The Cycle of Vengeance: "Where Will It End?"

Eliza Colbert

    What stuck out to me in The Libation Bearers was the emphasis on repaying “death with death” (213). Throughout the story, Orestes is advised to “cut [Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus] down / in their own style” (191) and to “bring destruction / on destruction” (195). This is the inevitable fate of an honor culture: it becomes a cycle. Someone kills a father so the son kills that person so the brother of that person kills the son so the cousin of the son kills the brother and on and on it goes. Even the Chorus recognizes this cyclical pattern. On page 192, they say,

            Justice turns the wheel.

            ‘Word for word, curse for curse

            Be born now,’ Justice thunders,

            ‘Stroke for bloody stroke be paid.

            The one who acts must suffer.’

They refer to a wheel that Justice turns. This wheel is the cycle of vengeance. “Stroke for bloody stroke” is exactly what the Chorus is calling for. They know it is a cycle and they know it is a bloody one. However, in their culture, this cycle is necessary. “It is the law: when the blood of slaughter / wets the ground it wants more blood” (195). This killing cycle is a necessary part of the honor culture in ancient Greece. It is unavoidable and it never ends. As long as there is someone left alive who can avenge their relative’s death, the cycle will go on.

This is exactly what happens in The Libation Bearers. Agamemnon has very few relatives left who could avenge him. There is Menelaus, but he is lost at sea. For all points and purposes, he is regarded as already dead. There is Electra, but she is a woman. Unlike Clytaemnestra, she is unwilling to take on the responsibility of vengeance. The final option is Orestes; he must avenge Agamemnon. This is why Clytaemnestra is so relieved to hear that Orestes is dead. She thinks that the cycle is finally complete. Of course, she is wrong and Orestes does avenge Agamemnon, but not before Clytaemnestra pronounces a curse on him. Thus, the cycle continues and Orestes flees from Clytaemnestra’s avenging curse. And so, we are left asking with the Chorus, “Where will it end? / Where will it sink to sleep and rest, / this murderous hate, this Fury?”(226). P.S. I commented on Dakota's and Breanna's posts