Aeschylus Essay Research Paper Aeschylus was born

Aeschylus Essay, Research Paper

Aeschylus was born in Eleusis, a Greek town near Athens, in 525 B.C. He

was the

first of the great Greek tragedians, preceding both Sophocles and Euripides,

and is often

credited with inventing tragic drama. Prior to Aeschylus, plays were

primitive, consisting

of a single actor and a chorus offering commentary. In his works, he added a

"second

actor" (often more than one) thus creating endless new dramatic

possibilities. He lived

until 456 B.C., fighting in the wars against Persia, and attaining great

acclaim in the world

of the Athenian theater.

Aeschylus wrote nearly ninety plays; however, only seven have survived to

the

modern era, including such famous works as Prometheus Bound and The Seven

Against

Thebes. Agamemnon is the first of a trilogy, called the Oresteia, which

continues with The

Libation-Bearers and concludes with The Eumenides. The trilogy–the only such

work to

survive from Ancient Greece–is considered by many critics to be the greatest

Athenian

tragedy ever written, both for the power of its poetry and the strength 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 of

Agamemnon’s son, Orestes, who kills his mother and avenges his father.

Orestes is

pursued 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 been

familiar to an Athenian audience. Agamemnon is returning from his victory at

Troy, which

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has been besieged for ten years by Greek armies attempting to recover Helen,

Agamemnon’s brother’s wife, stolen treacherously by the Trojan Prince, Paris.

(The events

of the Trojan War are recounted in Homer’s Iliad.) The play’s tragic events

occur as a

result of the crimes committed by Agamemnon’s family. His father, Atreus,

murdered and

cooked the children of his own brother, Thyestes, and served them to him;

Clytemnestra’s

lover, Aegisthus (Thyestes’s only surviving son), seeks revenge for that

crime. Meanwhile,

Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to gain a favorable wind to Troy,

and

Clytemnestra murders him to avenge her death.

Tragedies were Athenian, reflecting the taste and intellectual climate of

mid fifth

century 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

cursed cycle of

bloodshed from its past.

Aeschylus wrote this victory-winning trilogy in Athens, 458 B.C. His

participation

in a loosely organized political .group. is thought to have influenced his

works. His

political faction included Pericles, who led Athens to the height of its

political power and

its artistic achievement with democracy. Pericles. group believed in

expanding democratic

base of citizens, in manifesting Athens. imperial claims, and in fostering a

foreign policy

that was anti-Spartan.

Sparta had suffered defeat during an uprising in a nearby city-state.

This Spartan

failure upset the balance of power, which Pericles. group wished to exploit.

Argos, a

city-state in the heart o f the Peloponnesos, without a powerful Sparta,

extended control

over some smaller neighboring cities. In 462, Argos, Athens, and Thessaly

formed an

informal alliance. In 461, Argos changed her constitution from aristocratic

to democratic.

Her assembly, courts, and other features mimicked those of Athens. Something

to note is

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whether or not these events had any influence over Aeschylus. decision to

move the locale

of the entire myth from Mycenae(the Homeric version of the epic) to Argos!

In response to these democratic reforms, other political groups attacked

the

reforms. Ephialtes, the original leader of the quasi-democratic faction, was

assassinated;

his position was taken by Pericles. This can be paralleled to Aeschylus.

theme in

Agamemnon. He emphasizes integrity and prestige of King of Argos(like

Ephialtes).

Furthermore, Clytemnestra can be referred to as Pericles, who assassinates

The King and

restores his power with her own–see a connection.

Implications for city-state is also prevalent and important. The idea of

class unity

and a just society can be reflected in Aeschylus. work. At last day of year

in August (New

Year.s Eve Day for ancient times) a court held a murder trial and t

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