4.0
Libation Bearers
ByPublisher Description
Orestes arrives at the grave of his father, accompanied by his cousin Pylades, the son of the king of Phocis, where he has grown up in exile; he places two locks of his hair on the tomb. Orestes and Pylades hide as Electra, Orestes' sister, arrives at the grave accompanied by a chorus of elderly slave women (the libation bearers of the title) to pour libations on Agamemnon's grave; they have been sent by Clytemnestra in an effort to ward off harm. Just as the ritual ends, Electra spots a lock of hair on the tomb which she recognizes as similar to her own; subsequently she sees two sets of footprints, one of which has proportions similar to hers. At this point Orestes and Pylades emerge from their hiding place and Orestes gradually convinces her of his identity.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesLibation Bearers Reviews
4.0
“I hate Elektra”
“Bro clytemnestra popped off with
"Someone give me an axe that can kill a man"
Lady macbeth core x”
“The second Greek play of the Oresteia. In my year of Greek, I was most nervous about not liking the Greek plays out of all my reading lists. The first play, Agamemnon, was not that interesting to me and while I saw the themes that others saw in their talks (Romans Road Press and Ascend podcast), it didn't really grab me one way or the other. I knew the backstory of Agamemnon that the Greeks would know that they would enjoy it more, and the conversation of justice/revenge is evident. It just didn't grab me.
The Libation Bearers was like the Empire Strikes Back in the Oresteia series. The Greek tension of justice/revenge is even more clear here, and the struggle between Orestes and Electra on a conscience and moral level. The play does a masterful job here of building tension, and while some aspects of Clytemnestra and the murder plot are more straightforward, the rising tension is masterfully done. The characters feel almost pulled along by fate to complete their actions, but even in that pull, it is not clear which is the right path. The justice and revenge here are felt in the characters rather than in the mind of the reader (or the playgoer) that Agamemnon had. My biggest complaint is that even with Orestes and Electra struggling to figure out what to do, they never once contemplate at all their sacrificed sister, Iphigenia, by their father. It's in the background of the story, but they show no loss or further conflict that this should raise. I'm really looking forward to the last part of the trilogy. Hopefully Ewoks won't show up here, though. Final Grade - A”
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