Oresteia Act II: two misconceptions

University Press Scholarship Online

Oxford Scholarship Online

The Tangled Ways of Zeus: And Other Studies In and

Around Greek Tragedy
Alan H. Sommerstein

Print publication date: 2010

Print ISBN-13: 9780199568314
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2010
DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199568314.001.0001

Oresteia Act II: two misconceptions

Alan H. Sommerstein (Contributor Webpage)

DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199568314.003.0013

Abstract and Keywords

This chapter draws attention to two misconceptions about Aeschylus' Choephoroi. It
points out, firstly, that Electra is recommended to pray (11021), and then does pray
(13044), for the return of Orestes and the coming of someone who will avenge
Agamemnon's murder, as if these were two entirely separate things; not till she and we
hear of Apollo's oracle (26996) does she learn that Orestes himself must be the avenger.
Secondly, Apollo's oracle as at first reported contains no promise of protection, only
commands and threats; the first mention of a promise comes only at lines 10323, and
until then the audience cannot be sure that Apollo will not let the endless cycle of revenge
continue indefinitely.
Keywords: revenge, Choephoroi, Orestes, Electra, Apollo, oracle, avenger, protection

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Oresteia Act II: two misconceptions

The problem to which I want to draw your attention is one that we keep meeting, indeed
one that we can't really avoid, in the study of something that has been studied so long
and so intensively as Greek tragedy. It is that because we usually know exactly how a
play ends before we have begun to see it, we find it difficult to remember that the
original audience did not have this precise knowledge.
They were not, of course, completely ignorant, and certainly not in this particular case.
The story of how Agamemnon was murdered they had seen already in Agamemnon. The
story of how Orestes returned and killed his father's murderers, one of whom was his
mother, had been told many times before, and moreover this matricide had been
predicted in the previous play, in the prophecies of Cassandra. So the original audience
knew, as we do, that Orestes was going to return and kill his mother. Orestes himself, of
course, also knows that he must kill his mother, because Apollo has told him so.
But what about Electra? When Orestes arrives at the beginning of the play, he very soon
sees a number of women coming along with the grave gifts which give the play its name.
He recognizes one of them as his sister Electra, and he conceals himself. Thus Electra
prays for divine aid against the usurpers at a time when, unknown to her, Orestes is
actually present. Given that we know that Orestes has returned and intends to kill the two
murderers, it is very easy for us to take it for granted that she is praying for Orestes to
do just that. Let us look, though, at what is actually said. At first Electra is not sure what
to pray for, and she asks the old women slaves of the chorus for advice. For whom, she
asks (110), should I seek the favour of the gods? For yourself, and for all who hate
Aegisthus. You mean, (p.190) therefore, for you and me?Should I add anybody
else? And they reply, Remember Orestes (115). She thanks them for this good advice,
and then, and only then, they go on (11721) to recommend that she should make
mention of those responsible for the murder, and pray that some god or mortal man will
cometo kill them in their turn.
Some god or mortal man: they don't expect it to be Orestes, because they have already
mentioned Orestes separately. Rather, they are suggesting that Electra should pray for
two distinct blessings: first, the return of Orestes; secondly, the coming of an avenger.
And that is what she does. Addressing the spirit of her father, she prays: Pity me, and
make our dear Orestes shine like a light for this house.I beg youand hear me, father
that by some turn of fate Orestes may come here (1309). She adds a short prayer for
herself (1401), and then continues: Such are my prayers for ourselves; for our
enemies, I ask for someone to appear to avenge you, and that the murderers die in just
requital for what they did (1424). Just as the chorusleader recommended, two
separate prayers, one for the return of Orestes, the other for the coming of an avenger.
After her, the chorus in song also pray for the coming of an avenger, whom they describe
(1603) as a strong man with a spear, a wargod brandishing his bow in combat, ready
for the work of fighting hand to hand and sword to sword. That's never Orestes, who is a
very young man (and they are perfectly aware of his age) with no experience of combat.
We, the audience, knowand the original audience knew toothat Electra's two prayers,
though distinct in intention, were in effect one and the same. But Electra doesn't know
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Oresteia Act II: two misconceptions

