How can an endless and violently destructive cycle be just? The concept appears in places along the human timeline as diverse as the Bible and West Side Story. Why do people have a tendency to amplify and repeat violence through a cycle of murder and revenge, and how can this destructive process be called justice? In The Oresteia, the cycle is a familiar one, but is also interweaved with gender issues and a sense of justice that changes within the cycle itself. Instead of focusing on one book of the trilogy, I think it will be more worthwhile to see how these patterns flow through all three books.
The first chapter of the trilogy is the story of Agamemnon, the war hero of Troy who returns home after 10 years. The King had left on a rather sour note, having murdered his daughter Iphigenia to appease the Gods in order for the fleet to sail for Troy. Clytomnestra, the Queen, cannot understand the sacrifice. This is the first occurrence of the so-called gender battle in the trilogy. Agamemnon’s actions are typical of the classic Greek ‘male’ point of view. He is mostly concerned with issues of war, honor and the welfare of the city. Clytomnestra, in contrast, is more concerned with ‘female’ issues, such as the welfare of the family. The Queen, during the King’s absence, becomes obsessed with her daughter’s death, and takes a new lover to the exclusion of her remaining children in an attempt to steal control over the city. When Agamemnon returns, instead of a faithful wife he finds a quick death at the hands of Aegithus. It is interesting to note that another person is also killed, an innocent. Clytomnestra kills Cassandra, a prophetic girl brought home from Troy, on a whim…
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…ause it would only allow him to act out more injustice. Still, the idea of making him a better person relative to the values of society is somewhat anti-Socratic. Socrates would rather there be an absolute ideal, without room for human opinion or emotion. Unfortunately, practical situation often preclude the actualization of his ideal. His logic still entails to the idea of relative justice. In modern terms, this would be akin to sentencing criminals to time in therapy or mental health institutes rather than incarceration. This is not so radical a departure from what proponents of capital punishment suggest. But is society ready for a justice system where the guilty are not punished? I don’t think so. As sad as it may seem, the human tendency for hate overrides true justice.
Works Cited:
Aeschylus. Oresteia. Trans. Peter Meineck. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1998
The Strong Women in The Orestia by Aeschylus
The Strong Women in The Orestia by Aeschylus
To most readers, the women of The Orestia are evil and vindictive, a disgrace to all chaste and righteous women. Aeschylus portrayed women as equals to men, which was not the opinion of most Greeks at the time. Although he showed some of his women characters as evil, he granted them power, and emasculated the men around them. Unlike Homer, the women of Aeschylus show both ranges of emotions, both the good and the bad. A woman portrayed as a villain may be thought of negatively, but the fact that a female is allowed to be the villain, to take action, and leave other men helpless to the choices that she makes, it is a great step. In the time of the Greeks, a woman was either victimized by the male world around her, or victimized other males to hold a place in the world. Aeschylus made his women characters unique for his time but relevant to ours, since all the bad and evil characteristics of women then are mostly recognized as strength and intellect. This theme is mostly clearly shown through Clymanestra.
Clymanestra was not an evil character, but rather a misunderstood one. Woman of today could perfectly relate to her situation. For example, Clymanestra was like a housewife, who ran her family while her husband was off focused on his job, working overtime, even when he didn?t need the money, leaving her needs totally unattended to. The husband talked about his work life like he was the gear that everything revolves around, perhaps even talks about the women that worship him for his skills, or at worst, sleeps with his secretary. He sacrificed spending time with his children, even missed his daughter?s first ballet recital, so that he could kiss up to the bos…
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All in all, the strong women in Aeschylus were a man?s nightmare, but the fulfillment of a woman?s dream. Clymanestra was the type of woman hated in Greece as a she-devil tyrant, but in the present, the kind of woman who would have been a very effective and respected politician who could keep her own in a man?s world. Aeschylus clearly showed that for a woman, it was nobler to take control of one?s life, be independent, and die, than to ride the rivers of passiveness, watch the world float by without taking any action to change one?s fate, and live a fruitless life. Clymanestra was not just another ?evil? woman, but could be looked at as a role model for the feminist movement. She took control of sexuality, of her kingdom, of her children, and her marriage.
Works Cited:
Aeschylus. Oresteia. Trans. Peter Meineck. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1998.