Aeschylus’s The Oresteia follows the House of Atreus, as it tells the story of the family through multiple generations of betrayal and revenge.
This collection of three plays was originally created with the target audience of the Greek citizens of Athens in mind, but readers today will find Aeschylus’s magnum opus to be just as enriching to read as those that first experienced it centuries ago.
The Oresteia is unique for its time, as unlike many of its contemporaries there are blurred lines between right and wrong. This moral ambiguity is perhaps its greatest strength, and the reason its story has stood the test of time.
This is not a tale of good vs. evil, but of morally grey characters who are trying to make their way in an unjust world.
Towards the end of Agamemnon, Cassandra laments the nature of our world and the men who dwell in it. She speaks of destiny, of how “when all is well a shadow can overturn it. When trouble comes to a stroke of the wet sponge, and the picture’s blotted out.” This line is evocative of the greater themes of the play.
This is a tale of multiple generations, with the family caught in a seemingly endless cycle of blood crimes. These great men and women cannot seem to escape their fate, as they’re destined to live and die in the shadow of their House’s legacy.
As Clytemnestra prepares to land the killing blow on Agamemnon, the chorus further speaks of the men of House Atreus, telling the audience “now if he must pay for the blood his fathers shed, and die for the deaths he brought to pass, and bring more death to avenge his death, show us one who boasts himself born free of the raging angel.”
I believe this line from the passage delves deeper into the themes of destiny, through the lens of inheritance. Orestes is doomed to be dragged into the bloodshed of his family in retaliation for his father’s murder. It is his birthright to avenge death with further death, whether he wished this fate upon himself or not.
Both lines from the passage relate to the themes of the play, showing the complex nature of the story. The Oresteia deals with a morally ambiguous world in which the family at the center of the story are often the victim of their own destiny, fated to inherit a bloody birthright.
When I read this story, I did not see the killing of Clytemnestra by Oreste’s hand as justice; I saw the bloody retribution as yet another man of House Atreus being remade in the image of those who came before him.
There is futility in the war and bloodshed that House Atreus brings upon itself. The cycle of violence is destined to continue until someone finally puts the pain of the past behind them. Alas, that is not to be in The Oresteia.
Aeschylus, & Collard, C. (2002). Oresteia. Oxford Univ. Press.
