Historically, Greek tragedies have been used as a means to convey particular political and ethical testimonials about society, usually in order to convey certain morals or to ensure order. In such chronicles, a protagonist grapples with a...

Marx defines the "underclass" as a social group, conscious of itself, that is being oppressed and exploited by the ruling class and thus possesses a common hostility towards this higher class. This concept is reflected in various literature from...

Cassandra's final monologue in Aeschylus's Agamemnon plays a transformative role in terms of the movement of the plot and, upon close examination, functions as a key for many of the tragedy's larger themes. She begins by equating prophecy, be it...

Aeschylus' Oresteia is undebatably one of antiquity's greatest surviving tragedies. Driven by the universal struggles of justice versus injustice, fear versus obligation and parent versus child, the play follows one ill-fated family through the...

In most Greek tragedies, the writer uses the chorus as a tool to comment on action in the play. The chorus does not play an active role in the story, such that if they were removed from the work, the plot would not be affected. However, in...

A tool consistently employed by the Greeks was that of imagery, and within the genre of tragedy and the epic they have demonstrated their mastery of the device. Imagery within tragedy adds a necessary and otherwise unattainable sub-story to the...

The Greek chorus is a group of individuals who form a single entity that expresses the ideas, thoughts, and histories of a larger group. Often, it represents the consensus of the audience or of society as a whole, for example the chorus of...

In Aeschylus’s Oresteia, the Chorus of Agamemnon and Cassandra share several common traits. The chorus, a large group made up of miscellaneous elders, would, as individuals, all function as secondary characters. Cumulatively these individuals...

In the Oresteia, Aeschylus presents his three books (“Agamemnon”, “The Libation Bearers”, and “The Furies”) so that the narrative progresses from madness and lack of justice in “Agamemnon”, where Clytemnestra receives no penalty for her homicide,...

Aeschylus poses two impossible tasks for his heroes Eteocles in Seven Against Thebes and Agamemnon in Agamemnon. Their decisions in these moral dilemmas rest on the split between family and politics. Aeschylus presents a vision in which politics...

The Oresteia opens with a plea from a watchman: “I ask the gods for release from this misery” (3). This petition reveals the plight of many Aeschylus’ characters. The curse on the house of Atreus is one of corruption, and it is a curse that cannot...

The play Agamemnon involves a variety of characters who introduce and contribute towards some of the major themes of the play, such as justice and revenge. While the play is dominated by Clytaemnestra and the Chorus, we are introduced to different...

Piety was an important concept in ancient Greek civilization, as it shaped the culture and actions of Greek citizens. What exactly piety means has varied over time, and the definition differs throughout Greek literature. Characters such as...

Aeschylus’s play “Agamemnon” seeks to show his audience that revenge only leads to more violence. This is shown prominently through the character’s central beliefs and motives that are encouraged through the actions of others, which inevitably...

Spanning an elemental and violent family conflict, The Oresteia by Aeschylus is a trilogy containing the plays Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides. As a whole, the trilogy deals with Agamemnon’s murder at the hands of his wife...

In ancient Greek Society women were not regarded as equals with men, they were viewed as inferior and incapable of doing what a man could. They had to act submissive and be under a man’s control and oftentimes could not do or speak on their own...

Misogyny tends to devastate the authority of woman by depriving her of equal treatment to her male counterpart. There are two conversations that seem to circle around ancient texts and misogyny. Did religious texts directly affect the perceptions...

There is no shortage of violence and death in the stories and myths adapted to the stage by the Ancient Greek tragedians. However, these actions are almost never depicted explicitly onstage: murders play out offstage while the audience is only...

The Oresteia by Aeschylus is a trilogy of tragedies expressing the strength women possess, but, on the flip side, it also expresses the cowardice of some men—one man in particular. This man’s name was Aigisthos. Aigisthos is only present in the...

From its first performance in Ancient Greece several centuries ago to present day, Aeschylus’s Agamemnon remains a quintessential example of the definitive Greek tragedy, continually captivating audiences with its progressive depiction of feminine...

As the play opens with a soliloquy from the Watchman, he introduces Clytemnestra as one who “wears/ A man’s heart in a woman’s body,/ A man’s dreadful will in the scabbard of her body/ Like a polished blade. A hidden blade” (5). He immediately...

From Jason to Perseus, Greek plays popularly depict righteous mortals with honorable qualities. The abundance of heroes in Greek mythology shows the preference of many playwrights to portray humans in a positive light. However, these paragons of...

Though Agamemnon has no shortage of tragedy, perhaps the most tragic figure is none other than a character who appears only briefly, pushed to the sidelines—Cassandra, the prophetess never to be believed. She serves as a foil to Clytemnestra,...

Within contemporary culture, it is generally assumed that to speak for oneself is an exercise of inherent power – while speech signifies autonomy, silence implies subjugation. Yet Aeschylus’s Agamemnon complicates this dichotomy through its...