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A review by goosemixtapes
The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides by Aeschylus
4.0
“an unholy act
gives birth to more in their turn,
and they have the look of their lineage.”
—agamemnon, sarah ruden translation
i don’t think greek theater is ever going to do it for me like shakespearean theater. i (somewhat) understand the choral odes, but i get tangled in them anyway, and while i know theater is mostly speech, a lot of greek plays feel to my uncultured heart like a lot of people standing around talking and then sometimes there is a dead body. that said, i’ve been intending to read the oresteia for years and i’m so glad i finally got around to it, because whatever my feelings about the constraints of greek theater, these plays FUCK. they have it all. family dynamics toxic enough to kill. the law of revenge and the ancestral curses of hubris. axe murder. milves, even.
AGAMEMNON (5 stars)
—> this is definitely my favorite play of the cycle; the imagery in it is impeccable. it’s a greek tragedy, but it's also a horror story, and having read christa wolf’s cassandra first made me hypersensitive to the themes of the sun & cassandra’s role & the way she serves as a foil of sorts to clytemnestra. whom i love so much. cassandra is my dearest but clytemnestra… sexy. anyway this play is an absolute banger all the way through; every character is compelling in their own way (even agamemnon, whose actions i can't commend, is a horribly tragic and often-sympathetic character) and this play is iconic. the fucking red carpet? you WISH you had what the oresteia has
notable lines:
“some godsend burning through the dark—“ (Robert Fagles translation, line 24)
“the generations wrestle, knees grinding the dust… the spear snaps in the first blood rites that marry Greece and Troy” (Fagles, lines 69-72)
“he tore Troy from the root with Zeus’s harrow of justice” (Ruden, lines 525-6)
“Hope’s hand, hovering over the urn of mercy, left it empty” (Fagles, lines 801-2)
CASSANDRA: “no cure for the doom that took the city after all, and I, her last ember, I go down with her” (Fagles, lines 1172-4)
“Helen the grief that never heals” (Fagles, line 1495)
and perhaps the summation of the trilogy:
“You can’t dislodge these Furies, who are family” (Ruden, line 1190)
gives birth to more in their turn,
and they have the look of their lineage.”
—agamemnon, sarah ruden translation
i don’t think greek theater is ever going to do it for me like shakespearean theater. i (somewhat) understand the choral odes, but i get tangled in them anyway, and while i know theater is mostly speech, a lot of greek plays feel to my uncultured heart like a lot of people standing around talking and then sometimes there is a dead body. that said, i’ve been intending to read the oresteia for years and i’m so glad i finally got around to it, because whatever my feelings about the constraints of greek theater, these plays FUCK. they have it all. family dynamics toxic enough to kill. the law of revenge and the ancestral curses of hubris. axe murder. milves, even.
AGAMEMNON (5 stars)
—> this is definitely my favorite play of the cycle; the imagery in it is impeccable. it’s a greek tragedy, but it's also a horror story, and having read christa wolf’s cassandra first made me hypersensitive to the themes of the sun & cassandra’s role & the way she serves as a foil of sorts to clytemnestra. whom i love so much. cassandra is my dearest but clytemnestra… sexy. anyway this play is an absolute banger all the way through; every character is compelling in their own way (even agamemnon, whose actions i can't commend, is a horribly tragic and often-sympathetic character) and this play is iconic. the fucking red carpet? you WISH you had what the oresteia has
notable lines:
“some godsend burning through the dark—“ (Robert Fagles translation, line 24)
“the generations wrestle, knees grinding the dust… the spear snaps in the first blood rites that marry Greece and Troy” (Fagles, lines 69-72)
“he tore Troy from the root with Zeus’s harrow of justice” (Ruden, lines 525-6)
“Hope’s hand, hovering over the urn of mercy, left it empty” (Fagles, lines 801-2)
CASSANDRA: “no cure for the doom that took the city after all, and I, her last ember, I go down with her” (Fagles, lines 1172-4)
“Helen the grief that never heals” (Fagles, line 1495)
and perhaps the summation of the trilogy:
“You can’t dislodge these Furies, who are family” (Ruden, line 1190)