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House of atreus - College Essay

House of atreus

The House of Atreus is a family that has had a cycle of revenge and murder until one member of the family, Orestes, changes this cycle. Walter A. Bordenn describes the Oresteia as a window in Athenian justice because the story shows how his family has evolved from Tantalus’s revenge towards the gods to the guilt of Orestes after killing his mother.
They have created a cloud of misfortune of their own making that did not just affected themselves, but would echo through generations to come. Tantalus wanted to prove their knowledge by feeding them his own son Pelops but they immediately knew what had just happened. The misfortune started “ He should be so punished, they declared, that no ...

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on them at full force” (Hamilton 349). Since the Misfortune was still with them, Thyestes fell in love with Atreus’s wife but, of course, Atreus figured it out and he swore, “Thyestes should pay as no man ever had” (Hamilton 350). The generations after Atreus and Thyestes have been filled with misfortune and sorrow. If Tantalus didn’t think he was a walking encyclopedia he would have known that the Gods were smart enough and that they would have figured it out.
Clytemnestra is different from Tantalus, Niobe and Atreus: she killed Agamemnon out of passion for the love of her daughter. In the murder of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra does it out of revenge and hatred towards Agamemnon. It is a step in the right direction in regards to the Tantalus story. Tantalus does this horrific crime for no apparent reason and at least Clytemnestra has a purpose for killing Agamemnon. Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon out of passion because he killed her daughter Iphigenia. Clytemnestra thinks that she ...

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House of atreus. (2011, March 7). Retrieved January 22, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/House-of-atreus/95664

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 3/7/2011 06:25:33 PM
Submitted By: sjost123
Category: Mythology
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 791
Pages: 3

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