes" vengeance subject of many plays: aeschylus" choephoroi (libation-bearers) 457 bce, euripides" electra 416, sophocles" electra 410-06, euripides" orestes 408. Livation bearers pour wine over agamemnon"s grave to honour and mourn him. Orestes returns to argos: orestes comes home, meets with pylades (hetairos ) Reunion with electra she can"t do anything without a male present; now that bro is here she can support him to avenge their father: plays an ambiguous role, moral support. Pylades and orestes corner off and murder of clytemnestra and aegisthus. The furies (erinyes) chase / haunt him and he runs off. What about binding pledges sworn in good faith? : or: you did wrong by killing; now suffer wrong and die! . Orestes is in charge; electra supporting: orestes has the large struggle, finally goes through with it, electra. These hideous women, they"re like, like gorgons, black-robed, snakes swarming over them, braiding and unbraiding. One of the first important female characers of surviving athenian drama.
