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It all started when Thyestes seduced Atreus’ wife and contested his right to the throne. To get even, Atreus killed Thyestes children and fed them to him. When Thyestes realized what his brother had done he cursed him and his descendants. From that point on the house of Atreus saw many wrongs and much retaliation. Vengeance was the theme that surrounded it. There‘s a Spanish quote that comes to mind when I think of the House of Atreus; “La venganza nunca es buena, mata el alma y te envenena.” Which means, “Vengeance is never a good thing, it kills your soul and it poisons you.” Except, it seems like for the House of Atreus the quote is more like “it poisons your soul and it kills you. ”
Atreus had two sons, Agammemnon and Menelaus. Agammemnon would be the second of the family to commit murder in cold blood. He however, did not kill to avenge something that had been done to him. He killed to get something he wanted. He wanted to win a war. A war to which he would take hundreds of warriors to fight and dieto return a woman to her husband. A woman who had left because she wanted to, not because the conflicting party had kidnapped her. Still, Agammemnon turns his daughter, Iphigen
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If a man leaves a woman unattended and vise versa I think it’s fair that they get what they have coming, specially if there’s something on top of the mere loneliness. In The Orestia, it is that theory that drives the people who step into the house of Atreus to follow the cycle of vengeance by shedding the blood of those relatives who did wrong to other relatives. So the shed of all the relative blood is what makes the search for justice more akin to a simple idea that the house of Atreus was always inhibited by people who needed to see blood. Than after lying to her, he kills one of their children.
The theory of “an eye for an eye” is something humans practiced yesterday, practice today, and will keep on practicing for centuries to come. He tells his daughter and wife that they need to go to him because she is to be wed. I wonder why they would rather be against their mother “I despise her she deserves it” says Electra as Orestes her brother claims that their father was a great hero. Clytaemnestra did what she had to do. But he did what he did and although I don’t believe in taking “justice” into one’s own hands.
After he kills her daughter Agammemnon goes on to fight and win the war. The nerve of that man to expect to find his wife eager to be with him.
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