Oresteia Essay, Research Paper

Sleep—it’s what divides the day and the night; the conscious and the subconscious; the aware and the unaware. It’s image, then, is a powerful tool for polarizing such extremes. In his trilogy, The Oresteia, Aeschylus utilizes sleep imagery to divide between those who are aware and those who aren’t. Though sleep’s meaning changes throughout the plays, Clytaemestra is always able to use it to her aid. Her story accompanies a shift in a justice system that defines right and wrong. Throughout the trilogy, the meaning of sleep evolves from a clear division into a more indefinite one as the definition of right and wrong becomes increasingly ambiguous.

“…fear in sleep’s place stands forever at my head against strong closure of my eyes, or any rest:” (Agamemnon 14) So says the watchman, who begins “Agamemnon”, the first play of The Oresteia. As guardian of the house, the watchman is fearful of falling asleep because it leaves him unaware of what is happening. Though he is awake to see the beacon in the distance, he is oblivious to the mutinous plans taking place inside the house. The reference to sleep in his speech emphasizes his lack of awareness for the evil taking place right under his eyes. Clytaemestra, planning to kill her husband upon his return, takes advantage of those who are unaware like the watchman. Because of their sleep, she is able to plot against her husband without their knowing. When Agamemnon returns home, Clytaemestra says to him “…my hearts unsleeping care shall act with the gods’ aid to set aright what fate ordained.” (Agamemnon 912) Just as “sleeping” represented obliviousness for the watchman, “unsleeping” represents awareness for Clytaemestra. Not only does she know about the plan to murder Agamemnon, but she is the mastermind behind it. One is cognizant of evil it when awake, but unaware in sleep.

In the second play, “The Libation Bearers”, awareness occurs during sleep rather than during waking hours. When Clytaemestra dreams Orestes is a snake that draws blood from her breast, the chorus says, “She woke screaming out of her sleep, shaky with fear…” (The Libation Bearers 535) Her fear came as a result of the realization that Orestes, her son, would harm her. This image of evil came to her in sleep, rather than while she was awake. Because she was aware of potential harm, Clytaemestra was able to act more cautiously. But despite efforts to protect herself, Orestes ultimately takes his revenge on Clytaemestra. Though dreams are not representative of perception in the first play, in the second part of the trilogy, they are seen as a definite type of awareness. Although contrary to the original meaning of sleep, a clear division is still shown between consciousness and ignorance.

Though sleep serves as a division between awareness and obliviousness in the first two plays, in the final play of The Oresteia, “The Eumenides”, the role of sleep becomes more ambiguous. The ghost of Clytaemestra evokes the Furies from their sleep. She addresses them, “You would sleep then? And what use are you, if you sleep?” (The Eumenides 94) Clytaemestra makes them aware of her matricide though they sleep, and as she wakes them, the Furies are still aware of the existing situation. Thus sleep no longer sets the boundary between awareness and ignorance—the Furies are aware both in and out of sleep. As Clytaemestra addresses them, sleep becomes more of a barrier for action. Though they are aware already, she must wake them up so that they can take revenge for her matricide. No longer denoting a level of awareness, sleep instead represents a course of action. Just as Clytaemestra calls the Furies out of their sleep, Athene asks them to return to their “sleep” and abandon their course. She says, “Put to sleep the bitter strength in the black wave and live with me and share my pride of worship.” (The Eumenides 832) In this situation, they are aware, but not pursuing revenge. Sleep thus represents the ongoing struggle one feels between acting on impulse and exercising restraint.

Sleep plays a significant but different role in each play of The Oresteia. Its role as a clear division between aware and unaware in the first two plays is representative of the value system with which the play begins. Its clear role mirrors a clear system of justice, one based on vengeance. A wrong can be set right by another wrong, as shown by both Clytaemestra and Orestes when they seek revenge for the deaths of Iphiginia and Agamemnon, respectively. However, in the third play, the role of sleep becomes more ambiguous—it no longer represents a division, instead it is a struggle. Similarly, the third play calls for a new system of justice, one that weighs the right and wrong of each side to come a fair conclusion, as seen in Orestes’ trial. Just as the clear separation of right and wrong is emphasized by a clear meaning of sleep in the first two plays, this more ambiguous definition of justice is complemented by a more ambiguous definition of sleep. Thus, while emphasizing the awareness of different characters, the image of sleep throughout the trilogy also serves to distinguish the old system of justice from the new.

Aeschylus. The Oresteia. Trans. Richmond Lattimore. Ed. David Grene and Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1953.