Justice is a concept studied by all the ancient peoples: Scandinavians, Goths, Europeans, and Greeks. The nature of revenge and whether it is just to kill somebody as an act of vengeance is a central issue of the trilogy The Oresteia. Throughout the novels, the concept of fairness evolves onto a new system devised by the goddess Athena. Old laws and new orders are contrasted and contradicted, while the lives of Atreus’s descendants are at stake. This essay will evaluate the justice in the Oresteia and its extent in Aeschylus’ Eumenides.
It is important to note that Orestes was primarily acting upon avenging his deceased father, whom he knew little about. He takes his vengeance on his mother and step-father and later admits to his crimes before the gods and people. He says, ‘but I came back, my years of exile weathered-killed the one who bore me, I won’t deny it, killed her in revenge.” (Collard 467-468). From these lines, the reader can observe that Orestes was fully aware of his actions and still deliberately chose murder, which was a violation of Furies’ laws. Orestes deliberately crushed the bond with his mother, which proves that Furies had the right to vengeance. They were correct when they said that family is by blood only, so the Gods cannot call a husband and a wife family; those were the old laws.
Clytemnestra was the one who genuinely followed the old laws, the justice of Furies. Her ex-husband murdered their daughter ‘to bless the war’, which infuriated Clytemnestra and gave her the right to avenge her blood (Collard). Agamemnon deceived his wife when he asked for their daughter to sail with him, explaining that he will give her hand in marriage to Achilles. However, instead of upholding his promise, he killed his blood to sail for Troy and go to war. In truth, sacrificing women was common in Greece since they believed it calmed the gods and made them favor people who sacrificed. Nevertheless, it was an act of pointless femicide, which the author tries to cover behind the gods’ will.
Although Clytemnestra was justified in her actions according to the old laws and old gods and her actions showcased clear morality, it did not save her from the betrayal by her blood. Agamemnon violated a sacred parent-child connection when he murdered their daughter, and Clytemnestra was legally justified. The curse that lay upon the House of Atreus was seemingly fulfilled when the ax ended the life of a murderer. However, the chorus foreshadows the future turn of events and the Orestes’s return in the future.
Clytemnestra did not want to claim the life of her son as well, so she sent him into exile to save his life. Like his mother’s thoughts, Orestes believed in his rightfulness and thought that he had a clear motive for revenge, confirmed by the male god. Orestes appeared to have no intentions or desire to murder his mother, but he was convinced that he should. Apollo confirmed that he should ‘uphold justice’ and kill his mother and guides Orestes in his vengeance mission (Collard). Orestes believed his father to be the God-chosen person, which justified his future actions in the eyes of people and gods. The cycle of blood and hatred in the House of Atreus continued and appeared to be endless.
Considering the issue from Orestes’s perspective, who desperately searched for rationalization of his behavior, he was correct in seeking ‘justice’ (Collard). He wanted to murder a murderer of his father, and according to the old testaments, he had a right to do so. However, if to look at the issue from a different angle, he had no right to act upon revenge. Moreover, the story’s real villains are the gods because they were aware of the curse upon the House of Atreus, and they could not have enacted it. Instead, gods served as catalyzers of a curse, pushing people to do meaningless and cruel acts. Moreover, as the reader can observe, the trilogy author seems to be on the side of gods and men, ultimately devaluing Clytemnestra’s fair right to vengeance.
Nevertheless, Clytemnestra bore three children; she tried to avenge one of them, murdered by their father, and did not get the justice she deserved because gods and people condemned her actions. However, the cycle of violence led the gods to search for another solution, which helped the Greek society to evolve. The ancient concept of justice and vengeance could not correctly apply to the situations because both Orestes and his mother had legitimate reasons to enact revenge. However, the old gods were on the side of Clytemnestra, while Zeus, through Apollo, supported Orestes.
It is clear why men supported men, and in the end, the man’s word and man’s life were held more important than the story and life of a woman. ‘It was the father who conceived a child; a woman just bore it.’ (Collard) As history tells, men do not appreciate female’s work because they will never understand the work that women put into their descendants. The question whether Orestes was right when he murdered the person who bore him and loved him more than anything else in the world to avenge the person who spent most of his life away from home is still accurate. The answer is no because if Orestes were loyal to the vengeance laws, he would help his mother uphold her justice in the first place.
Furthermore, Clytemnestra also did not get any fairness, as she was criticized for doing the right thing in accordance with the old laws. In ancient law of relation, which states that blood can be paid with blood, Clytemnestra acted as she believed and overthrew her abusive husband. She did not give in when he destroyed something that she created. Gods exceed the extend of ‘man’s work’ because the only thing Agamemnon did is gave a seed, but it was Clytemnestra, who planted the grain, and cared for it for all those years her husband played wars on other lands (Collard). Furies supported this rule wholeheartedly because their justice concept kept the law of retaliation and without withdrawals. They were right when they called upon madness to punish Orestes for his actions.
