Justice In Orestes Essay, Research Paper

Justice in Orestes

Aeschylus is chiefly concerned with the nature of justness. In the trilogy The

Oresteia, the Akhaians evolve from an older, more crude bossy signifier of

justness, to a new construct of civil justness devised by Athena. He confronts the

contrast between the old and new orders, the lives of the members of the House

of Atreus, and the serious moral inquiries that Orestes & # 8217 ; offense nowadayss.

The instance against Orestes is strong. The boy admits to striking down his female parent,

in misdemeanor of the sacred renter of affinity. & # 8220 ; But I came back, my old ages of

expatriate weathered? killed the 1 who bore me, I won & # 8217 ; t deny it, killed her in

revenge. & # 8221 ; ( Eumenides lines 476-478 ) This shows that Orestes was to the full cognizant of

the act he was perpetrating, that he wilfully committed it, and that he must

suffer for it. The bond between female parent and kid was broken when Orestes

murdered Clytaemnestra. Marriage, arguably, is a renter of Zeus and the

Olympians. In the old order of things, household is by blood merely. A hubby and

married woman have no blood relation, yet the boy is of the same blood as his parents.

The Furies right to vengeance can non be dismissed.

Clytaemnestra is one who upheld the Torahs of the Furies. Agamemnon & # 8217 ; s slaying of

Iphegenia at Aulis was pure indignation. & # 8220 ; Yes he had the bosom to give his

girl, to bless the war? & # 8221 ; ( Agamemnon lines 222-223 ) Agamemnon killed his

ain blood relation in order to sail for Troy. This excessively, is a awful offense,

apparently of the same weight as Orestes & # 8217 ; act. Clytaemnestra believed she was

justified in revenging her girl, because her hubby violated a sacred renter

of the old Gods. & # 8220 ; Here is Agamemnon, my hubby made a cadaver by this right

manus? a chef-d’oeuvre of justness. Done is done. & # 8221 ; ( Agamemnon lines 1429-1431 ) This

shows a clear morality behind Clytaemnestra & # 8217 ; s motivations. She appears to hold

justification for her actions. The expletive on the House of Atreus is fulfilled.

In the last lines of Agamemnon the chorus foreshadows Orestes & # 8217 ; return.

Clytaemnestra responds by stating to her new hubby, & # 8220 ; We will put the house in

order one time for all. & # 8221 ; ( Agamemnon lines 1708 ) The chorus & # 8217 ; s aim for proposing

Orestes & # 8217 ; s return is to demo that the house is non yet cleansed of the curse..

Like his female parent, Orestes possesses what he believes to be a merely motivation for

retaliation. Unlike his female parent, nevertheless, Orestes has reserves about killing. He

does non wish to strike down his female parent, but realises that he must. The defence

of Orestes is rooted in the fact that Apollo ordered him to make so. Orestes

trusts Apollo & # 8217 ; s counsel at his test. & # 8220 ; Apollo will ne’er neglect me, no, his

enormous power, his prophet charges me to see this test through. & # 8221 ; ( Libation

Carriers lines 273-275 ) Orestes believes that he is justified in revenging his

god-honoured male parent, who was so viciously murdered by his female parent. This rhythm of

blood in the House of Atreus appears as if it will go on everlastingly.

This rhythm of force leads the Gods to seek for a different solution. If

the society of Greece is to come on to a higher civilization, some other manner

must be found to decide the struggle of moral inquiries. The ancient thought of

retribution doesn & # 8217 ; t decently use here because both Clytaemnestra and Orestes

acted in support of legitimate definitions of justness. The ancient Gods support

Clytaemnestra and her actions, while Zeus, by agencies of Apollo, supports Orestes.

The clang between divinities sets the phase for the outgrowth of a new signifier of

justness? civil justness.

The ancient jurisprudence of revenge, which states that blood must be paid for with

more blood, is enforced by the Furies. This undertaking was given to them by Destiny

at the morning of clip. & # 8220 ; ? you & # 8217 ; ll give me blood for blood, you must! ? Wither you

alive, drag you down and there you pay, torment for mother-killing torment! & # 8221 ;

( Eumenides lines 262, 265 ) Their construct of justness is one where the jurisprudence of

revenge is applied perfectly. They have no impression of compassion or

understanding. They uphold the belief that regardless of fortunes, Orestes

must be made to pay for his offense of matricide. The Furies represent something

older and more sacred which Apollo and Zeus do non esteem.

