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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page paper which compares and contrasts
the characters of Clytemnestra and Niobe from The Oresteia. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JR7_RAorest.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
serve as secondary characters in the stories. But, they were also often presented as very powerful and vengeful creatures who would seek revenge at all costs. This seems to be
the case quite often due to the fact that women had little power in ancient times. What power they did possess they used to the extremes in many cases. The
following paper examines one of these ancient texts, The Oresteia, and compares and contrasts two characters in three different points. The characters examined are Clytemnestra and Niobe. Point One
The first point involves a comparison of the two characters. According to one author, "Greek tragedies are often family tragedies" (Thompson). For example, we see that, "Agamemnon...harks back to the
sacrifice of a child (Iphigenia), enacts the murder of a spouse (Agamemnon), and looks forward to the murder of a parent (Clytemnestra)" (Thompson). This all stems from the a previous
murder which Clytemnestra took part in: "Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, kill Agamemnon when he returns home from the Trojan War. The Libation Bearers Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, kills
Clytemnestra, his own mother, to avenge her murder of Agamemnon" (Thompson). With Niobe we have a woman whose children are killed. As Thompson indicates, "Niobe is an example
of what the Greek gods did to human beings when offended. Niobe was a proud mother of many children and she bragged that she had more children than the goddess
Leto, whose only two children were Apollo and Artemis. Leto was offended. To soothe their mother, Apollo and Artemis killed all of Niobes children." In this we see two families
involved in the tragedy, the family involving humans and the family involving gods and goddesses. In essence, both characters are involved in murderous events through family connections and intimate relationships.
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