Gender in the Oresteia

Abstract

Gender is a major issue in the Oresteia. The trial in the Eumenides can be seen as a battle of genders, with Apollo representing the male and the Erinyes representing the female. Apollo defeats the Erinyes through successfully mobilizing gendered rhetoric while the Erinyes are concerned only with pollution. This focus on pollution is ineffective because the Erinyes themselves are polluted. The Agamemnon and the Choephori prepare for this gender conflict through imagery which supports male power and diminishes the role of the female. Concepts of gender are expressed through images of animal single parents, lions, the roles of mother and wife, and the Erinyes.