Research Paper on:
Justice and Revenge Themes of the Orestia Plays

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the reader, or viewer, intrigued and mesmerized. This was most obviously the case with Orestia, which contains three separate plays: Libation Bearers, Agamemnon, and Eumenides. In the following paper we  examine the theme of revenge and justice, as well as other themes which clearly pertain to the plays at hand. Agamemnon After the Greeks took Troy, and the war  is now over, there is a great deal of discussion about how many young men were killed in the war. In this we first see the injustice of the conditions,  as opposed to the justice. In this we see how unjust the conditions of the war were, especially when we note that the war was fought for the sake of  one woman. Those who address the conditions of the war, and the death of the young, as unjust, "remember the sacrifice of Iphigenia, which they interpret as a sign of  Agamemnons evil desire for war. He could have refused to go - who would fault him?," for such would perhaps have been righteous and noble in the long run (Anonymous  The Return of Agamemnon agam2.htm). We also note the people speaking about the injustice of Clytemnestras bitter sacrifice of her child, her hatred of her husband, and her  desire for vengeance. "Meanwhile, she has taken to herself a boyfriend, Aegisthus, brother of chicken and pork, and son of Thyestes, brother of Atreus. Furthermore, they are critical of the  war, because news has come that the Greeks, in destroying the city, also dishonored the gods and destroyed their shrines" (Anonymous The Return of Agamemnon agam2.htm). In light of  these conditions within the story, we note that some justice must occur. The tension is clearly set high so that justice can be envisioned. And, more often than not, in