Aeschylus' "Oresteia": An Ancient System of Cruel, Familial Justice
In a legalistic system of justice, human beings are responsible for their actions because they are assumed to have at least some control over their own actions and their environment. Therefore, taking into consideration certain mitigating factors, they can be judged for their actions, and be punished accordingly. Someone who orchestrated the killing of her husband, because her husband murdered a child, like Clytemnestra in the "Oresteia" of the early Greek playwright Aeschylus might be treated with some mercy by a jury. The jury would take into consideration f her feelings for her dead child, although the fact that she took a lover later on might count against her, as it would suggest a less sympathetic motive for the murder of her husband, as would the long period of premeditation of Clytemnestra's actions. But in the in mythic and heroic tradition of archaic society, the justice of the gods prevails, not the justice of equal or objective judgment and retribution, and everything happens according to the plan of Zeus. The belief and emphasis on fate in Greek philosophy and literature is the main reason that Agamemnon is not portrayed as evil, despite the fact he has committed what we would call a horrible crime. It is assumed t
By resting Apollo, however unjust his request, she is damned and thus meets an unjust end. The plight of Orestes, however, perhaps most dramatically illustrates the differences between the ancient system of justice and a rule-bound, legalistic system. He knows that justice has not been done, he has merely been acting according to the will of the gods, and according to the brute code of revenge, and no good can come of it. He can only do the god's bidding, not use his own internal, moral compass. Apollo gave the Trojan woman the gift of prophesy, and the curse that no one will believe her words. Orestes is a good man, but he is forced, because of circumstances, to do an evil thing. He is said to have been "gulled" and "hauled" into evil, rather than to have willed the sacrifice to happen (9). Finally, although she tried to be chaste, she is made a concubine of a Greek general, and becomes a victim in a family tragedy that has nothing to do with her, or her people. She does so, but not in a spirit of impartial justice, as might be meted out in a law-court that tried to remain objective and distance itself in a legalistic fashion from the passions of the different characters. If he does not, he is also damned, for he has dishonored his father's memory. Unlike a system of justice where 'truth will set you free,' knowing the truth makes Cassandra a hated prisoner. Clytemnestra is angry (justifiably so, a modern reader might counter) that her daughter was killed so men could go to war, but because the gods wanted it to be so, however evil human sacrifice and war might be, she is not sympathetically portrayed. The fabric woven by fate, and the snipping and cutting of fate that leads to the life and death of different characters is not based upon the individual character's goodness or evil, or fairly allocated. Cassandra can see everything, but no one believes her.
Common topics in this essay:
Oresteia Greek,
Apollo Apollo,
Likewise Clytemnestra,
Agamemnon Choephori,
Apollo Trojan,
Paris Clytemnestra,
,
system justice,
legalistic system,
apollo apollo,
archaic society,
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