Aeschylus :: essays research papers

Aeschylus was born in Eleusis, a classical town near Athens, in 525 B.C. He was thefirst of the great Greek tragedians, preceding both Sophocles and Euripides, and is of disco biscuitcredited with inventing tragic drama. Prior to Aeschylus, plays were primitive, consistingof a single actor and a chorus offering commentary. In his works, he added a "secondactor" (often more than one) thus creating endless new dramatic possibilities. He liveduntil 456 B.C., fighting in the wars against Persia, and attaining great acclaim in the worldof the Athenian theater.Aeschylus wrote nearly ninety plays however, totally seven have survived to themodern era, including such famous works as Prometheus Bound and The Seven AgainstThebes. Agamemnon is the first of a trilogy, called the Oresteia, which continues with TheLibation-Bearers and concludes with The Eumenides. The trilogy--the only such work tosurvive from Ancient Greece--is considered by many critics to be the greatest Atheniantrage dy ever written, both for the power of its poetry and the energy of its characters.Agamemnon depicts the assassination of the title character by his wife,Clytemnestra, and her lover The Libation-Bearers continues the story with the return ofAgamemnons son, Orestes, who kills his mother and avenges his father. Orestes ispursued by the Furies in punishment for his matricide, and finally finds refuge in Athens,where the god Athena relieves him of his persecution.The events of Agamemnon take place against a backdrop that would have beenfamiliar to an Athenian audience. Agamemnon is returning from his victory at Troy, which Palmieri 2has been besieged for ten years by Greek armies attempting to recover Helen,Agamemnons brothers wife, stolen treacherously by the Trojan Prince, Paris. (The eventsof the Trojan War are recounted in Homers Iliad.) The plays tragic events occur as aresult of the crimes committed by Agamemnons family. His father, Atreus, murdered andcooked the children of his own brother, Thyestes, and served them to him Clytemnestraslover, Aegisthus (Thyestess only surviving son), seeks revenge for that crime. Meanwhile,Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to gain a favorable wind to Troy, andClytemnestra murders him to avenge her death. Tragedies were Athenian, reflecting the discernment and intellectual climate of mid fifthcentury Athens. The weight of history and heritage becomes a major theme of the play,and indeed of the entire trilogy, for the family it depicts cannot escape the doomed cycle ofbloodshed from its past.Aeschylus wrote this victory-winning trilogy in Athens, 458 B.C. His participationin a loosely organized political group is thought to have influenced his