Justice and Gender in the Oresteia free essay sample

Justice and Gender in the Oresteia Justice and gender are put into relation with each other in Aeschylus’ Oresteia. In this trilogy, Greek society is characterized as a patriarch, where the oldest male assumes the highest role of the oikos (household). The household consists of a twofold where the father is the head, and the wife and children are the extended family. The head of the oikos is the only one who possesses the authority to seek justice. This is because the father acquires the authority through the inheritance law or male lineage.On the contrary, Greek society seems to transform to a matriarch when Clytemnestra solely murders Agamemnon because she, like primitive males, exercises destructive justice and enters the cycle of violence. Conversely, Athena implements a new and productive structure of justice known as litigation. This suggests that Clytemnestra functions as a catalyst in the transformation from oikos (aristocratic) to polis (democratic) which reflects upon society’s progress towards cleansing. We will write a custom essay sample on Justice and Gender in the Oresteia or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page However, Athena replaces Clytemnestra as the dominant female figure because she employs a new and more productive justice referred to as the rational Athenian judgment, and therefore establishes a just society that will produce and not destruct. In order to completely grasp Clytemnestra and Athena’s role in Oresteia, one must first acknowledge that a change in government is characterized by the societal change in justice from old to new. Then, the chorus outlines two forms of justice: destructive and productive.It is important to acknowledge that destructive justice was the prevalent type utilized by men since the earliest epochs of Greek culture. Aeschylus writes, â€Å"And Justice tilts the scales to ensure suffering is the only teacher. As for the Future, you will only learn it when it comes† (Agamemnon 53:287-290). In this passage, the chorus assists in defining that destructive justice insofar as it expounds on the notion that honesty is restored only through entering the continuous cycle of violence.It also suggests that suffering is an unending cycle of blood for blood because â€Å"it is law: that each and every drop of blood spilled on the ground calls out for more blood spilled† (121: 456-8). Aeschylus suggests that blood for blood is a highly revered belief in Greek culture because it is part of the male’s inheritance law. One might argue that the inheritance law strictly pertains to productive and wealthy heritage. However, every head of the household is subjugated by â€Å"the first mayhem, that ancestral sin, as one by one each spits on a brother’s bed that brought destruction to its defiler† (85:1364).This excerpt concludes that the cycle of violence is inescapable because it is inherited through lineage. The concept that suffering is only justified through more suffering is socially accepted, and therefore individuals that are born into this destructive structure embody an instinct inclination towards justice through violence. In knowing that males link their suffering to the sins of their ancestors, one might question that because Clytemnestra is a female, she cannot also link suffering to the sins of her lineage.Clytemnestra becomes a male in a sense that her nature is primitive and inclined to be destructive or violent. The suffering that Clytemnestra endures from death of her da ughter Iphigenia is astronomical, and therefore she can link her suffering to Agamemnon. However, one might dispute that Agamemnon is considered ancestry, and therefore Clytemnestra should not have pursued a violent vengeance. Although, Agamemnon is not considered â€Å"through streams of kindered blood,† it is important to note that as Clytemnestra assumes the head of the oikos, she also becomes affected by the ancestral sins (97:1735).Like all primitive Greek males, Clytemnestra instinctively relieves her suffering she endures, from the death of Iphigenia, by entering the cycle of violence. This further elucidates why a man, whom kills another, only acknowledges his own position in the circle of unjust acts at the very point he, in turn, becomes affected by it (murdered). Clytemnestra makes no implications of violence until she deceitfully welcomes Agamemnon, â€Å"For while the root still lives, the leaves bring cool shade to the house again.So coming back to hearth and home, you bring a summer’s warmth to us in wintertime,† (77: 1108-1112). This quote serves as the prelude to Clytemnestra finally utilizing destructive justice, and thus breaking the circle of violence. Clytemnestra destructiveness is intrinsic in the scene where she welcome home Agamemnon, who accompanied by Cassandra. Aeschylus writes, â€Å"You go inside now. I’m talking to you, Cassandra. Zeus, not unkindly, has determined you should share the lustral water of our house, standing where all our slaves crowd the altar of god who guards the house’s wealth† (79:1173-78).In this excerpt, Clytemnestra shows that she is the head of her household because she can determine who is rightfully welcome. One might argue that Clytemnestra is not revealing destructive justice because of her calmness and generosity in this scene. However, the passage suggests that she is the head and Cassandra is the extended family, and therefore Clytemnestra shows a hint of her destructiveness as she enslaves Cassandra. Clytemnestra mercilessly tells Cassandra that it is â€Å"Here with us you’ll be treated as custom warrants (1189).Destructive justice is first seen when Clytemnestra says, â€Å"My aim was so exact—I won’t deny it—that he could not outrun death, or fend it off once I ensnared him in a deadly wealth of robes, escapeless