Aeschylus Sophocles Euripides' Oresteia Plays NEW

We will read and discuss 7 plays by the great classic Greek tragic playwrights related to aspects of the Greek Oresteia myth. These plays are Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides; Sophocles’ Electra; and Euripides’ Electra, Iphigenia at Aulis, and Orestes. We will consider all aspects of these plays and pay particular attention to the playwrights’ choices of portions of the myth and their variations on that myth.

The Oresteia myth is an extraordinarily intense emotional, violent and murderous generational family story, which continues to attract great playwrights in modern times, e.g. Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra and Jean Paul Sartre’s Les Mouches (The Flies). We will have 4 classes, one every other week. The first giving some background on Greek tragic drama and discussing Agamemnon. The next 3 sessions will each discuss 2 more of our plays.