Aegisthus enters, not quite believing the news of Orestes' death. The Chorus push him to meet the stranger and hear for himself. He does, and is killed offstage.
A servant brings the news, and can't understand the Chorus's calmness in the face of calamity. Clytemnestra appears, as Orestes comes back and declares his intentions. She lays the guilt-trip on him, trying to preserve her life. He won't hear it. Besides killing Agamemnon, he resents her for sending him away to live with strangers as a child. She protests, appeals to the Fate she had to follow, tells of her sorrow living while Agamemnon fought abroad. It doesn't work. Orestes takes Clytemnestra offstage.
The Chorus ruminates on Fate, and celebrates Justice done. They see a completed cycle of violence, with the ultimate hero, Orestes, coming out on top.
The deed done, Orestes comes back out, surveys the bodies, and carries his father's bloody mantle in which he was killed. He sees Justice done. Her rues his father's passing, lamenting his fate. But thinking on it too long, he begins to weep, and starts to lose composure, the enormity of the act finally getting to him. He declares himself an exile from the land, undeserving to live among the people after his deed. The Chorus try to settle him, but he quickly gets worse. Orestes sees the Furies in the room, coming for him. He's losing control, the Chorus is panicking, the Furies approach, and he flees.
The Chorus is sorrowful again, struck by the apparently continuous curse upon this family.
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With all the character focused only on their narrow interests, all were blind to the overall injustice happening around them. The ultimate lesson from this play is the insufficiency of the old modes of honor and justice. "An eye for an eye" cannot prevail in the long run.
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