Greeks Be Cray-Cray

Greeks Be Cray-Cray

Throughout the Greek tragedy that is the story of Orestes and his family, we see a vicious cycle of murder unfold. However, each murder is committed by a person with a strong personal belief, that the murder is justified. Ultimately, this leads to a cycle of people trying to bring honor to their loved ones, by committing more murders they feel are justified. Through all three plays, readers see a heavy influence placed on justice, fate, and honor. However, who can decide what all of these things mean in the end? When the humans of the story try to decide what honor and justice truly mean it leads to more murder and more destruction. The cycle will never be broken while men are playing god and trying to avenge the dead. Only when they brought in the goddess of wisdom, Athena, to be the judge, could the cycle be stopped and true justice finally put in place. The only way we can put true justice into practice is by calling on a higher power for our judgment and by putting our humanity aside. Accepting that we are not the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent force in this universe.

In the first play, Agamemnon, readers are told the story of Orestes’ father (Agamemnon) and his mother (Clytemnestra). The cycle of murder begins when Agamemnon kills Orestes’ sister Iphigeneia. Agamemnon does not kill Iphigeneia out of psychotic rage. Instead, he uses Iphigeneia as a sacrifice. While Agamemnon’s ships are being brutally whipped by a storm they decide they have to sacrifice a virgin to make the winds die. Agamemnon says,“My captains, Artemis must have blood!” (Ag.,10). At which point they take Iphigeneia and Agamemnon tells his men “hoist her over the altar.” (Ag.,11). Thus, they sacrificed Iphigeneia to the goddess Artemis.Just as quickly as the storms from Artemis stopped, the gruesome cycle of murder and destruction for the family began. Towards the end of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra begins her diabolical plot to kill her husband. Clytemnestra murders him when he returns to the palace. She readily admits to killing him saying, “He flooded the vessel of our proud house with misery.” (Ag., 161). Clytemnestra then is told by the Chorus that she should be cast off from Greece, whereby she responds with a defense of justification for her actions. Clytemnestra challenges the Chorus that she has the same crime as Agamemnon, yet they did not try to banish Agamemnon when he sacrificed Iphigeneia, “You are ruthless judges.” (Ag., 163) exclaims Clytemnestra. While it may seem to readers that Clytemnestra is the villain of the story, one would be hard pressed to deny that her claim of justification was on par with Agamemnon's and should therefore be treated equally.

At the beginning of the second play, The Libation Bearers, readers meet Orestes at the grave of his father’s, Agamemnon. Immediately, it is made known to readers that Orestes is not there to mourn his father’s death, or to pay his respects. Orestes makes it know that he is there to avenge his father’s murder by stating, “Dear god, let me avenge my father’s murder.” (Lib., 178). This is one of the first lines readers get from Orestes and his intentions are made very clear. Orestes and his sister, Electra, begin a plot to kill their murderous mother, Clytemnestra, in order to bring honor and justice back to their household. Electra says, “rekindle the light that saves our house!” and “kill the killers in return, with justice!” (Lib., 183). It is made clear to readers that in the eyes of the story’s heroes, Orestes and Electra, murdering their mother is the best way to bring honor back to their household and avenge their father. Readers are left to ponder the justification to murder Clytemnestra as punishment for murdering Agamemnon without justifying a punishment for Agamemnon as a villain for murdering Iphigeneia. This part of the story shows how humans make decisions based on our views of the situation and tend to ignore other possible views that might exist. At the end of this play, Orestes kills Clytemnestra, and displays her body, as she did with Agamemnon’s in the previous play.

In the last play of the story, The Eumenides, readers find Orestes chased to Athena’s temple by the Furies. Orestes begins to implore Athena to grant him forgiveness. Athena is a wise and impartial third party, who rightly divides the situation. The leader of the Furies attempts to tell, Athena, that Orestes is in the wrong and that he needs to be punished. Athena responds, “two sides are here, and only half is heard.” (Eum., 250). Athena requests that the Furies give her the responsibility to reach the final decision on the matter of Orestes’ guilt, and this begins her investigation. Athena listens to both the Furies and Orestes. Athena announces, “too large a matter for mortal men to judge.” (Eum., 252), showing readers that some problems are unable to be solved by human wisdom. Athena gathers a jury and begins the trial. Athena tells the Furies to clearly state the facts, and then allows Apollo to speak on behalf of Orestes. After both sides have made their arguments, Athena and the jury cast lots to reach their verdict. The lots are equal, “the man goes free, cleared of all charge of blood.” (Eum., 265), says the goddess Athena. As the result of Athena and the jury deciding, the cycle of murder finally ended. Without the trial, the Furies would have killed Orestes and the cycle would have continued. By bringing in Athena to solve the problem of dealing with the guilt and trying to find true justice, readers see the imagery of how we need to turn to a holy, higher power to help us in our decisions.

Throughout this trilogy readers see how humans have a very small view of what justice and truth really are. Readers see how the characters all have an idea of justice for themselves; however,  when they act on their ideas it usually lead to others being wronged. In conclusion, while it is true humans have free will and make their own decisions that ability does not always serve the best interest of society. While the humans’ answer to the problems in these plays always resulted in more murder, the divine power character was able to solve it in a way that demonstrated mercy, grace, and forgiveness. With divinity comes the ability to be merciful, wise, and compassionate far beyond human capacity.

Aeschylus. The Oresteia: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, The Eumenides. Translated by Robert Fagles, Penguin Books, 1984.