Abstract In this paper the author looks at the role of women in "Agamemnon" and "Antigone" from the Oedipus trilogy. He compares the characters of the main women in the both books, Clytaemestra and Antigone, looking at the way they deal with certain circumstances. For example, how Clytaemestra is devious and plans to murder her husband, Agamemnon, out of fury over his sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia. Whereas Antigone defies an edict by insisting on the burial of her brother, Polynices because she is acting out of a sense of duty to fulfill a promise made to him before his death. The author concludes that Clytaemestra and Antigone can be seen as personification of woman's most extreme emotions and conflicts. The values that in Antigone are good and true become distorted into hatred and violence in Clytaemestra.
From the Paper "The strength of Clytemaestra's personality is evident in her first speech, which follows immediately after the scene in which the sacrifice of Iphigenia takes place. She is majestic in her wrath and dominates the entire work from this scene on. She personifies the theme of the conflict between ethics and principles and human emotions. She easily convinces the elders of her story of the fall of Troy. She impresses them with her intellect by which she arranged a complex system of beacons to relay the news. She is audacious and proud, even hinting subtly of her plans, almost inviting the wrath of the gods."
Abstract This paper studies the concepts of matriarchy and patriarchy as portrayed within the ancient Greek tragedy "The Oresteia" by Aeschylus. Aeschylus believed a matriarchal society was destructive and used his play to make this point. The paper examines how he used both human characters and gods to represent both sides of the issue.
From the Paper "The Oresteia, a trilogy by Aeschylus, contains many independent themes woven in amongst one another. Perhaps the most prevalent theme in the plays is the conversion from a matriarchal society to patriarchal a society. In antiquity, societies were by and large patriarchal and, because he is of this time, Aeschylus attempts to describe how bad things would be if this wasn?t so. In order to understand how and why the transformation from a matriarchal to patriarchal society takes place in the Oresteia, one must examine these changes on both the human and the divine levels."
Abstract This paper analyzes how various representations of light and dark in Aeschylus's "Agamemnon", part of the "Oresteia", seem to mirror masculinity and femininity, respectively. It explains how these images also show how the play is mostly about how the female attempts to usurp male power, ultimately achieving it. Nevertheless, because there can never be absolute darkness or absolute light, the overthrow of the male can only be temporary.
From the Paper "In Aeschylus's Agamemnon, the use of light and dark revolves around their relation to the masculine and the feminine, respectively. Throughout the play, brilliant metaphors and images are used to express this idea, most obviously when related to Agamemnon and Clytaemestra. These images also show how the play is mostly about how the female attempts to usurp male power, ultimately achieving it. Nevertheless, because there can never be absolute darkness or absolute light, the overthrow of the male can only be temporary."
