Reading Classics, Chronologically Through the Ages discussion

The Libation Bearers follows after Agamemnon, and this time the focus is on Orestes returning from exile and avenging his father's murder by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.

I really enjoyed this play - probably more than Agamemnon.

One thing I've really enjoyed as I make my way through these early stories is finding thoughts that are universal - or at least were passed down to us from the Greeks. I found quite a few of these in The Libation-Bearers.

"the day of death and doom
Awaits alike the freeman and the slave" No one can escape death - pretty much the most universal thing there could ever be.

"Children are memory's voices, and preserve
the dead from wholly dying: as a net
Is ever by the buoyant corks upheld,
Which save the flex-mesh, in the depth submerged."
I feel like this is an idea or concern that still exists but is somewhat dying. I don't find many young people who are very concerned with passing down their name or having kids in order to be remembered. The thought still lingers but it's not the sort of motivation it used to be.

I found it very interesting how Orestes responded to committing murder. He had very mixed emotions.
"I now stand here,
Made glad, made sad with blood, exulting, wailing--"
I think he's in a panic, trying to grasp what he's just done, and it is obvious by the end that he is starting to lose his mind.

I also found what the chorus says in response to the previous line very interesting/poetic.

"Alas, that none of mortal men
Can pass his life untouched by pain!
Behold, one woe is here --
Another loometh near."

I'm excited to finish up this trilogy and find out more about the Furies and who they actually are, and to see how everything wraps up.

Kendra wrote: " No one can escape death - pretty much the most universal thing there could ever be. ..."

Yes, facing/fearing our own mortality is one of the most universal aspects of the human condition... Gilgamesh, the Egyptian The Book of the Dead, Sophocles ("Count no man happy 'til he dies, free of pain at last." -from Oedipus the King, which is very similar to the line you quoted here from Aeschylus)...it goes on and on.

At least...until today. There are still modern books being published that explore death (When Breath Becomes Air, Being Mortal, etc....) but it doesn't seem to be such a universal topic of open discussion in today's culture. I'm no expert on ancient cultures, but I get the impression that it was less taboo and not so "weird" to discuss. Today, I feel that's something people want to read about or discuss when they are either facing death themselves, or that of a loved one. If you're not being directly affected by death and still seeking out discussion or literature, most people would think of you as morbid.

Am I the only one who gets this cultural impression?

Kenia wrote: "If you're not being directly affected by death and still seeking out discussion or literature, most people would think of you as morbid"

Hmm, that's interesting to think about. I guess it would vary depending on who you surround yourself with. I'm a Christian and so it is a topic that comes up frequently in my community when we discuss different aspects of our faith. And I imagine that's similar to other faith communities.

However, outside of that, I would agree that it can be something of a taboo topic. But, I would also say that many people I come in contact with on a day to day basis would recoil from any sort of "deep" conversation. So maybe it's not so much the topic of death itself but venturing into areas of weakness and vulnerability that take people aback.

Yes, that's an astute point about people recoiling from any sort of "deep" conversation in general... LoL

Kendra wrote: "Orestes responded to committing murder. He had very mixed emotions...."

Yes! Absolutely! All through these plays are various dichotomies that pull both the characters and the reader in different directions. In Agamemnon, we remember his agonizing decision to kill his daughter, Iphegenia: he was protector of his household, therefore to kill his daughter would go against his moral obligation, but on the other hand, if he dismissed Artemis' command, he would have disobeyed Zeus which would have denoted a refusal to fulfill his familial accountability to his brother, an offence against his very being. He was caught in an inescapable situation.

Aeschylus is a master of presenting two sides to many problems, each making sense in their own way and leaving the reader often conflicted, but more importantly, thinking. It's what make these plays so great!

Kenia wrote: "Yes, that's an astute point about people recoiling from any sort of "deep" conversation in general... LoL"

No, in general, people do not like deep conversation. Sadly ...