House Of Atreus - Blog Posts

the house of atreus really has everything: cannibalism, matricide, fratricide, just plain old murder, incest, adultery, generational trauma, etc

i cant think abt elektra & orestes being twins for too long or ill fr start crying. like the thought of them growing up together, being the only ally each other has, growing closer than regular siblings, creating a world of their own through games & fantastic tales, only for elektra to have to send him away for his safety, renouncing to the little companionship she had in the house, feeling like she just got rid of part of herself, not knowing when or if orestes will ever come back... but doing it anyway cus thats her brother & she has to take care of him. she has to

the nearly incestuous role cassandra plays in the agamemnon. she's introduced in a way that suggests a role as agamemnon's bride, arriving at her new home, but agamemnon's actual wife is waiting for them in the traditional place of the mother of the groom, making her the mother-in-law of cassandra, who also bears a strong comparison to iphigeneia, clytaemnestra's actual daughter, in terms of bridal/virginal/sacrificial imagery. the exact daughter that clytaemnestra aims to avenge since she was sacrificed instead of wedded. BUT instead she kills her husbandson AND his daughterwife to boot to show she's beyond reason. killing both the transgressor and her reason for revenge. and then her son kills her. perversion and blurring of sexual and familial boundaries all around

Chrysothemis always gets left out in discussions of The Kids of Clytemnestra because she's easily overshadowed by the drama queen antics of the rest of her family and I always feel sad about that...Chrysothemis I'm thinking of u and how u taught yourself to bend under the weight of your family, rather than break or lash out. Not every child of abuse can hit back. Anything is acceptable in the name of survival. The pity and grief and anger and envy she felt towards Electra because Electra never pulled her punches, even when it was the smart response, the proper one, the one that might lead to some kind of future happiness. Chrysothemis did everything right; she kept her head down, she kept her mouth shut, she kept herself humble and obedient, but it would never have mattered either way, because she wasn't the heroine. The story wasn't hers.

Electra drives me insane she's really like. This family tree is rotten and so I am rotten but the rot will end with me. And yes the father that lives in my memory is a fantasy and a stranger to the man that really lived but he's dead and every memory of the dead is a fantasy. And yes my father did horrible things but he did those things because he had to, I have to believe he did them because he had to. And maybe if he had lived, he would have loved me and I am so starved of love that I will beg for it from the graves of dead men. Yes this woman gave birth to me and shaped me into the wretched form I am today. No she is not my mother. Yes I hate her. No I can't remember a time when she didn't hate me. Yes I am desperate for her to love me. No I would rather die than do something to earn her love. No I am nothing like her. Yes I look into the mirror and see my mother, and I hate her, so I hate me. Yes I believe my brother remembers and loves me and will come and save me. No I don't know what he looks like or if he's still alive. Yes I love my brother unconditionally. No I don't really know my brother. Yes I know my brother intrinsically because he is the other half of my soul. No I don't believe he's coming. Yes I love him anyway because I am destined to love men who leave me behind in this house. This house that has been built on the bones of my murdered family, killed by my family, and their blood has poisoned the roots. Yes this house is my home. Yes this house hates me, and what does it mean when your home is also your prison? Yes I want to leave this house. No I will never leave this house. Yes this house has always been haunted. I am the thing that is haunting this house.