Similarities Between The Odyssey And Electra

The Pursuit of Justice Versus The Fulfillment of Self-Interest in The Odyssey and Electra
If one were to closely analyze the actions that are carried out by the characters in both The Odyssey and Electra, it would be quite difficult to assess what the standards of true justice are in such era of ancient Greece. Certain instances suggest that they work strictly through a measure of balance while others conclude that the people simply do whatever is necessary in order to obey the Gods. However, for every incident that leads to a potential answer, something happens that contradicts it and the reader is left to assume nothing more than that it is a chaotic society that lacks any logic or reason. In a series of brutal encounters, there is always
It seems that as readers, we are expected to feel an immense amount of rage towards Clytemnestra for murdering Agamemnon while feeling sympathy towards Electra due to her great amount of suffering as a result of it. However, almost every portion of this situation could be debated as whether such person was acting out of justifiable vengeance or some sort of self-advantage. Clytemnestra claims that she killed Agamemnon in order to make him pay for the sacrificing of their daughter, which raises the question if even Agamemnon was acting justly to begin with. Regardless, with the information we are given, it is reasonable to conclude that this is merely a cheap excuse for her behavior; the truth being that she performed the act in order to marry Aegisthus. Therefore, the reader is able to perceive Clytemnestra as an unredeemable villain while holding Electra in a rather heroic light. But what severely contradicts this view is Electra’s verbal argument against her mother’s actions, which is that even if Clytemnestra did murder Agamemnon over her daughter’s death, justice cannot be brought about by answering a murder with another murder. This assertion attaches a large sense of hypocrisy on Electra’s character and motives, for that is exactly what she is plotting to do. Her mind appears to be incredibly unstable and it becomes clear that she is not internally processing her decisions in a proper manner, but instead plotting a rash and thoughtless