Orestes was one of posterity of the house of Atreus. He also was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon and the brother of Electra and Iphigenia. The main character of The Libation Bearers, the second part of Aeschylus¡¯ great trilogy, the Oresteia, Orestes was able to go through with his father¡¯s murder because of the orders of Apollo and because the force of history propelled him forward. At the end of the play, he carried out the vengeance by killing Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. The reason why Orestes had to kill his mother was that, during the Trojan War, King Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia so that the Greek fleet could sail to Troy. When he returned, his wife, Clytemnestra, in revenge for his crime murdered him. So far, some questions came up, such as: Was the crime of Orestes more serious than that of Clytemnestra? Should Orestes be punished or was his crime one of justice?
             In The Libation Bearers, Orestes was conscious of the Curse on his house, and he hoped that in killing his mother he would put an end to the cycle of violence. However, when Orestes doubted if he could kill his own mother, Pylades who was a companion to Orestes told him that he should count all men hateful to him rather than the gods. ¡°Where then would fall the hest Apollo gave at Delphi, where the solemn compact sworn? Choose thou the hate of all men, not of gods.¡± (Libation Bearers lines 1003-1005) Pylades did not speak a word until the climax of the action. He was the representative of Apollo. The commands of Apollo drove Orestes toward his fate. He had the right to vengeance; she killed his father. But Clytemnestra was also his mother. He had to make a choice, but as he said, "But I came back, my years of exile weathered - killed the one who bore me, I won¡¯t deny it, killed her in revenge." (Eumenides lines 476-478) This showed that Orestes was fully aware of the act he was committing, he intentionally committed it, and...