as a fishing net† (93:1573-6). This quote describes the heartless and evil deed of murdering her husband. The â€Å"escapeless fishing net† is mentioned earlier in the Oresteia when the chorus states that, â€Å"the smothering mesh, seamless, so that in no way could the old or young slip free of the enslaving wide net of all-conquering destruction† (57: 411-414).This excerpt defines the net as being analogous to destruction, in that it smothers man deceivingly. It also reiterates on the notion, relevant in other Greek cultural texts such as The History and Iliad, that ancestral sin makes fate inescapable. A net captur es you before you see it coming. This idea parallels to both the fate and fashion that Clytemnestra determines Agamemnon’s fate. Clytemnestra, the head of the oikos, disrupts the cycle of violence when she solely murders Agamemnon as she â€Å"struck him (Agamemnon) twice, and while he cried two cries, his legs gave way† (93:1576).It is important that it was Aegisthus who planned the murder only to make â€Å"the entrapment, the woman’s role† (102:1897). Aegisthus causes Clytemnestra to become the catalyst towards cleansing as suggested when the chorus calls Aegisthus â€Å"a coward to the life,† and even asks, â€Å"why didn’t you kill this man yourself instead of leaving it to† (102:1898-1903). Clytemnestra becomes the catalyst because she enters the circle of violence unrightfully, and therefore disrupts it. It is a male’s duty, according to the household’s rights, to seek destructive violence.The system becomes impure when an unnatural individual, s uch as a female, and therefore disrupts. When the stripped of its destructive nature, man forgets how to seek justice until a new one is implemented. In Eumenides, the third play of the trilogy, we see a new justice that conflicts with the old. After the primitive cycle of unjust acts is disrupted by Clytemnestra, Athena employs a form of justice where no suffering is necessary in order to restore honor. The fewer people killed constitutes the society’s progress towards cleansing in Oresteia.Productive justice is something unheard of before in ancient Greek culture. It is not until Athena applies a rational and legal judgment that we see a sufficient alternative to entering the continuous cycle of violence. Rational judgment is considered productive because instead of the Erinyes avenging Clytemnestra, by killing Orestes, his crime is justified in court, and therefore his life is spared. Hence, no man will ever have to avenge Orestes’ death because the cycle of pointless violence was disrupted and replaced, and therefore should not be pursued.Athena partakes in the judgment by becoming a contestant in the conflict. The Athenian judgment is equally compromising and advantageous for Orestes, Apollo, and the Erinyes. It also causes Athena to litigate in regards to the interest of Athens. When her judgment releases Orestes, he promises that if they (his descendants) keep an upright course, and give enduring honor to the city of Pallas with their loyal spears, will I remain a blessing to them (Eumenides 178: 895-898).Athena judges favorably for Apollo and Orestes so that she can ensure in the future that Athens will also, in turn, be treated favorably. Likewise, Athena employs the power of the Erinyes so that they can work to protect her Athens. Athena enlightens the Erinyes with the concept that it is your choice now to take what I am holding out to you: to do well and, well honored, have your own share of this land and gods well (Eumenides 181:1009-1012). This passage underlines the correlation of justice reaching an equilibrium to society becoming cleansed, and on its way to becoming productive.This is because Athena’s rational judgment, which stems from Clytemnestra’s disruption of the cycle of justice, serves as the sufficient alternative insofar as it prevents further destruction, or the deaths of Orestes, Apollo, the Erinyes, and the citizens of Athens. Clytemnestra functions as a catalyst because as she assumes the head of the oikos, her gender disrupts the prevalent nature of the household. The cycle of violence was a law followed strictly by males, and because Clytemnestra (female gender) positions herself in the role of Agesthis (male gender) she is considered an unnatural force.The society is last seen in its aristocratic structure right before Clytemnestra murders Agamemnon. Hence, the cycle of violence ceases and leaves society inclined to search for a new justice with a productive configuration. Athena carries out what Clytemnestra initiated by creating a productive alternative to seeking justice through litigation. This contrasts the ancient Greek nature insofar as individuals were originally inclined to seek vengeance. Athenian judgment transforms society from aristocratic to democratic.The litigation of unbiased intermediaries correlates to how a polis or democratic nation functions. Instead of solely deciding among one another what is just or unjust, rational judgment serves as the sufficient alternative. This is because litigation rightfully determines which actions are characterized as socially accepted by the citizens as a whole. Clytemnestra’s pursuit of destructive justice causes the household to diminish, and through Athena, a polis, or city-state surfaces. A polis allows the once extended family (wife and children), to become equal because instead of the father determining the rights of each household, the city-state as a whole establishes what is socially accepted. This is characterized as rational judgment, and it serves as the only solution because it determines one’s fate through reasoning, and not by the consequences of man’s ancestry. Thus, Clytemnestra and Athena are female agents of justice whom have helped create a structure that future societies acquire as their own.