Literature of antiquity and the Middle Ages - Summary - 2019

Oresteia
Aeschylus (525-456 BC e)

Tragedy (458 BC)

The most powerful king in the last generation of Greek heroes was Agamemnon, the ruler of Argos. He commanded all the Greek troops in the Trojan War, quarreled and tolerated Achilles in the Iliad, and then defeated and defeated Troy. But his participation turned out to be terrible, and the participation of his son Orestes was even more terrible. They had to commit crimes and pay off for crimes - their own and others.

Father Agamemnon, Atrius fiercely fought for power with his brother Fiesta. In this struggle, Fiesta deceived Atreus's wife, and Atrius killed two young children of Fiesta for this and fed his father's meat with nothing that was not guessing. (This cannibal feast, after which Seneca will write the tragedy of Fiesta.) For this Atreus and his family were a terrible curse. The third son of the fiesta, named Aegisf, was saved and grew up in a foreign land, thinking only of one thing: of revenge for the father.

Atreya had two sons: the heroes of the Trojan War, Agamemnon and Menelaus. They married two sisters: Menelaus - on Elena, Agamemnon - at Clytemnestra (or Klimemestre). When the Trojan war began after Elena, the Greek troops under the command of Agamemnon gathered for sailing to Avilida harbor. Here they had an ambiguous sign: two eagles tore a pregnant bunny. The adage said: two Kings will take Troy full of treasures, but they will not stop the wrath of the goddess Artemis, patroness of pregnant women and women of childbearing age. Indeed, Artemis sends disgusting winds to Greek ships, and in order to atone he demands a human sacrifice - the young Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon and Klytemnestra. The leader's duty defeats Agamemnon's father's feelings; he gives Iphigenia to death. (About what happened to Iphigenia, then write the tragedy of Euripides.) The Greeks are sailing under Troy.

The two avengers find each other: Egisf and Clytemnestra become lovers, and ten years, while the war lasts, awaiting the return of Agamemnon. At last Agamemnon returns, triumphantly - and here he overtakes revenge. When he is washed in the bath, Klytemnestra and Egisf throw a blanket on him and strike him with an ax. After this they rule in Argos as a king and queen. But the little son of Agamemnon and the Clytemnestra remains alive - Orest: the mother's feeling wins in the Clitemnestra the calculation of the vindicator, she sends him to a stranger's land, so that Agisf did not ruin his father and son. Orestes grows in the distant Phocis, thinking only of one thing - of revenge for Agamemnon. For his father he must kill his mother; He's scared, but the beloved god Apollo spells him powerfully: "It's your duty."

Orestes grew up and comes revenge. With him, his Fokido friend Pilad - their names became inseparable in myth. They pretend to be travelers who brought the message immediately and sad and joyful: as if Orestes died in a foreign land, it would seem that Egisfu and Clytemnestra no longer face revenge. They are allowed to enter the king and the queen, and here Orestes fulfills his terrible duty: he kills first the stepmother, and then his mother.

Who will now continue this chain of deaths, who will revenge Orest? Aegisf with Klytemnestroy did not have avenger children. And then Orestes themselves assault the goddesses of revenge, monstrous Erinney; they send madness upon him, he is marching desperately across Greece and finally falls to the god Apollo: "You sent me to revenge, you and save me from revenge." God stands against goddesses: they are for the ancient belief that maternal kinship is more important than fatherhood, because of the new conviction that the father's kinship is more important than the maternal one. Who will judge the gods? People. In Athens, under the supervision of the goddess of Athens (she is a woman like Erinney, and she is courageous as Apollo), the judgment of the elders is going to be decided: Orestus is right, he must be cleansed of sin, and Erinney, in order to comfort them, a sanctuary will be erected in Athens , where they will be honored under the name of Ewemeid, which means "The Good Goddesses".

According to these myths, the playwright Aeschylus wrote his trilogy "Oresteya" - three continuing tragedies: "Agamemnon", "Hoefors", "Eumenides".

Agamemnon is the longest tragedy of three. It begins unusually. In Argos, on the flat roof of the royal palace, there is a sentinel slave and looks at the horizon: when Troy falls, the fire will burn on the mountain near her, they will be seen through the sea on another mountain and the second, then the third, will light the fire, reaches to Argos: The victory is won, Agamemnon will soon be home. He waits for sleep without sleep for ten years under the heat and cold - and now the fire flares, the watchman jumps and goes to notify the Queen Clitemnestra, even though he feels: not good news.

The chorus of the Argos elders enters: they do not know anything yet. They recall in the long song all the calamities of the war - and the deceit of Paris, and the betrayal of Elena, and the sacrifice of Iphigenia, and the present unrighteous power in Argos: why all this? You see, such is the world law: not injured, you will not learn. They repeat the chorus:

"Woe, sorrow, alas! but good will be a victory. " And prayer seems to come true: Clytemnestra leaves the palace and announces: "Good is victory!" - Troy is taken, the heroes return, and who is righteous is a good return, and who is guilty of that bad person.

