Breif Post due 10/18

3. While I was reading, I did wonder why Odysseus is such a famous classic hero. I've come to the speculation that perhaps it isn't about what he does when he returns home but the trials he faced on the way. Not everyone could encounter so many difficulties, survive, and wind up home in the end. Especially not with a god(Poseidon) working against him. Throughout all of Odysseus' trials, he didn't lose hope that he would once again return home, that is heroic in a sense.

The Campus Production and Homer Thesis

       1. I thought the campus production of the Oresteia was very good. I especially loved the actress who played Clytemnestra, I thought she did an excellent job of portraying the emotions of the character without betraying the plot too soon. She had just enough fake sincerity in her welcome home and certainly enough anger/madness in her murder scene. Clytemnestra as a ghost was very believable as well, I liked her stage present throughout. Another part I enjoyed was the ever present singer/musician on the stage. It is amazing to me that she performed for the entire play(and that the play is typically even longer for her). It gave the effect that background music does in movies, it pushed emotions into me without me even realizing, such as building suspense within, and encouraging me to feel sad or angry along with the characters.
        The main part that I can really pick out as something that I didn't like is how the chorus was performed. They definitely had good stage presence, and displayed emotions strongly, however their movements were so strange to me. There was a lot of rolling around on the floor, and it just confused and distracted me from what was going on in the storyline. I had a friend come with me as well, and we discussed afterwords how strange we found their movements. I also noticed that Pylades was missing. When I first read the play, I didn't view his role as one of the most important, however I realized while watching just how important he is. It was very different to see Orestes make the decision on his own, or at best with encouragement from the chorus, then when I read of him asking Pylades one last time. It changed the way I saw that scene and Orestes completely.

          2. In Homer's The Odyssey, the lives of the human beings are completely dependent on the decisions and help from the gods. This is clearly shown in Telemachus leaving Ithaca and traveling to Pylos and Sparta and every move he makes while he is there. Odysseus is also very dependent upon the gods, he is trapped by Calypso, he is set free by decision of the gods, Poseidon sets him off course, and Athena and Ino help get him back on track, it's as if he can't move his foot without god intervention.

The Eumenides Response

1. Please reconcile or make peace between two parts of the play, The Eumenides. If you cannot do so, then explain how you deal with these parts of the play and make sense of the parts and of the play. Begin by re-reading the conversation among the tribunal of the Areopagus regarding the role of male and female, i.e. father and mother, in the creation of a person. See especially, Athena's contribution to the discussion -- The Eumenides, ll. 750-760. Consider Athena's attitudes towards men and women expressed in these lines, and compare them to her viewpoints in lines 979-1040. Are there contradictions in Athena's views of men and women? Is she consistent? Is she fickle? Is she just another savvy politician? How do you understand her?

 

My understanding of Athena in the Eumenides is not contradictory. In lines 750-760, she is explaining why she would vote for Orestes rather than against him, she will always "honour the male, in all things but marriage" (l. 752), therefore she casts her lot for him. I don't think this is contradictory with the latter lines because the later situation is not between a male and female. The Furies are all female and there is no combatting male force that could be the Eumenides. I believe Athena is saying that in matters of judgement between a male and female, such as Orestes and Clytaemnestra, she will side with the male, as the leader of the house and the giver of life in her belief. She clearly believes that women can be a powerful force, she is one herself, and in honoring the Furies by making them the Eumenides, there is no contradiction in honor of male. I don't think that we have enough examples of her judgement to say whether she would always be consistent, however in this case, I believe that her lot cast in Orestes trial does not contradict her promoting the Furies to the kindly ones of Athens.

Myth Response

that it tells of the deeds of superhuman beings such as gods,

demigods, heroes, spirits or ghosts; that it is set outside historical time(4)

It is clear throughout the Oresteia that the characters believe in the Gods and pray and worship them. Furthermore, the Gods are truly present in the Eumenides, as are spirits. The Gods, Apollo and Athena, are the most present in the Eumenides, they play a huge part in Orestes’ actions and judgment.

“Leader:

      Lord Apollo, now it is your turn to listen.

      You are no mere accomplice in this crime.

      You did it all, and all the guilt is yours….

      You commanded the guest to kill his mother.

…Apollo:

      -Commanded him to avenge his father, what of it?”

(239, lines 196-201)

The Leader of the Furies is speaking to Apollo and blaming him for Orestes’ actions which Apollo admits to commanding. Not only does Aeschylus tell the deeds of superhuman beings but those deeds effect the actions of the characters and the outcome of the play. Another passage that clearly shows the presence and effect of superhumans is on page 251,

“Athena:

      You would turn over responsibility to me,

      to reach the final verdict?

Leader:

                                      Certainly,

      We respect you. You show us respect.”

(lines 447-449)

The Furies, superhuman beings themselves, are set on killing Orestes for his matricide; however they hand over the decision to Athena, the Goddess.  It is interesting how easily they turn over this decision to Athena, but it also proves how large a role the Gods were in the lives of every other being. Orestes’ entire life depended on the Gods, from avenging his father’s murder to paying for the murder he committed. Luckily, the Gods were on his side. There was a spirit who clearly was not on his side however,

“the Ghost of Clytaemnestra:

Up! don’t yield to the labour, limp with sleep.

Never forget my anguish.

 Let my charges hurt you, they are just;

deep in the righteous heart they prod like spurs.

You, blast him on with your gory breath,

the fire of your vitals—wither him, after him,

one last foray—waste him, burn him out!”

(236, lines 134-139)

Clytaemnestra, after death, was very angry with Orestes after he avenged his father’s murder. She is urging the Furies on as a spirit in the world.

The part played by superhuman beings in the Oresteia is huge. The play depends upon the meddling of the Gods from the very beginning of Agamemnon; through the sacrifice of Iphigenia. Then throughout Libation Bearers, as Orestes learns who killed his father. And finally, in the Eumenides where it seems as though the Gods are present in human form to guide and judge the matters of Earth.