Rating: 
Summary: Go Aeschylus
Review: I thought that the Oresteia was absolutely the best! I love greek myhtology, and this trilogy was Greek mythology at it's best. Robert fagles did a good job translating it. My favourite play (out of Agamemnon, The Libaation Bearers, and the Eumenides) was Agamemnon.
Rating:
Summary: The play within the Translation
Review: I worked on the production of this translation at The University of South Carolina in 1998. I designed the costumes and masks. Before I began the design process, I read other translations of the script. Peter's translation was done with attention to what the characters were saying, not just the literal dictionary definition of the Ancient Greek. The pacing and flow of the play is great and I recommend it to anyone who thinks that Ancient Greek plays are dull and better left alone.
Rating:
Summary: foundation storytelling
Review: Many of the superlatives already suggested by other reviewers, I also share. This series of plays is central to an understanding of how the western tradtion of storytelling developed and also the philosophical ideas behind justice. That being said, they also tell a great yarn.
'Pain both ways and who's to tell the right?' is a question many modern storytellers (such as Mike Moore et al) have decided upon - the answer is 'me!'. Aeschylus, on the other hand, examines this kind of question without shying away but pursuing, through honest portrayal of character and suffering, those dark gray half-seen spaces which manipulate us willingly and against our will - the compteting interests within the notion of 'soul'
Rating: 
Summary: The End of An Eye for an Eye?
Review: One of the funny things about ancient Greek literature, as in our lives today and human life in general, is that sometimes situations can be so harshly unforgiving, and at other times loopholes abound. THE ORESTEIA of Aeschylus gives us some of our first loopholes, with the eventual acquital of Orestes for the matricide which avenged his father's murder.If ever the sins of a father were visited upon his sons, it happened first with the house of Atreus. Poor Agamemnon, greatest of the Greek kings though he is, is doomed from the start--what with his father Atreus having chopped up his cousins and served them to his uncle Thyestes in a stew years before. This brings down the curse that results in Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter Iphigeneia's life so that the winds will blow the Greek ships on to Troy where a whole war will be fought to rescue his brother Menelaus' queen Helen. No surprise that Agamemnon's wife, Clytaemnestra doesn't find the death of her daughter a good trade for the rescue of his sister-in-law. While Agamemnon is off for ten years leading the Greeks to victory (or almost keeping them from it, as those who have read THE ILIAD know well), Clytaemnestra takes Aegisthus for her lover--he just happens to be the one son of Thyestes that escaped the infamous stew. Together they plot the king's destruction, and in the first play of the trilogy, the AGAMEMNON, they achieve it. The disturbing thing about ancient Greek literature, as in life, is that the subjects are never wholly innocent or wholly guilty; Fate may have foreordained Agamemnon's destruction, but he certainly helps it along by being persuaded to walk on crimson tapestries fit only for gods. This little bit of hubris is also well within the bounds of his character set by Homer a couple of hundred years or more before Aeschylus' time. What of Clytaemnestra's claim against him for killing their daughter? And the claim of Aegisthus for what Agamemnon's father did to his? THE ORESTEIA asks far more questions than it pretends to answer. In THE LIBATION BEARERS, Atreus' grandson Orestes returns to avenge his father's death by the horrible crime of killing his mother. The EUMENIDES is a courtroom drama brought about by the fact that the howling female Furies demand Orestes' blood for his mother's. If they were to succeed then revenge would perpetuate revenge ad infinitum, and here Apollo and Athena step in to help provide a more civilized solution. Aeschylus leaves us much to ponder about revenge, forgiveness, and family relationships. Very powerful stuff! The AGAMEMNON is one of the world's greatest and darkest tragedies, THE LIBATION BEARERS one of the most moving and horrifying revenge plays, but as the one that ties things all up into a nice bundle, THE EUMENIDES is a shade less gripping than the other two. A good time to read THE ORESTEIA would be as an interlude between THE ILIAD and THE ODYSSEY, as its events take place pretty much between the two Homeric epics. Though I prefer Sophocles and Euripides as playwrights, they owe a great debt to their precursor Aeschylus, rightly deemed "the Father of Tragedy."
Rating:
Summary: Simply Amazing
Review: Over the years, I have read a number of different translations of the Orestia. When I finally got around to reading Robert Fagles translation after devouring his Illiad, I was simply amazed. Aeschylus is the father of the European tragedy. Not only is Aeschylus the root of tragedy, his are the perfect tragedies. I can think of no story more sorrowful than the Orestia. This translation brings that sorrow that much closer to the breast. I cannot recommend this work highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: Gen X: READ THIS!
