Order and Justice in Aeschylus' Oresteia

• In Event: What are the Elements of Classical Politics?

Abstract

According to Hegel, tragedy arises when the protagonist of the play takes a position that is right and just but in doing so violates another position that is equally right and just. Hegel asserts that when these two positions collide, they give rise to an insurmountable conflict that can only be resolved by the transcendence of these positions, such that a new, more comprehensive, articulation of what is right and just can be realized. Scholars often assert that, Aeschylus’ Eumenides seems to align well with this paradigm. Orestes is on trial for the crime of matricide. He claims he acted in order to satisfy the oracle of Apollo and to avenge his father’s death. The furies, on the other hand, claim that Orestes must be punished to avenge the death of his mother. Both parties, it seems, have a claim to justice. In casting the deciding vote in the trial, the goddess Athena sides with Orestes, but after the trial she placates the furies by establishing a place for them in the city. She establishes a new order of justice in the city that appears to be more comprehensive than the claims of either Orestes or the furies on their own. In this paper, I hope to challenge this settled interpretation by pointing to the gravity of the furies’ claims and the limits of Athena’s new system of justice.

Author

• John Boersma, University of Wisconsin - Madison