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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page essay that discusses the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus' trilogy Oresteia, which is comprised of Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and Eumenides. The writer specifically targets Aeschylus' use of animal imagery and argues that animal imagery is utilized to represent human acts of revenge. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khores.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
unlike other Greek depictions of the saga of the house of Atreus and conquest of Troy, revenge -- as part of the heroic ethos -- is not pictured as
something that upholds and restores the polis. Rather, revenge is seen as a threat to civil life that threatens to trap the city in a permanently destructive cycle. The city
itself is caught up in a net of violence that can be traced to the seemingly unending cycle of revenge that propels the action in each play. These plays, unlike
Platos dialogues or other ancient philosophical works, are poetry. Therefore, the meaning and perspective that they convey relative to revenge and betrayal is largely conveyed through the poetic imagery utilized
by Aeschylus. The first play in the cycle is Agamemnon and takes its name from its principal protagonist. Agamemnon is the leader of the triumphant Greeks who have finally
defeated the Trojans. He returns home to his wife, Clytemestra, accompanied by his captured concubine, the Trojan princess Cassandra. Aeschylus sets the stage by describing the taking of Troy. The
striking image of the birds that circle the battlefield , to feed on the carnage, makes this description powerful -- "When oer the eyrie, soaring high/ In wild bereaved agony./
Around, around, in airy rings, / They wheel with oarage of their wings" (Agamemnon, 2002). The image of the birds, circling over the battle, screeching out a wail, invokes
an emotional response from the reader that mirrors the loneliness of the men so far form home on the battlefield, as well as the inevitable coming of death and carnage
that battle brings. Throughout the Oresteia, Aeschylus relates the actions of humans in animal terms, which implies that their actions put them on a level with the animals, rather
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