Rev. version of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 1990.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 345-357) and index.

Preliminary Material / John R. Porter -- The Critical History of Orestes: An Overview / John R. Porter -- General Interpretation: The Structure, Themes, and Emotional Rhythm of Orestes / John R. Porter -- The Agon / John R. Porter -- The Phrygian Messenger / John R. Porter -- Orestes 1503-36 / John R. Porter -- The Exodos / John R. Porter -- A Pro-satyric Orestes? / John R. Porter -- Madness and Σύνϵσις in Orestes / John R. Porter -- Orestes 819-24 and the Second Stasimon / John R. Porter -- Orestes and Thucydides 3.82-83 / John R. Porter -- Orestes 536-37 = 625-26 / John R. Porter -- Orestes 544-50 / John R. Porter -- Orestes 585-90 / John R. Porter -- The Staging of Orestes 1344ff / John R. Porter -- Bibliography / John R. Porter -- Passages Cited from Orestes / John R. Porter -- Select Index / John R. Porter -- Supplements to Mnemosyne.

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This work challenges recent critical assessments that emphasize the allegedly subversive elements in Euripides' play. The Orestes is found to present a curious mélange of early and late Euripidean features, resulting in a drama where the tragic potential of Orestes' predicament becomes lost amid the moral, political and situational chaos that dominates the late Euripidean stage. Throughout, emphasis is placed on reading the Orestes in light of Greek stage conventions and the poet's own practice. Of particular interest are: an original examination, in light of Greek rhetorical practice, of Orestes' agon with Tyndareus; an analysis of the Phrygian's monody as a cunning hybrid of Timothean nome and traditional messenger speech; and a re-evaluation of the play's troubling deus ex machina.