The Libation Bearers

What is the overall role of the Chorus in the play? What are their loyalties and values? How does their commentary elucidate some of the play’s key themes and ideas?

Reflect on the way gender norms are subverted in the play. In what way do female characters like Clytaemestra assume traditionally masculine qualities? In what way do male characters like Orestes assume traditionally feminine qualities?

The play suggests that justice and retribution are not always the same thing, even though Orestes and Electra initially consider them to be one and the same. How are the concepts of justice and retribution presented in the play? What is the wider significance of each?

Orestes and Electra remain close to one another even while alienated from their mother and stepfather. How is their sibling dynamic depicted? How is each one characterized in relation to the other? What role does their bond play in the Libation Bearers?

Analyze some of the symbolism used in speeches throughout the play. What forms of symbolism does Aeschylus deploy? How is symbolism used to shape characterization, narrative momentum, and/or to illuminate the play’s themes?

Discuss Clytaemestra’s motivations and goals, comparing her depiction in The Libation Bearers with Agamemnon. How do Clytaemestra’s conceptions of justice and revenge compare to Orestes and Electra’s? What is the significance between the similarities and differences in their conceptions?

Examine Orestes character arc in the play. In what ways, if any, does he change and grow over the course of the play?

Analyze the Libation Bearers within the wider context of the Oresteia trilogy. How does this play compare to those that precede and follow it in the trilogy? What themes does it share in common with the other two plays, and how does it aid in the development of the trilogy’s key ideas?