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Matricide in Aeschylus’ House of Atreus Tragedies
Aeschylus’ trilogy of tragedies based on the myth of Orestes and the house of Atreus is considered the principal set of plays of this myth. A major theme of Libation Bearers is matricide, as Orestes is commanded by the god Apollo to murder his mother in revenge for his father’s murder. Does Aeschylus present it in a balanced manner? I believe so, and my reasons are presented below.
In Libation Bearers, Aeschylus presents a balanced assessment of the issue of matricide. The audience can see this in the conflicting emotions of Orestes. His conviction and also his doubt demonstrate the balance in presenting the issue of matricide to the audience. The divine presence within the tragedy illustrates that the gods are not only supporting Orestes but are also commanding him to avenge his father’s death. There are other illustrations of the balance of the idea of matricide in the tragedy, such as the balance of good and evil. Within that balance of such opposing ideas, there is the assessment that needs to be made on the crimes of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. The reasons for their crimes are different to the reasons that Orestes kills Clytemnestra, even if on the surface it does seem very similar.
Update, and things, and life.
I have come in to say HELLO, and how much I missed this. It’s cathartic, sitting down like this and filling up the text box with words.
Exams are done for now. I have returned to full time work for the summer and maybe permanently. I am doing a summer school paper and I am starting tomorrow (I should really be looking at the work now but I’m doing this… priorities).
But, hopefully now that I have a little bit more time not spent doing assignments (but more doing day job stuff) I can spend more time on here.
These apology posts, the “sorry I’ve been away” posts are so sad, and you feel guilty for writing one. I hope that I won’t have to write one again for a long time.
Keynote speech by Neil Gaiman
This was a keynote speech for the University of the Arts graduation, 2012. He brings up some very relevant situations and problems with being a creative.
However, he gives good advice.
1. Enjoy the process.
2. Make good art.
Simple ideas right? Sometimes though we all struggle with the two most simplest pieces of advice that any successful creative could give to a budding creative. I know I struggle to set aside time to write, mainly because I have that old niggle in my head, thinking “it’s going to be crap, no one will read it, no one will enjoy it, I need to be careful what I say”… I defeat myself before I even start. Neil Gaiman (on that note) suggests that the day you feel like your walking down the street naked, is the day you are starting to do it right – because that is the day you lay yourself out there for everyone to see.
Perhaps the main idea we should all take out of this, is that we need to feel like we are constantly naked in front of the world, to be doing the best we can be, and that is when we are making good art. And somewhere along the way we enjoy feeling naked, and making good art, and thus, we are enjoying the process.
Thoughts? Comments? Love it, or hate it? Let me know in the comments!
On stopping smoking, working towards a healthier me, and a marathon?!
This time, last year, I was a flight attendant for a very major airline, I was overweight, smoking like a chimney, and living in the Middle East. I was preparing to come back to New Zealand, and essentially start all over again.
Finally, I have made the changes I wanted to make a year ago. I stopped smoking one month ago. I have started eating fruit voluntarily, and putting a whole lot more veges on my plate. I dusted off my gym membership I set up last September, headed over to the local branch of my gym, and signed up there. I go at least three times a week. I work out in some capacity at least five times a week. I’m carrying 15 kilograms of spare… um, myself?! The weight is not necessarily a problem but it is how it looks that is not nice. I don’t mind how much I weigh, but it is frustrating that I cannot fit my favourite blazers and tops because the sleeves are too tight, or my jeans keep getting tighter.
Now, the ultimate challenge – a marathon! Next April is the Rotorua Marathon. One of my friends has run it already, and is doing it again this year. Now, to be able to run for longer than a kilometer! At the moment I’m working toward the Quarter Marathon in Auckland in October.
To see the changes in me is amazing to me. I have no idea where this has all come from! I’m wondering how long this enthusiasm will go on for (I wanted to work out again as soon as I got home from the gym!) and I hope that it will continue, because it’s feeling mighty good right now!
In smoking, eating like crap, and never working out, I disrespected my body. The feeling of feeling BETTER is fantastic, even if I still want to smoke every now and then.
I posted up on the Quitline blogs this little gem today:
You know what’s really cool? Seeing all of these people signing up and starting their smoke free journey! It takes three weeks to form new habits… so check in with yourself after three weeks and see if you still have the same old cravings as before. Try incorporating something else into your daily routine… whether it be a walk around the block (with the free time you have NOT smoking) or eating a really healthy yummy breakfast (my current one is coffee/tea and small bowl of All bran with milk before the gym and after the gym, peanut butter on toast, a banana, and another coffee). Maybe crank out the coffee plunger and start making awesome strong plunger coffee in the morning, to give you a kickstart! Or you can use the time you’d spend smoking, sleeping in a bit more… Once you don’t have it, you wonder how you used to get anything done, and how you got so good at shaping your life around a habit!
I just feel like I’ve made some better, happier, and healthier decisions for me, and I want to share with everyone I know.
And now… back to study!
Happy hump day!
First post.
About four months ago I bought this domain, got a blog together, started writing, then stopped. For a good couple of months.
After thinking about it, I realised that I didn’t want to come here to write about classical history, or the Stoics, or how the Greeks thought about religion and their gods. I do that every day as a student.
So this will be more of a place for me to use, to record the wins, the losses, and such things. I am not sure how it will go from here.
In about a month I will be done with university for around three weeks, then, back to it! I have another couple of years to go on my degree.
I’m excited about doing this again, I can’t wait to get started here and make this my lil corner of the Internet.
