Who did not love that J.K. Rowling prefaced Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with the following from The Libation Bearers (or Choephori from the Oresteia by Aeschylus)?
Oh, the torment bred in the race,
the grinding scream of death and the stroke that hits the vein,
the haemorrhage none can staunch, the grief, the curse no man can bear.
But there is a cure in the house and not outside it, no,
not from others but from them, their bloody strife.
We sing to you, dark gods beneath the earth.
Now hear, you blissful powers underground - answer the call, send help.
Bless the children, give them Triumph now.
I sure as fuck did.
Also reminded me of the Orestes/Electra bit in Ariel View (how did it go?):
"Pour out my birthright...something something..."
"Kill our mother/father/someone..."
and then Elizabeth Godley (yes!):
"...and then -- go free!"
I have always wondered who/what stands in for Iphigenia in Hamlet. From whence all of Denmark's bloody strife? Is there an Iphigenia figure in The Spanish Tragedy? Anybody?
Well, Hamlet doesn't follow Oresteia particularly well toward the end anyway. Hamlet/Orestes doesn't kill Gertrude/Clytaemnestra, Claudius/Aegisthus does. And the Furies/Fates don't chase down to prosecute Hamlet/Orestes so much as he gets killed by Laertes/Pylades. (Am I thinking on this right?) All for the continued usurption of the throne of Denmark by Fortinbras? Damnit, none of this is following now. I think I still like Oresteia better than Hamlet (it sure moves faster, sometimes). Hamlet/Orestes in love with Ophelia/Electra? Hmmm...brother/sister love? Grrrr...I can't make this work.
Insurance is the most bloodletting industry I know.
Inanity leeches the spirit from my veins.
The boredom is existential.
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