The Libation Bearers

This is the second play in Aeschylus' Orestia trilogy. The focus here is on Electra and Orestes, Agamemnon's children, both of whom seek revenge for their father's murder. Yet while Electra never hesitates in her call for divine vengence against her mother and stepfather, Orestes almost has to be forced into the deed -- his buddy Pylades has to remind him that Apollo has threatened all kinds of ghastly discomfort should he fail. There's some simple but effective dramatic touches as well -- setting the scene in the evening, the nurse Clissa's almost comic monologue on childrearing ("the nurse and the laundrywoman had a combined duty"), and Orestes' display of the sheet that ensnared his father during his murder as he argues the justice of his action to the audience.