The choir responds with a new song: gratitude to the gods for the victory and anxiety for the leaders of the winners. Because it is difficult to be righteous - to follow the measure: Troy fell for pride, now we would not fall into pride by ourselves: little happiness returns to a great one. And precisely: it is the messenger of Agamemnon, confirms the victory, commemorates ten years of torture under Troy and talks about the storm on the way back, when the whole sea "blossomed with corpses" - apparently many were unjust. But Agamemnon lives, comes closer and is great as a god. The choir again sings, as the wine blames wine, and again calls the founder of the war - Elena, the sister of Klytemnestra.

And finally, Agamemnon enters the prisoners. He is truly great, like God: "With me the victory: be it with me here!" Clytemnestra, bending down, dressed in a purple carpet. He is detached: "I am a man, and purpura is only god." But she promptly persuades him, and Agamemnon enters the palace in purple, and Clitemnestra comes in with her ambiguous prayer: "O Zeus, the accomplisher, all over, what I pray!" The measure is exceeded: the payback is approaching. The choir sings about a vague premonition of trouble. And he heard an unexpected response: the prisoner of Agamemnon, the Trojan princess Cassandra, remained on the stage, she once fell in love with Apollo and gave her the gift of prophecy, but she rejected Apollo, and for this nobody believes in her prophecy. Now she shrieking shouting about the past and future of the Argos house: human slaughter, eaten babies, net and ax, drunken blood, own death, Choir Erinney and son, abducting mother! The choir is scary. And then, from behind the scene, moan Agamemnon shouts: "Oh, horror! In the house, your ax will beat! .. Woe to me! another blow: life goes away". What to do?

In the inner chambers of the palace are the corpses of Agamemnon and Cassandra, above them - the Clytemnestra. "I was lying, I was tricky - now I tell the truth. Instead of secret hatred - an open revenge: for the murdered daughter, for the captive concubine. And the revenant of Erinney is for me! "The choir is terribly crying about the king and cursing a villain: the demon of revenge settled in the house, there is no end to misfortune. Next to Klytemnestroy, Egisf rises: "My strength, my truth, my revenge for Fiesta and his children!" The elders from the choir go to Egisf with naked swords, Egysf calls the guard, Clitemnestra razvizh them: "Oh and so great is the harvest of death - let the impotent hack, and our business is to reign! "The first tragedy is the end.

The action of the second tragedy - eight years later: Orestes grew up and accompanied by Pilad comes revenge. He leans over the grave of Agamemnon, and as a sign of fidelity he puts a cut of his hair on her. And then he hides, because he sees the approaching choir.

These are hoofores, accomplishments of libido, - the tragedy is called on them. The water, wine and honey were watered at the graves to honor the dead man. Klytemnestra continues to be afraid of Agamemnon and the dead, her dreams come down to her, so she sent here with libations of her slave, led by Elektro, sister Orest. They love Agamemnon, they hate Clytemnestra and Egisf, are sorry for Orestes: "Let me not be like my mother," Electra prays, "and let Orest come back for his father!" But maybe he's back? Here's on the grave a strand of hair - color in the color with the hair Electra; here's a footprint in front of the grave - a trail in the trail with the foot of Electra. Electra with hoefores does not know what to think. And here comes Orest.

Learning is fast: of course, Electra does not believe at first, but Orest shows her: "Here are my hair: put a spike on my head, and you will see where it is cut off; here is my cloak - you yourself woven it to me when I was still a kid. " Brother and sister hug each other: "We are together, with us, and above us - Zeus!" The truth of Zeus, the commandment of Apollo and the will to revenge connect them against the common abuser, Clytemnestra and her Egisf. Chanting with the choir, they pray to the gods for help. Clitemnestre dreamed that she had given birth to a snake and the serpent stung her into her chest? Let this dream come true! Orestes tells Electra and the choir how he will penetrate into the palace to the evil queen; the choir answers the song about the evil women of the old times - about the wives who zealously interrupted all the husbands on Lemnos Island, about Skille, for the sake of the lover who destroyed his father, about Alfie, who, revenging for the brothers.

The embodiment of the plan begins: Orestes and Pilad, dressed in wanderers, knocking at the palace. To them comes Clytemnestra. "I passed through the Phocis," Orest says, "and I was told: tell Argos that Orest was dead; if they want - let them send ash ". Klytemnestra cries out: She's sorry for her son, she wanted to save him from Egysf, but did not save from death. Unidentified Orestes with Pilad enter the house. The rise of tragedy is interrupted by an episode almost comic: the old nurse Orestes cries before the choir, as she loved his little girl, and fed, and washed, and washed diapers, and now he died. "Do not cry - maybe not dead!" - says the eldest in the choir. The hour is near, the choir calls to Zeus: "Help!"; to the ancestors: "Change your anger to mercy!"; to Orest: "Be firm! if the mother cries out: "son!" - you answer her: "Father!"

