Orestes and Clytemnestra

The relation between Orestes and Clytemnestra is defined by a reversal of family bonds into violence: Orestes avenges his father by killing his mother, then becomes the target of the Furies. In the Oresteia, their conflict carries the consequences of Agamemnon’s return from the Trojan War and his prior sacrifice of their daughter.

Family Conflict and Revenge

Clytemnestra awaits Agamemnon’s return intending to kill him. His sacrifice of their daughter is part of the background to her act, and she also has a lover. The conflict therefore turns on a family injury that precedes the events of the play: Agamemnon’s return brings the unresolved consequences of that sacrifice into the household.

Orestes, the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, kills his mother to avenge his father. His act reverses the violence within the family rather than ending it; the Furies pursue and torment him afterward. The relation thus binds filial revenge to its own consequences, as the son who answers one killing becomes subject to further pursuit.