Saturday, January 10, 2015

Tell me the hubris, hamartia, nemesis, anagnorisis, peripetia and catharsis in the Aescyhlus' Orestiabe quick

These terms are all taken from Aristotle's
Poetics.


Each of these themes occur in all three plays of
the trilogy. In some ways, though, the inevitable cycle of revenge which only ends
with transformation of the Erinyes into the Eumenides at the end of the trilogy.begins
before the action of the play with the curse of the house of Atreus which began when
Tantalus cooked his own son Pelops served the flesh to the gods. Later Tantalus'
grandson Atreus, the father of Agamemnon, killed the sons of Thyestes and fed them to
their father. The curse gets handed down from generation to generation, until it ended
at the final trial in the Eumenides.


From Clytemnestra's
point of view, Agamemnon has exhibited hubris (which in Greek actually means something
closer to "aggravated assault" than the popular misusage, "arrogance") in (1) his
sacrifice of Iphigenia, (2) his abandonment of his responsibilities at home and (3) his
returning with Cassandra. These acts, especially the sacrifice of Iphigenia, are a type
a hamartia (a "spear thrown") which cannot be recalled which start an inexorable series
of events. The anagnorisis, or moment of discovery, is when Agamemnon discovers that
Clytemnestra intends to kill him, and the peripetia, or reversal occurs when Agamemnon,
who enters the play in triumph, is killed ignominiously. Catharsis is not an act within
the play, but rather the "katharsis ton pathematon" or "purification of the emotions" of
the spectators to the play.


Of course, by killing
Agamemnon, Clytemnestra does not ends the curse, but herself commits hubris, and begins
the cycle that plays out in the second drama in the trilogy, The Libation
Bearers.

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