Is Egisf: to believe or not to believe in the news? He enters the palace, the choir is dying - and a stroke and moan come from the palace. Clitemnestra runs out, behind her Orestes with a sword and Pilad. She reveals her chest: "Pity! I bothered you with this breast, I bite you at this breast. " Orest is scary. "Pilad, what to do?" He asks. And Pilad, who had never said a word before, said: "But the will of Apollon?" And your oath? "Orest does not hesitate. "This fate judged me to kill my husband!" - Clytemnestra shouts. "And to me, you," Orest responds. "You son, will you kill me, mother?" - "You're a killer yourself." - "The blood of the mother will avenge you!" - "Blood of father is more terrible". Orestes leads mother to house - to death. The choir sings in confusion: "The will of Apollo is the death law; soon goes wrong. "

The interior of the palace is revealed, the corpses of Klytemnestra and Egisfus lie, over them - Orestes, stunning bloody cover of Agamemnon. He already feels Erenin's idiotic approach. He says: "Apollo told me to retaliate for my father, to kill my mother; Apollo promised me to cleanse me from bloody sin. A wandering waiter with an oil branch in my hands I will go to his altar; and you will witness my grief. " He runs away, the chorus sings, "Something will be?" This ends in a second tragedy.

The third tragedy, "Eumenides," begins in front of the temple of Apollo in Delphi, where is the middle of the globe; This temple belonged first to Gee-Earth, then to Themis-Justice, now Apollo-Broadcaster. At the altar - Orestes with the sword and the olive branch of the petitioner; around the choir of Erinney, daughters of the Night, black and monstrous. They are asleep: Apollon gave them a dream to get rid of Orestes. Apollo says to him: "Run, cross the land and the sea, and come to Athens, there will be a trial there." "Remember me!" - prays Orest. "I remember," replies Apollo. Orestes runs away.

Is the shadow of the Clytemnestra. She calls to Erinney: "Here is my wound, here is my blood, and you are asleep: where is your revenge?" Erinney wakes up and chooses to swear Apollo: "You save the sinner, you break the eternal Truth, the younger gods beat the elders!" Apollo accepts the challenge. : there is a first, yet short debate. "He killed his mother!" - "And she killed her husband." - "Husband to his wife - not bloodthirsty mother: the murder of a terrible arrogance." - "The husband to the wife - the native according to the law, the son of mother - native in nature; and the law is everywhere united, and in nature is not holy, than in the family and society. So Zeus put it by entering into a legal marriage with his Hero. " - "Well, you are with the young gods, we are old!" And they rush away to Athens: Erinney - to destroy Orestes, Apollo - to save Orest.

The action is carried to Athens: Orestes sits in front of the temple of the goddess, embraces her idol and calls her to court, Erinney's singing song around him sing the famous "biting song": "We have a bloody law: who shed his blood - to pay his own; otherwise it will not be kind! He is running - we are behind him; he is at Aid - we are behind him; Here is the voice of the ancient Truth! "Athena appears from the temple:

"Do not judge me to you: whom I will condemn, it will become the enemy of the Athenians, and I do not want it; let the best of the Athenians themselves accomplish the trial, they will make a choice themselves." Choir in anxiety: what will people decide? Does not the ancient order collapse?

Judges are coming out - Athenian elders; behind them - Athena, in front of them - on the one hand Erinney, on the other - Orest and his mentor Apollo. The second, main dispute begins. "You killed my mother." - "And she killed her husband". - "Husband to wife - not bloodthirsty". - "I am such a mother - it's not like blood". - "He renounced his kinship!" - "And he is right," Apollo intervenes, "the father is more dear to his son than his mother: his father begins the fruit, his mother only grows it in the womb." The father can give birth without a mother: here's Athens, without mother born from Zeus's head! "-" Set the court, "says Athena to the elders. One after another they vote, dropping stones in a bowl: in a cup of condemnation, in a cup of excuses. Count: voices are divided equally. "Then I give my voice," says Athena, "and I give it for justification: mercy above anger, male affinity above female."

Apollo with a victory, Orestes with gratitude leave the scene. Erinney remains in front of Athena. They are in a rage: the ancient foundations collapse, people abort tribal laws, how to punish them? Did the Athenians send famine, plague, death? "It is not necessary, - convinces them Athena. - Mercy above the exasperation: send fertility to the Athenian land, the Athenian families have many children, the Athenian state is a fortress. The generic revenge of the murder chain undermines the state from within, and the state must be strong in order to resist external enemies. Be kind to the Athenians, and the Athenians will eternally honor you as "The Good Goddesses" - Eumeniad. Your sanctuary will be the border of the hill, where is my temple, and the hill, where this court judges. " And the choir gradually pacifies itself, accepts a new honor, blesses the Athenian land: "There is no discord, and blood will not be blooded, let it be joy for joy, Yes, they will rally all around common affairs, against common enemies. " And no longer Erinniyami, but the Eumenides, under the leadership of Athens, the choir leaves the scene.