Sunday, March 9th, 2014...1:01 pm
The Eumenides – Kyle
Ths Eumenides is the third and final play of The Oresteia written by Aeschylus. It starts off where the Libation Bearers ends, with Orestes being haunted by the Furies. Orestes goes to see Apollo and seeks some kind of approval for what he has done, killing his mother. While the Furies are asleep around him, Apollo tells Orestes to go forth to Athens and see Athena, where he can be protected. Once Orestes leaves the ghost of Clytemnestra appears, taunting the Furies to awaken and seek out Orestes once again. When both Orestes and the Furies arrive in Athens there is a trial, and high citizens of Athens vote if Orestes actions were warranted or not. The vote ends in a tie, and since Athena is in favor of Orestes, he is free to go, and he goes back to Argos. Obviously, The furies are angry at the decision, but Athena convinces them to become residents and stay in the city. They no longer are furies but now “Eumenides,” and they represent good will. This is how the play ends, with the Eumenides being escorted to their new home.
For my discussion, I will be focusing on the trial of Orestes. My discussion questions are :
Do you think this trial by Athena and the citizens was a fair way to decide the fate of Orestes? Also, do you think the verdict was right, or would you have ruled otherwise? Finally, since we all have read Agamemnon and The Libation Bearers, do you think this form of justice used in The Eumenides would have worked better than the revenge method used in those plays?
Livingstone, R. W. “The Problem of the Eumenides of Aeschylus.” The Journal of
Hellenic Studies 45.Part 1 (1925): 120-31. JSTOR. Web. 08 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/624909?ref=search-
gateway:7cd8191777d8b5d30118bd4d1a8f5884>
-Kyle Wechsler
4 Comments
March 10th, 2014 at 7:54 am
I think this was a fair way to decide Orestes’. Instead of prolonging the blood feud with another revenge move, the conflict is finally resolved.
March 10th, 2014 at 1:08 pm
Although the ending surprised me in the sense that, unlike the other plays, it closed on a happy note, I think the decision was fair and if I was in the same place, I would have chosen in Orestes favor. As we see in “The Libation Bearers”, Orestes was egged on by gods, the chorus, and his own sister and friend to kill his mother. We also know that Orestes mother was by no means an innocent party in all of this. To forsake Orestes for evening the score, as encouraged by the gods, doesn’t seem right.. I feel that a trial would have worked much better than taking matters into one’s own hands effectively causing the characters to go around in circles. One could argue that if a trial had been put into place during Agamemnon, the play would have stood alone instead of becoming a trilogy.
March 10th, 2014 at 1:08 pm
– Kimberley Squillante
May 18th, 2014 at 6:55 pm
“Do you think this trial by Athena and the citizens was a fair way to decide the fate of Orestes?”
In theory, yes. Although it should have been done more democratically, similar to the jury system. The citizens should have been selected at random, not chosen by Athena. Additionally, it should’ve been a jury of his peers, not the best and finest men of Athens.
“Also, do you think the verdict was right, or would you have ruled otherwise?”
I do agree with the verdict, but I believe it came about via a partial judge. Athena (under the guidance of Apollo) cast the deciding vote which granted him his freedom.