Review: Professor Fagles' translation of the Oresteia trilogy is the most powerful, moving, intense, bloody, achingly sad and beautiful drama I have ever read. As a typical member of the late Baby Boomer/early Gen X generation, I was never assigned such texts in school, and had the misconception that anything written by an ancient Greek must be boring, stale, and irrelevant. Fagles' Oresteia translation shows how misguided we are, and (along with his Illiad, Odyssey, and Three Theban Plays) opens up an incredible world to so many of us who have been in the dark. Do not read this simply for your intellectual, moral, and spiritual improvement -- experience this because it is so enjoyable. "Pulp Fiction," "The Terminator," "The Titanic," Stephen King, or the latest Martin Scorcese film cannot compare for plot, intrigue, sex, violence, gore, intensity, entertainment, or cutting edge creativity. From the plays' depiction of horrendous and unspeakable crimes to its climactic courtroom drama, you'll see why so many ancient playgoers fainted in the audience -- some women even having spontaneous miscarriages -- and why modern readers are so shocked and on the edge of their armchairs. Even if you've never read a "classic" or a "great book," read this.
Rating:
Summary: Very Readable, but not the best
Review: Robert Fagles is an excellent translator generally, and if you have never read the Greek classics before, I would recommend this one. He puts more emotion and excitement into the plays than most of his contemporaries do. However, even though I love Fagles and was quite impressed by his Homer translations, his Aeschylus is probably not the best out there. If you are looking to truly study Aeschylus rather than just read it for pleasure, I would recommend, instead, the Lattimore translation. It is far harder to get into initially, but more rewarding, as the translation is more literal yet still superb. Do not be afraid!
Rating:
Summary: Very Readable, but not the best
Review: Robert Fagles is an excellent translator generally, and if you have never read the Greek classics before, I would recommend this one. He puts more emotion and excitement into the plays than most of his contemporaries do. However, even though I love Fagles and was quite impressed by his Homer translations, his Aeschylus is probably not the best out there. If you are looking to truly study Aeschylus rather than just read it for pleasure, I would recommend, instead, the Lattimore translation. It is far harder to get into initially, but more rewarding, as the translation is more literal yet still superb. Do not be afraid!
Rating:
Summary: Murder, Punishment, Redemption
Review: The Oresteia (the only extant complete Greek trilogy) consists of three plays: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and the Eumenides. It begins with Agamemnon returning home triumphant from the Trojan war only to be struck down (together with the tragic Cassandra) by his wife Clytaemnestra. Her motives while just (he sacrificed their daughter Iphigeneia to calm the winds) are impure because of her adultery with Aegisthus. The second play is the vehicle for Clytaemnestra's punishment, as her son Orestes returns to kill both her and Aegisthus with the help of his sister Electra. Finally, the Eumenides has the trial of Orestes by Athena, as she stops the furies from taking him in return for the blood-guilt he incurred for killing his mother. The Eumenides provides the way to end the cycle of revenge by banishing the furies from active participation in the world of men. The cycle can be read in any number of ways. The introduction to the Penguin/Fagles translation contains a summary of the various readings. I kept wondering what Proteus, the missing fourth satyr-play would have provided. We read it so clearly as a trilogy and the Eumenides has such a harmonious ending that I can't help but wonder if the circle closed in the third play reopens in the fourth or if it was something else entirely. My only complaint about the book is that in the Fagles translation the notes are at the back of the book rather than assigned per page, and I find that a cumbersome style to read.
Rating:
Summary: From the Blood Feud to Democracy
Review: The Oresteia is the only extant Greek trilogy. Made up of Agememnon, The Libation Bearers, and the Eumenides the trilogy presents man's progress from blood feud to the beginnings of democracy. Agememnon is the traditional and essential Greek tragedy. This play show mankind at its most savage. (...) It is the second generation of the curse on the house of Atreus. (...) Clytaemnestra is one of literature's great creations and a memorable character known for her cunning and ruthlessness. The Libation Bearers continues the story. Agememnon's son Orestes plots revenge with his sister, Electra. The message here seems to be that blood begets blood. (...) The Eumenides is the first courtroom drama. Here we witness the birth of the democratic process. (...) Man has moved from the age of the blood feud to the dawn of democracy in less than 300 pages. On the whole the trilogy is not light reading. The Fagles translation attempts to preserve the poetry of the work to a large extent. However Aeschylus was never easy to relate to even in the 5th Century B.C. he was considered archaic. The trilogy deserves a read just on the strength of its importance to western civilazation. The reader needs a good bit of patience but will find himself rewarded if he sticks with this work. If reading the Fagles translation it may be helpful to read the lengthy introduction "The Serpent and the Eagle" for a good guide to the work. The intro is long and somewhat tedius but it places the work in an historical perspective that is helpful as one gets deeper and deeper into the text. The textual notes are inconvieniently placed at the end of the work which make them a chore to read except for the most interested scholars. Try this one you won't regret it.
| 
