In Aeschylus’ play Oresteia, Orestes exacted revenge on his mother Clytemnestra by murdering her for killing his father Agamemnon. Clytemnestra was furious with Agamemnon for sacrificing their daughter in order to get good winds from the goddess Artemis during the Trojan War. The exchange between Artemis and Agamemnon also shows how cruel the gods can be, but at the same time shows the selfish mannerisms of the mortals as Agamemnon gave up his daughter so easily. The relationship between the gods is also depicted between Orestes and Apollo. Apollo demanded that Orestes kill Clytemnestra, even going as far as threatening Orestes if he didn’t follow through. Despite Apollo threatening Orestes, his intentions were good and he wanted to get justice…show more content… He was prophesied to sleep with his mother and murder his father. Oedipus sends his brother in law Creon to learn any information about Laius’s killer from Apollo. Apollo tells Creon that in order for the curse to end, the men that killed the former king of Thebes, Laius must be killed or exiled. Oedipus assures the people of Thebes that he will find the murderers and save the city. However, when Tiresias shows up and explains that Oedipus is the killer of Laius and that Laius was his father and Jocasta is his mother, he refuses to believe him. He starts mocking Tiresias and believes this is some plot devised by Creon to steal the throne from him. As events unfold and he speaks to a messenger and the cowherd, he starts to realize that he is the baby Jocasta and Laius thought they had killed when they got rid of him to avoid fate. Despite their attempts to flee their doom, everything worked out as the Apollo said it would: Oedipus killed his father, and married his mother Jocasta. This led to Jocasta hanging herself and Oedipus gouging his eyes out. Oedipus begs to be exiled or killed; his life will be tragic until his end. Creon takes him away and Oedipus asks Creon to take care of his two daughters. The relationship between the gods and humans in this story shows that the gods are the ones who tell the fates of the mortals. Apollo could not change Oedipus’s fate, and despite Oedipus and his…show more content… Dionysus’s mother was Semele, a human who had an affair with the almighty Zeus. Hera was jealous and convinced Semele to have Zeus reveal his true form. When Semele saw Zeus in his godly form, she freaked out and Zeus burnt Semele to death (he shape-shifted into a lightning bolt and struck her). Semele was pregnant at the time, but Zeus saved his unborn child by stitching him into his thigh who would grow up to be Dionysus. Semele’s family fabricated a story that the baby died when Semele died, denying his divinity. Dionysus decided to take revenge on the family by first turning his mother’s sisters into the Maenads, a bunch of crazy women who dance in the woods. Semele’s father, Cadmus, gave the kingdom of Thebes over to his grandson Pentheus, who would not allow the worship of Dionysus in Thebes. He arrested Dionysus (whom he thought was a mortal), but this was a mistake. Dionysus got Pentheus to dress up in women’s clothing to see the Maenads, whom he commanded attack Pentheus. Agave, Pentheus’s mother, is one of them and he pleads with her to stop, but instead she rips Pentheus to pieces. When she brings back the head of Pentheus to Thebes, she believes that she has killed a lion because she is so deluded, but Cadmus tells her that it is her son and she weeps. This play absolutely is symbolic of “Mathei Pathos” which means that as you gain knowledge, you suffer.