In The Oresteia by Aeschylus, the ancient law requires that blood must be paid for with blood in an unending cycle of doom. The idea was that nothing can wash away a bloodstain except for more blood. Many years after king Agamemnon's murder by his wife Clytamnestra with the help of her lover Aigisthos, Agamemnon's son Orestes returns surreptitious to his home in Argos to visit his father's grave. He has returned to Argos on a mission; he has been sent by an oracle of the God Apollo. His mission is to revenge Agamemnon's murder. Apollo has threatened Orestes with horrible punishments, including leprosy, if Orestes refuses to carry out Apollo's instructions or if he fails at this task.
It could be suggested is that the dramatic trilogy The Oresteia is author's way of telling readers that mankind cannot hope to build a progressive society if there is a constant need for revenge. The author, Aeschylus, suggests that the way out of this downward spiral to anarchy is one in which there is the rule of law, not the code of personal honor and revenge.
Queen Clytemnestra thinks that she has brought justice to Argos when she murders Agamemnon and his captive Cassandra. The Queen believes that she is ending a curse of bloodshed that has continued for several generations. The Queen's idea of justice is an eye for an eye. The implication is that only more slaughter can erase the sin of earlier murders. For his part, her lover Aegisthus helps Clytemnestra to plot Agamemnon's murder because he wants revenge against Atreus, who killed Aegisthus' older siblings. Rather than hoping for peace in Argos, another family member, Electra, hates both her mother Clytaemnestra and her mother's lover Aegisthus. Electra prays for violent and unpitying revenge for the death of her father.
There are no heroes and scoundrels in these three stories. There are people motivated by a societal expectation that murdered relatives will be avenged, and there are ...