The Libation Bearers is a second part of a trilogy written by a Greek playwright named Aeschylus.
Aeschylus was born in Eleusis, Greece 6th century BC and died in Gela Italy 5th century BC. He was an ancient Greek who wrote many Greek tragedy’s, one of which is The Libation Bearers. He is commonly called the “Father of Greek Tragedy”. His plays were so good that some of them that have survived to this day have been made into movies!
In this tragedy, the dialogue is continued from the first part of the play. Remember, The Libation Bearers is the second part to a tragic play. This entire series is based on a series of blood guilt justice which takes place inside the house of the man Agamemnon. Like several different tragedies, this one takes place after the Trojan War. It is also effected by the Trojan War. A series of events after and as a result of the Trojan War.
In this tragic, the main character Orestes has come face-to-face with a very difficult decision. After his father, Agamemnon is murdered, Orestes has sworn to the god Apollo that he will avenge his father and kill the murderer that killed his father. However, a little while later, he finds out that his father’s murderer is his own mother, Clytaemnestra. And Clytaemnestra found a new lover, Aegisthus. They were in the killing of Agamemnon together. If Orestes does not avenge his father, then he will face the insane consequences of Apollo and the furies (spirits that haunt you until you die if you do not keep a promise to do something) of his father. They inflict a lot of pain and suffering on you. However, if he kills his mother, Clytaemnestra, then he will have to face her household furies. Either way, he will suffer at the hands of the furies. This is a very hard decision. He eventually seeks advice on what he must do and ends up killing his mother. After that, he says that he must flee and go far away to avoid his mother’s household furies.
Back then, there was not a system of government like there is today now. Back then, if someone killed a family member of yours, then it was your family’s responsibility to avenge that dead family member of yours. It was an “eye for an eye” world back then.
If Orestes was alive today, then he would need a completely different course of action. This series began with Agamemnon offering his daughter, Iphogenia, as a sacrifice during the Trojan War. Then Clytaemnestra avenged Iphogenia by killing Agamemnon. And Orestes avenged Agamemnon. If they had a government system like the one we have today, then the murders would be taken to court. However, these murders were personal to the families. there was no government to stop them. If Orestes was alive today, then he would have taken this matter to the court, and they could have solved the problem. If Orestes had been living today, then things would have been different.