Pantagruel's Full Review: A. Bowen - Aeschylus: Choephori
The second play of Aeschylus’ Orestian trilogy, The Libation Bearers (also known as Choephori) continues the theme of the first play, Agamemnon; namely, what is the fine line between justice and revenge. It seems clear that Agamemnon’s killers should be disciplined in some way, but at the outset of the play, it is still unclear as to what is fitting punishment and who should mete it out.
Judging from the speeches made by the characters, several years must have elapsed between Agamemnon’s death and the opening of this play. During this time Agamemnon’s widow, Clytemnestra, and her lover Aegisthus have ruled Argos and have been pillaging the kingdom at the expense of its citizens. They have treated Clytemnestra’s daughter, Electra, more like a servant than as a princess.
As the play opens, Orestes, Clytemnestra’s exiled son, returns to Argos to visit the grave of his father Agamemnon. He spies his sister Electra accompanied by a Chorus of women (the Libation Bearers) and, not wishing his visit to be made known, hides himself. Electra and the women have been sent to the grave by Clytemnestra to pray and pour out libations. Clytemnestra had a disturbing dream and wishes them to appease Agamemnon’s spirit. However, Electra is angry with her mother over her father’s death and prays for justice to be served. Electra sees the lock of hair and set of footprints left by Orestes and correctly concludes that her brother has also been at the grave. Orestes then comes forward and makes it known that he has returned to Argos to carry out justice.
The graveyard lament that follows is interesting for what is said. It starts as an interactive prayer between Orestes, Electra, and the Chorus, the topic changes from wishing death on Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, to guidance from Agamemnon’s spirit, to prayers to Zeus. Orestes reveals that an oracle from Apollo directed him to avenge his father’s death, yet it is the Chorus who spurs the two siblings to take action on their words. Orestes becomes determined to carry out his plan, but enlists the aid of his sister and the Chorus, for he knows that he faces a crafty foe.
Orestes has another reason for wanting to see Clytemnestra and Aegisthus dead. As the exiled prince of Argos, he cites his inheritance as a reason for his return. By dispensing the usurper Aegisthus, Orestes would become king. However, Aeschylus does not focus on ambition as the major source of motivation for Orestes. Instead Orestes follows a moral code of honour and a sense of obedience to the god Apollo as his rationale for carrying out justice. In this way he hopes to end the cycle of revenge and violence that has become a curse on their family
Aeschylus creates more male-female juxtapositions in The Libation Bearers. In the first play, Clytemnestra was a stronger character than either Agamemnon or Aegisthus. Here, the all-female Chorus is stronger than the male Chorus in Agamemnon, for where the male Chorus stood by helplessly as events unfolded, the female Chorus not only suggests and prays for murder, they are willing accomplices to carry out the deed. It is unusual for a Greek chorus to take such an active part in a play; normally they are meant to provide a commentary on the events of the play or to express the moral of the play. In that sense it is not much of a surprise that Aeschylus named this play after them.
Both sets of male-female relationships I mentioned appear as “unnatural” in that the females are the dominant sex. Unlike the men, the women do more than talk—they move to action. The noticeable difference is Electra. Though she prays for her mother’s death, she is unable to play an active role in it. It is only in the brother-sister relationship between Orestes and Electra that a more natural, or traditional, relationship evolves. Orestes is ready to do what his sister cannot; namely, murder their father’s killers. Indeed, after the graveyard scene, we do not see Electra for the rest of the play.
The scene where Electra realizes her brother is at Agamemnon’s grave is one of the first recognition scenes found in Western literature. Admittedly clumsy by today’s standards (the footprints left by Orestes are in the same proportion as her own; therefore they must be related), it serves to reunite the siblings whose familial love for each other contrasts with the hatred they feel for their mother. To take the matter further, Clytemnestra fails to recognize her son when she first lays eyes on him.
Though she appears only twice, in the second half of the play, Clytemnestra is prominent throughout The Libation Bearers. Her actions from the first play certainly factor into the opening half of this play. When she does physically appear, she seems much more feminine than in the first play, and almost comes across as deserving of sympathy. It certainly seemed that way to Orestes, who had to ask of Pylades if her life should be spared.
It may be questioned as to why the minor character Pylades is written into The Libation Bearers. After all, though he accompanies Orestes throughout the play, he speaks only one three-line sentence. However, they are the most powerful lines in the play in that they remind Orestes of his purpose in returning to Argos. In that way, Pylades can be said to act as the duty-conscious member of Orestes’ party
After completing his task, Orestes still feels compelled to explain his actions. He finds no pleasure in his dutiful administration of justice, and persuades the small crowd in the castle to witness the robe used to murder Agamemnon and thus inform the citizens of Argos that he was compelled to avenge his father’s death. Now King Orestes, he cannot enjoy his title but must leave Argos as an exile, haunted by the murders, chased by the Furies, and leaving Argos without a ruler. Judgment on his action is the theme of the final play of the trilogy, The Eumenides.
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