this, and that is what is called dramatic irony. And the irony continues. When Electra
comes face to face with the unknown person who is in fact Orestes, she still doesn't know
that he is the one who will have to kill the murderersone of them his mother and hers.
When he proves his identity to her, she still doesn't know. When she joyfully embraces
him and calls him her father, her mother, her sister, and her brother in one (23843), she
still doesn't know. When he then prays to Zeus for aid (24663), she still doesn't know
because in that prayer he makes no mention of the revenge killing, asking only to be
restored (p.191) to his rightful place in the house and city, with no mention of how this
may be brought about.
When does Electra know the truth? Only when Orestes, in his longest (or at least his
longest surviving) speech in the trilogy, tells her and the chorus and us of what Apollo
said to him at Delphi: he ordered me to pass through all these dangerstelling of violent
torments that would chill my heart, if I did not pursue those who contrived my father's
death in the same mannermeaning I must kill them in return (2704). We knew Apollo
had made that demand (though we probably didn't know till now just how ghastly were
the menaces that accompanied it); to Electra it is a bolt from the blue.
At least, however, there seems to be some reassurance: Apollo has promised Orestes his
support. Well, has he, actually? Or is that just another piece of hindsight? We know, or
think we know, that Apollo will protect Orestes from the avenging spirits of his mother
(her Erinyes or Furies) after he has killed her. How do we know this? In the first place,
because that is what actually happens later in the trilogy. Fine, but we haven't seen the
end of the trilogy yet. Secondly, because it also happened (though not in quite the same
way) in an important earlier version of the story (by the lyric poet Stesichorus).1 Fine
again, but how can we be sure that this dramatization is going to follow the same track?
Even from the scanty information we possess about Stesichorus' Oresteia, we can see
that Aeschylus has already made one quite significant change (having Clytaemestra kill
Agamemnon with a sword instead of an axe),2 and if we had better information we would
doubtless find he had made several more. At this point, therefore, our only evidence for
any promise by Apollo consists in the opening words of this speech by Orestes: Apollo's
great and mighty oracle will not betray me (26970). That certainly does sound
reassuring. But it sounds a good deal more reassuring to us than it can have done to the
original audience, because we can look ahead to the next play, when the same words will
be repeated by (p.192) Apollo in person (Eumenides 646), and then they really will be
an assurance and a promise:
Never will I betray you: I will be your guardian to the end, and whether I stand
near to you or far from you, I will not be kindly to your enemies.
But once again, we haven't heard that yet. When Orestes now, before the event, talks
about Apollo's oracle, he says a great deal about dark and terrible menaces of what will
befall him if he does not carry out his revenge; he says not one word about any
protection that will be given him if he does.
How long is it before we know that Orestes can indeed count on Apollo's protection?
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Oresteia Act II: two misconceptions

