Progression Towards Light

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of the
story is further magnified by the death of Agamemnon. This is illustrated when
Clytaemestra says, “Thus he [Agamemnon] went down, and the life struggled out
of him; and as he died he spattered me with the dark red and violent driven
rain of bitter savored blood” (lines 1388-1390). Clytaemestra has evilly and
maliciously murdered her own husband; thus the image of the dark blood. The
darkness is representative of the evil which has permeated the house of Atreus,
and which has persisted with this latest gruesome act of murder. Because
darkness results from the death of Agamemnon, Aeschylus clearly illustrates that
this murder was nothing but pure evil. As long as this type of evil continues
to be practiced in the house of Atreus, darkness will continue to emerge. The
Oresteia has not yet seen the light.
The beginning of the progression from darkness to light can initially be
seen in the second play of the trilogy, The Libation Bearers. Orestes is the
embodiment ...

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fear as she awakens from the
nightmare: “She woke screaming out of her sleep, shaky with fear, as torches
kindled all about the house, out of the blind dark that had been on them” (lines
535-537). Aeschylus describes the house of Clytaemestra, the rightful house of
Atreus and the Atridae, as dark; this darkness has been caused by none other
than her own murderous deeds. She has dreamt of the coming of her son Orestes
to avenge his father, and the torches that light up the house signal this coming.
Clearly, Orestes is the man who will restore light to the house of Atreus.
Orestes is looked upon by those characters sympathetic to his plight
(namely Electra and the chorus of ...

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