Revenge, Exile, And Justice

     Within all three plays I've found revenge in Agamemnon, exile in The Libation Bearers, and Justice in The Eumenides. Revenge is a common theme in the first play Agamemnon. Agamemnon is killed by his wife Clytemnestra in hope of avenging the murder of their daughter Iphigenia. Iphigenia was sacrificed to the gods for Agamemnon to sail to Troy to fight in the Trojan War. Oresteia avenges the death of his father by killing Clytemnestra in the Libation Bearers. One wrong act is being seen by another. “The slayer of today shall be slain tomorrow.” Another theme of Agamemnon is fate. Aeschylus portrays characters in Agamemnon as possessing free will. But shows life is governed by fate. Fate has ordained that Agamemnon will suffer from his ancestors' past killings. Agamemnon must abandon the war, risking being tortured by his brother Menelaus or even killed by Greek troops or sacrifice his daughter to the gods. Either way, Agamemnon suffers. 
     Oresteia in The Libation Bearers is in exile to return home and desire happiness again, as in a moment when his father was alive. Oresteia feels that killing his mother Clytemnestra will leave him happy but the physical act of killing left him guilty and ashamed. Oresteia feels the wrath of his mother's death from the Furries and Greek avengers chasing him. 
     Within the final play, The Eumenides has the theme of Justice. After Oresteia kills Clytemnestra he was tormented from killing his mother. The furies and Greek avengers chased him to the shrine of Apollo. Apollo encourages Oresteia to kill so he feels obligated to help. Oresteia, the furries, and the Greek avengers agreed to hold a trial to decide Oresteia’s fate. The trial begins in front of the jury and the God of Athena. The circumstances and motivation of the crime left the jury at a tie as the God Athena decides Oresteia was not guilty.  The theme of this play is justice. Old Justice “eye for an eye” without any circumstances has created a cycle of killing seen in both previous plays. New Justice is seen as putting yourself in front of a jury listening to your story and motivations of crime and deciding your fate. All three plays Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides have created a wheel of Revenge leaving the feeling of exile that ends in new Justice.

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