When the plotters immediately proceed to make their long lament and prayer at
Agamemnon's tomb (306509), they make appeals to a large number of godsZeus, the
Earth, the underworld gods, the Erinyes, Persephone the queen of Hadesas well as to
the mighty spirit of Agamemnon himself. Of Apollo they make no mentionnor, indeed, of
any of the other gods of the upper world, of Olympus (for when they speak of Zeus,3
they make it clear that they are talking about the other Zeus, the Zeus below, a
euphemistic name for Hades).* There is nothing here to suggest that Orestes can look to
any of the Olympians for protection. When Orestes thereafter explains his plot to Electra
and the chorus, we still don't know he has a promise from Apollo. When he gains
admission to the house, we still don't know. When Aegisthus is lured to the house alone,
we still don't know. When son and mother actually confront each other, we still don't
know. Near the climax of that confrontation (924) she warns him Beware your mother's
wrathful hounds!a threat of the tormenting fury of the Erinyes. Orestes' obvious reply
would be Why should I be afraid of your wrathful hounds? I know Apollo will keep me
safe from them. He says nothing of the sort. What he does say is: If I fail to do this, how
can I escape my father's Erinyes? In other words: I know I'm damned if I do; but I'm
also damned if I don't.
A little earlier, Orestes had hesitated for a moment, when his mother had appealed to the
most basic ties of nurture and shown him the breast that he had once sucked. He turns
to the friend who (p.193) has accompanied him silently all through the play, and asks
Pylades, what shall I do? Should I spare my mother's life? (899). Here, again, was the
moment for a reassuring reply; but he does not get one. Instead, speaking for the only
time in the play, Pylades says: Where would that leave Apollo's oracle delivered at
Delphi? Where would it leave your faithful, binding oath? Make anyone your enemy,
rather than the gods (9002). In other words: if you don't do it, you will have to face, not
only the avenging spirits of your father, but also the wrath of Apollo.
Even after the killing, when Orestes appears standing over the bodies of the two
usurpers and murderers, and displays for all to see the robe in which his father was
trapped and slain, even then we still have heard nothing of any promise of protection by
Apollo. But there is one strange thing about Orestes' appearance now. He still has his
sword in his right hand, but in his left hand he has an olive branch wreathed in wool
(mentioned at 1035), the symbol of the suppliant. What does this mean? We are about to
hear. The Erinyes, he tells us, are already attacking him mentally, he feels himself on the
brink of madness (10215), and then he continues:
While I still have my sanity, I proclaim to my friends that I killed my mother not
without justicethe polluted murderer of my father, loathed by the godsand the
power that induced me to dare this deed was, more than anything else, Apollo the
seer of Delphi, whose oracle told me that if I did this I would be beyond the charge
of wickedness, but if I failedI shall not tell the punishment of that; no one could
shoot an arrow high enough to hit it.(102634)
So now at last, more than 96 per cent of the way through this play, more than twothirds
of the way through the whole Oresteia, we at last know that Apollo is not going to let this
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Oresteia Act II: two misconceptions

endless cycle of revenge continue indefinitely. He has made a promise, and Orestes, as
he goes on to tell us, is going to Delphi to beg him to fulfil it. Till now, we had thought,
Electra had thought, the chorus had thought, that there was no way out for Orestes, any
more than there had been for all those who had suffered in the previous play. And now,
at last, it seems that Apollo has in fact promised his protection, and (if we think about it
but we almost certainly won't) that Orestes knew this all along.
(p.194) But the horrendous Erinyes are already on his trail. He can feel them warping
his mind. And then suddenly (1048) he sees them (which, at this stage, no one else can)
and flees in headlong terror.
So what is going to happen now? Can we tell? Do we know? It is significant that the last
words of this play are an unanswered question: where will it end, where will the power
of Ruin go to sleep? They have no idea. It will take another play to provide an answer
and probably no one in that Athenian audience could have remotely guessed what the
answer was going to be: here and now, among yourselves, in Athens. I urge you, when
you have seen this play, to get acquainted with that sequel, Eumenides. Perhaps you may
then perceive why I found it so utterly appropriate that when I published an edition of
Eumenides, its official publication date (named in advanceno hindsight here!) was 9
November 1989: the day of the breaking of the Berlin Wall.4

Addendum
p. 192while the Zeus of Cho. 3825 certainly is the Zeus below, there is no particular
reason to doubt that the mentions of Zeus in Cho. 395 and 409 refer to the supreme god
of Olympus. It remains true, however, that in both these passages there is also, in close
proximity, prominent mention of chthonic powers (399 hear me, Earth, and you
honoured gods below; 4057 see us, you mighty rulers of the underworld, and you
Curses of the dead).
Notes:
(1) Stesichorus PMG 217.
(2) In Stesichorus PMG 219, Clytaemestra dreams of seeing a snake with the top of its
head all bloodied, which implies an axeblow from above. That her weapon in Aeschylus is
a sword was shown by Fraenkel (1950: iii. 8069); the counterarguments of Davies
(1987) were answered by Sommerstein (1989c) and Prag (1991).
(3) Cho. 3825: Zeus, Zeus, who sends up from below avenging ruin, soon or late,
against audacious, reckless human violence.
(4) This chapter, which originated as a preperformance talk given before a production of
Choephoroi (under the title Grave Gifts) by the Actors of Dionysus, was first published in
Dionysus (York) 14 (2000) 202. I am most grateful to the Actors of Dionysus for giving
permission for this republication. As in the 2000 publication, I have left references to the
original occasion of delivery unchanged, though a few footnotes have been added in the
present version.

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Oresteia Act II: two misconceptions

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