Monday, 16 December 2013

Greek Project (Character Study)

In this blog entry I shall be talking about the character I play, in our Greek Tragedy “Black and White” which is an adaptation using both Helen Edmundson's “Blood and Light” and Euripides “Orestes.” I play the part of Orestes, and I shall be talking about our version of Orestes, and comparing it with research I have found on other peoples opinion’s on him.

Research

I have looked online at peoples different ideas for Orestes character profile, I will be showing you quotes from the information I've picked out and then I will be commenting on my views on these, here is what I found.


Some people think that Orestes is very young, as they think that he is immature and childish, Spark notes explain why they think this theory is true "Still quite youthful when instructed by Apollo's oracle to avenge Agamemnon's murder, Orestes displays a level of immaturity that renders the ultimate revenge the serious matter of matricide morally ambiguous," (1) they speak about how Orestes murders his mother because he is instructed to, but I think that he does kill his mother because of two reasons, one honor of his father he says "This is my fathers grave, Agamemnon the great king lies here" (2)  and also "Help me remove them, as they removed you. Either by truth of justice or simple might of right. And let me deal with them as they dealt with you" (3), looking at the first line he speaks highly of his father as if its a great honor to say his name, and then in the second section he talks about dealing with Agamemnon's killers the way they did to him, he is asking his father to allow him to do this, not Apollo and so I think that he understands honor and it is looked on as mature that he has asked his father to allow him to do this because if he was childish he would have been rash and just got it over with.

Another website speaks about how Orestes becomes the savior of Argos like the chorus say " But at least he has given life to the hope of Argos" (4) I believe that this is the chorus giving Orestes false hopes as he is very gullible when it comes to the advice from people, through out the play he asks for advice and help and they always end in horrible ways. 

The relationship between Orestes and his mother, is obviously not a good one considering what he does to his mother, but both Orestes thinks that he is his father's son as the chorus convince him by saying " I belong to my murdered Father" (5), but Orestes is more like his mother as he does what ever he can to protect his family, which is what Clytemnestra was doing when she sent her children away. He later in the play feels guilt for what he has done as he is haunted by his mother, Clytemnestra also feels this as Electra says "I could say how she danced while he lay dead, wound garlands through her hair, and then sagged to the floor vomiting." (6)

He maybe a lot like his mother through out this play but Spark notes showed me that his sense of civic duty is a lot like Agamemnon "Agamemnon sacrificed his own daughter so that the Greek fleet could sail to Troy, thus condemning himself to death in order to allow his society to prosper. Similarly, Orestes committed matricide, a heart wrenching and disgusting act, in order to preserve the order of society." (7) This shows that he may have killed his mother, wanting to avenge his father, but he knew that if this did not happen than the he could not preserve the order of the society." (8)

Facts

Name: Orestes. The meaning of his name is "he who stands on the mountain" or "one who can conquer mountains." (9)

Age: He is younger than his sister, as Helen speaks about how Electra is unlovable because Agamemnon and Clytemnestra wanted a boy when she was born, this proves he wasn't born before her, I think that he is ten years younger than his sister and he is 15.

Family Life: He didn't have much of a family as he was exiled by his mother, to Phocis where he met Pylades (son of the King of Phocis.) He grew up in Phocis and so I would say they have become a family to him. You can tell at numerous points through out the play that his father plays a big role towards him, as he is always talking about revenge for his father, as if he wants his dad to be proud of him for doing it.

Personality: Orestes personality changes a lot through out the play. At the beginning he is shown as a character who kills for honour and to help preserve the order of society, he also is mourning his father and so is shown to have loved his father. During and after killing his mother Orestes becomes numb and emotionless, which is to be expected after just killing his own mother, but he becomes more guilty for what he is done as he hadn't slept for 6 days or nights after killing Clytemnestra, he had a fever and also is haunted by Clytemnestra through out the play. Eventually Orestes is overtaken by revenge, murder and guilt this makes him a monster, he feels nothing not sympathy nor emotions, he is set on getting what he wants, and finishing whoever tries to stop him.

Context


Before the play Orestes, is exiled to Phocis, where he grows up waiting for the day he can come home and see his family again, once he comes home he finds that his mother has murdered his father for her new lover Aieguthus and so he sets out to murder her after meeting his sister Electra who he hasn't seen in a long time. After killing Clytemnestra he is haunted by what he is done, numerous family members come to see him and his sister before they die, Helen of Troy, Menelaus and Tyndaroues. Orestes and Electra are condemned to death and the people choose left for the mob as their way to die, before the guards can get Electra and Orestes they kill Helen and then Orestes plunges to his death with Menelaus's daughter Hermione.

 

Relationships

Orestes has a strong relationship with his sister, it has been scientifically proven that siblings that are split apart at a young age have a stronger lover when they next meet, this love may not be shared between two sibling that were not split up. He shows through out the play that he wants to protect Electra. Honour is a theme in this play and Orestes shows that he wants to Honour his father by killing his mother in the play, Forgiveness is another theme which is shown when Clytemnestra begs her son to think about what she did and not kill her but to forgive her. Revenge is the main theme as all the killings are based on revenge Agamemnon is killed by his wife because he sacrificed their child, Clytemnestra is murdered by her son for killing Agamemnon, Orestes and Electra kill Helen as they believe she is the main cause for she was the reason Agamemnon sacrificed his child as it was for her.


Characterisation

To understand my character more we have done many exercises in class, such as taking animals that can represent our characters and being them thinking how they think, moving like they do, being hunted, or even hunting and then finally slowly becoming the character you play and taking on some of that animals traits whether it be a speed they walk at, a twitch they do or maybe their eyes are looking for something at all times. We also did an exercise between Orestes and Electra where we read out our lines whilst looking into each others eyes, so that we could get more of a connection.

 

 Quotes:

(1) http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/electra/canalysis.html  
(2) Script
(3) Script
(4) http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/libationbearers/canalysis.html
(5) Script
(6) Script
(7) http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/libationbearers/canalysis.html
(8) http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/libationbearers/canalysis.html
(9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orestes_(given_name

 

 

 

 

 


1 comment:

  1. Character study - Distinction
    Excellent quotes in your character study demonstrating wider research and understanding of your role to contextualise Orestes part in the play – well done.

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