The Justice of Athena
Victor Salvado
English R1A: Performing Revenge
The Justice of Athena
In the Greek trilogy of revenge The Oresteia, Aeschylus actively utilizes literary symbols to suggest significant parallels between the representative system of justice reflected in the play and the prevalent democratic attitudes of 5th century Greek society. The goddess Athena is instrumental in drawing these parallels, as it is she who establishes the unbiased court system in which Orestes is tried. However, Aeschylus also shows the necessity of divine intervention in the resolution of the plot, which is an apparent contradiction of Athena’s legal system. Although this evaluation is valid, a more emblematic reading of the text reveals that Aeschylus in fact portrays divine intervention as a stabilizing component in the plot that Greeks should recognize and ultimately try to simulate in their own system of law. In order to relate the importance of this stabilization, Aeschylus opts to portray Athena and her legal system as an implicit analogy to Greek governance rather than a direct depiction, and thus is able to explore striking similarities between the two doctrines of justice. In The Eumenides, Athena acts as the mediator and eventual catalyst for the resolution of the trial of Orestes, setting the scene for rational discussion and a fair judgment. When Orestes and the Furies arrive at her shrine, Athena decides to host a public trial in order to display an unbiased system of justice to the people of Athens. Athena expresses her disinclination to monopolize the final decision of this trial, stating “Embrace the one? Expel the other? It defeats me / But since the matter comes to rest on us, / I will appoint the judges of manslaughter, / swear them in, and found a tribunal here / for all time to come” (496). Here, she expresses her idea of creating a court with a jury to judge Orestes. As the patron of the city of Athens, Athena vies to teach the citizens how to construct a lawful,
English R1A: Performing Revenge
The Justice of Athena
In the Greek trilogy of revenge The Oresteia, Aeschylus actively utilizes literary symbols to suggest significant parallels between the representative system of justice reflected in the play and the prevalent democratic attitudes of 5th century Greek society. The goddess Athena is instrumental in drawing these parallels, as it is she who establishes the unbiased court system in which Orestes is tried. However, Aeschylus also shows the necessity of divine intervention in the resolution of the plot, which is an apparent contradiction of Athena’s legal system. Although this evaluation is valid, a more emblematic reading of the text reveals that Aeschylus in fact portrays divine intervention as a stabilizing component in the plot that Greeks should recognize and ultimately try to simulate in their own system of law. In order to relate the importance of this stabilization, Aeschylus opts to portray Athena and her legal system as an implicit analogy to Greek governance rather than a direct depiction, and thus is able to explore striking similarities between the two doctrines of justice. In The Eumenides, Athena acts as the mediator and eventual catalyst for the resolution of the trial of Orestes, setting the scene for rational discussion and a fair judgment. When Orestes and the Furies arrive at her shrine, Athena decides to host a public trial in order to display an unbiased system of justice to the people of Athens. Athena expresses her disinclination to monopolize the final decision of this trial, stating “Embrace the one? Expel the other? It defeats me / But since the matter comes to rest on us, / I will appoint the judges of manslaughter, / swear them in, and found a tribunal here / for all time to come” (496). Here, she expresses her idea of creating a court with a jury to judge Orestes. As the patron of the city of Athens, Athena vies to teach the citizens how to construct a lawful,
Cited: Aeschylus, and Robert Fagles. The Oresteia. New York, NY: Penguin, 1984. Print.