Athena & # 8217 ; s constitution of the tribunal to seek manslaughter is important, because

it provides a topographic point for the citizens to make up one’s mind about what moral elements will be

upheld in the Polis. The Eumenides is the battlefield for the two viing

moralities. The rages invoke their rights as guardians of blood, and it is up

to Orestes and Apollo to convert the jury that the boy was merely in his actions.

The jury is expected to believe that Apollo & # 8217 ; s prophet is true? that Zeus himself

ordained the act. The Chorus asks the inquiry, & # 8220 ; Can a boy slop his female parent & # 8217 ; s

blood on the land, so settle into his male parent & # 8217 ; s halls in Argos? & # 8221 ; ( Furies

lines 661-662 ) A good reply to this inquiry might hold been to hypothetically

change by reversal the inquiry on Clytaemnestra? How rapidly she settled into life after

she cut down her Godhead. But, Apollo opts for the weaker, more arbitrary defence.

His address about how the male parent is the lone true parent makes small sense.

Even the all-male jury would take some discourtesy to this statement.

Athena, nevertheless, initiates the ideal that the jurisprudence be concerned non merely with the

signifiers of justness, as the Furies are passionate about, but with justness itself.

The jurymans must inquire themselves whether Orestes was justified in perpetrating

matricide. Fortunes, motivations and effects must be taken into history

at test. Do they see matrimony every bit sacred as the jurisprudence of kin? Is at that place a

sacred bond between female parent and boy? Or merely between male parent and boy? Department of energies

Zeus & # 8217 ; s will overrule the ancient Torahs of the Furies? These are complicated

moral inquiry that Athena asks the mortal jury to cope with. Even Athena

believes the issue excessively of import for her to judge entirely. & # 8220 ; ? by all rights non

even I should make up one’s mind a instance of slaying? slaying whets passions. & # 8221 ; ( Eumenides lines

486-487 ) She realises that if she were to intercede, the expletive will ne’er stop.

Possibly she is proposing that persons must make up one’s mind when the Gods disagree. This

is an of import development because it shows the journey from the retributive

justness in Agamemnon to the deliberative justness of Athena & # 8217 ; s court.

The ultimate determination is equivocal. The ballot is tied for a ground? neither side

puts forth a well argued analysis of Orestes & # 8217 ; instance. There is justness on both

sides, and the jury realises this. Orestes is acquitted by Athena on arbitrary

footings. She casts her ballot for Orestes because she supports her male parent & # 8217 ; s Order,

believing that there is a demand for the constitution of a higher logical thinking. One

could besides reason that she voted for acquittal because she is the God of war.

She supported Agamemnon, the General, throughout the Trojan war and therefore wished

to favor his memory. She knows little of adult females, despite being female herself.

Having settled the test, Athena must besides settle the choler of the Furies. She

tactfully invites them to fall in Zues & # 8217 ; s Order? something that is necessary if peace

is to be made between the coevalss of immortals. She does non wholly

rebut them, nor deny them their topographic point in the universe. & # 8220 ; I will bear with your

choler. You are older. The old ages have taught you more than I can cognize. But

Zeus, I think, gave me some penetration, excessively, that has its merits. & # 8221 ; ( Eumenides lines

855-859 ) She asks the Furies to accept her offer of doing their place Athinais,

and to digest as the maintainers of the sacred bond of matrimony. They accept her

offer because it is wise and merely. It transforms the Furies from destructive

forces to good 1s.

This declaration ends the expletive on the House of Atreus, every bit good as many of the

differences between the old and new Gods. Orestes is free to claim his metropolis and

the Furies have been given a topographic point in Zeus & # 8217 ; Order. The latter seems to be the

accent of the trilogy because of the arbitrary determination on Orestes & # 8217 ; instance. The

best possible justness has been realised in the determination. The new Apollonian

construct of justness represents a higher degree of understanding and civilization.

It may be argued that Clytaemnestra & # 8217 ; s decease was left unavenged ; that justness

escaped her. Orestes & # 8217 ; right to revenge the dishonourable decease of his male parent was

upheld by the tribunal. The tribunal deemed Clytaemnestra & # 8217 ; s actions incorrect and

Orestes & # 8217 ; merely. With the constitution of Athena & # 8217 ; s judicial system, there is

now a method to prosecute people like Clytaemnestra, such that the antediluvian

blood-lust of retribution doesn & # 8217 ; Ts take regulation over issues of right and incorrect.