Moreover, they were rightfully angry when Apollo put a man’s life and work over a woman’s. Furies uphold their beliefs regardless of circumstances, which would be fair if the author was a woman. Again, female’s revenge is seen as evil, and unfair. Matricide is not punished but praised because Orestes ‘calmed’ a madwoman, who rightfully murdered her husband. Furies represented old wisdom, which neither Apollo nor Zeus respected (Collard).
Athena’s trial of manslaughter is significant because it provides a neutral place that decides who is right and who is wrong in the given situation. Unfortunately, Orestes is released from his punishment as his side of the argument remains correct, while his deceased mother’s side is judged. The Eumenides seems like a battleground of two contrasting moralities. No one is a saint in the situation because both sides were engaged in murder. However, at the same time, Clytemnestra avenged the daughter she bore and grew, while Orestes protected the interests of a murderer and a person he knew nothing about.
Additionally, his mother never told him about his sister’s death and not at any time report the sins of his father. Instead, she tried to praise her ex-husband, making Orestes believe that his father is a champion. Agamemnon was not a hero; he was a villain powered by hatred and lust. Not only he murder his blood, but he also came from the war along with his mistress.
The Furies are the defenders of blood; they uphold true justice, fighting against Orestes and Apollo, who try to justify their actions as well. Orestes does everything in his power to claim his truth and convince the jury that Zeus himself led his hand injustice. At this point, the audience can hear the excellent question from the chorus ‘Can a son spill his mother’s blood on the ground, then settle into his father’s halls in Argos?” (Collard 661-662) Perhaps Orestes could say that his mother was quick to settle a new life right after the murder, which could hypothetically serve him some reason for his actions. However, instead, his speech was offensive and talked about how a father is the only birth parent to a child. He proclaimed it from a male’s perspective, who never witnessed the birth and has no idea how hard it is to bear even one child. Instead, he exceeds his father’s ‘job’, who rarely sees and speaks to his blood (Collard).
Instead of making the right decision and serving Clytemnestra some justice, Athena initiates a vote. Jurors had to decide whether the actions of Orestes were genuinely fair. Everything was taken into consideration: circumstances, motives, and consequences. These men agreed whether marriage is as sacred as one’s own flesh and blood, whether it was fair for Zeus to overthrow the ancient laws. Athena believed that this issue is too hard for her to judge, so she needed help from mortal juries. She hinted that mortals must decide when the gods cannot agree and the right solution. The so-called justice is unjust because Orestes was innocent in men’s eyes, and his mother – was crazy. The higher tribunal confirmed marriage as sacred as blood bounds; however, Zeus never complied with the laws. He cheated in his marriage, ate his children, killed innocents, and cursed women for not wanting to sleep with him. However, his behavior is seen as just, while his wife Hera is viewed as a sign of jealousy and evilness. This proves that the same circumstances for men and women are considered differently because of stereotypes and deep hatred for women.
The final decision is tied since Orestes’s arguments were relatively weak compared to his mother’s claim. There is justice on both sides, which the jury realizes. Furthermore, the final vote, Athena’s, is put for Orestes because she supports her father’s patriarchal order. She believes that there is a need to establish higher reasoning, but she also votes for the justice for Agamemnon, who was a great warrior. As a goddess of war and as a person, who is good at what she is doing, she voted for General in favor of his memory. She is incapable of realizing that she does the most significant unfairness to Clytemnestra because she knows little about females, despite being one. Athena was biased in her judgment, which is why the system was unfair from the beginning.
However, there was one problem to be settled, and it was the anger of the Furies. Athena dismissively says that Zeus’s Order should be upheld at all costs if they do not wish for war between immortals. She allows them to make their home Athens and, as a final jeer on their principals, asks them to become upholders of the bond of marriage. They accept the offer, which turns them ‘from destructive spirits into good ones.’ (Collard) This act also ends the House of Atreus’s curse since everything had to end on a positive note for male characters. Orestes was free to claim the throne bathed in blood, and Furies were placed beneath Zeus’s feet. Clytemnestra, the mother, stayed unavenged just like her daughter because the jury deemed the mother’s actions unjust.
To conclude, the concept of fairness worked only for male characters, whether females, who tried to uphold justice, were deemed crazy. Although old laws and new orders were contrasting and contradicting each other, the concept of justice grew to bring more injustice to Greece. Gods and men were not holding themselves accountable for their actions because the justice system was always at their side. The extend of fairness cannot stretch onto women, although their truth is the final one.
Work Cited
Oresteia *Oxford World’s Classics*. Translated by Christopher Collard. Oxford University Press, 2009.