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In reading the ancient play of Greek antiquity, Aeschylus’ The Oresteia, played out in three parts; Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides, respectively; I am reminded of the finale of Neil Gaiman’s run on Sandman, in which the titular character reluctantly commits familicide, taking the life of his son, at his son’s request, only to be chased and ultimately killed by the literal Furies of Greek mythology (Gaiman). I mention this because, for me, it was my first introduction (outside of reading Oedipus Rex for another literature class) to the idea of the sin of killing one’s family member and how it was viewed in ancient Grecian society. Not to say that familicide is normal or acceptable in modern Western society, but that it held a particular weight for the people of this time and place, as if it were a part of the zeitgeist, much in the way that superhero movies litter the silver screen of our modern age, or how our greatest sin today, culturally speaking, is not having a social media page. Within this Hellenic social sphere, the sin of familicide, especially within the confines of the backdrop of a post-Troy Greek city-state, the main metaphor, for me, seems to be one of the costs of war. The first chapter in this trilogy is littered with poetic verse, waxing philosophical the horrors and honors, as well as the cost of war; in this case, Agamemnon’s literal sacrificing of his daughter, Iphigenia. A sacrifice that ends up winning him the war and costing him his life, in effect, setting into motion the series of events that lead to the deaths of several of his family members and of the guilt of familicide in those remaining. Put another way, the cost for winning the war was, in effect, the death of an entire royal line, at the hands of themselves, a sort of aristocratic cannibalism (Aeschylus). In the end, Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, riddled with guilt at the murdering of his mother is sent to trial, defended by Apollo because it was the god who pushed Orestes to murder his own mother. The Furies, personified versions of a more ancient, older justice based on violence for violence, are ultimately swayed and grow both literally and metaphorically into a new form: The Eumenides, or “The Kindly Ones.” This is done through a process of organic growth, the story’s first two acts showing the errors of an old justice built on the mindset of vengeance begotten more and more vengeance. In other words, the sacrifice of Iphigenia, begets the death of Agamemnon, begets the death of Clytemnestra, showing through the act of continued vengeance that there is no end to the road on such a course (Aeschylus, The Eumenides). Works Cited
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