notwellread's review against another edition
3.0
Brief review:
The highlight of this play for me was the Furies actually appearing on stage and being given the chance to speak, and of course the poetry/language was great as always, but I still have a few gripes with it.
This is another Greek play that features a lot of annoying sexism (and from Athena at that) and another play in which a case reaches its verdict for trivial reasons through misguided arguments (see also: Aristophanes' Frogs). Even if you can excuse the argument that relies on the idea that women are less than men, I still felt that the dilemma of the case was not so fully explored as I would have liked. I also felt that the chorus didn't provide as strong a force towards the verdict as I was expecting, given their relatively heavy involvement in the rest of the trilogy, and there was not much opportunity for any of the characters to argue against Orestes, which they potentially could have done.
The first half (before the trial) would have awarded it at least four stars, but I felt that the verdict and conclusion brought it down and made it a slight disappointment in the end.
The highlight of this play for me was the Furies actually appearing on stage and being given the chance to speak, and of course the poetry/language was great as always, but I still have a few gripes with it.
This is another Greek play that features a lot of annoying sexism (and from Athena at that) and another play in which a case reaches its verdict for trivial reasons through misguided arguments (see also: Aristophanes' Frogs). Even if you can excuse the argument that relies on the idea that women are less than men, I still felt that the dilemma of the case was not so fully explored as I would have liked. I also felt that the chorus didn't provide as strong a force towards the verdict as I was expecting, given their relatively heavy involvement in the rest of the trilogy, and there was not much opportunity for any of the characters to argue against Orestes, which they potentially could have done.
The first half (before the trial) would have awarded it at least four stars, but I felt that the verdict and conclusion brought it down and made it a slight disappointment in the end.
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