Deeper Search For Justice And Enlightenment example essay topic

The Oresteia as a product Athenian Enlightenment The fifth century B.C.E. witnessed the explosion of political and intellectual energy in the Athenian empire. During this time, known as the "Golden Age of Pericles", Greece was at the height of its speculative thought and development. In the eyes of its people, the democracy of Athens was nearly ideal and life as they knew it had reached its ultimate cultural climax. As a member of this enlightened and philosophical society, Aeschylus contributed to the culture with his play the Oresteia. Here, he retells the age-old tragedy of the house of Atreus, set in 11th century B.C.E. Greece. However, his work is not merely an objective reiteration of events: Aeschylus manipulates the play as a search for justice, illustrating the intellectual dynamic of his time.

However, while the literary structure of his work reveals the value and splendor of contemporary Athenian culture, the final conclusion suggests limitations and shortcomings in the judicial system. Yet, his critical analysis of the play's resolution is not evidence of negativity and condemnation towards this system; rather it is only a further exposition of the vast philosophical contemplation and intellectuality that was inherent of Aeschylus's time. Both the explicit content of this search for justice as well as the implicit criticism towards its final solution mutually reveal and praise Athens superior intellectuality. The basic textual elements of the Oresteia demonstrate the enlightened time in which it was written. Through the theme, setting, and ultimate conclusion, Aeschylus employs his work as a revelation of the greatness of his culture.

Although at the outset, the play may seem like a historical account of past Greek tragedy, a closer examination shows it instead to be a deeper search for justice and enlightenment. The protagonist, Orestes, faces an unprecedented dilemma. Although he knows that according to the current punitive justice system he must avenge his father's death, doing this would mean killing his mother, an act that would be shameful and criminal in its own right. He visibly struggles with this dilemma as he decides that he will murder his own mother.

In the midst of his vengeance his uncertainty immobilizes him and he questions, "What shall I do, Pyl ades? Be shamed to kill my mother?" (124.899) Orestes is acting as a catalyst for this reexamination of the current judicial methods of cyclical vengeance and destruction and thus begins an unprecedented investigation into the nature of justice and truth. In constructing his work around this theme, Aeschylus is revealing that not only was there time for such contemplation in his culture, but it was enormously important as well. At the height of their empire, the people of Athens were immersed in abstract thought and intellectual contemplation rather than war and heroic prestige.

In fact, the attitude of the chorus is explicitly anti-heroic as seen by their portrayal of the Trojan War. By referring to it as merely "for one woman's promiscuous sake" (37.60-65), they belittle a once notable and prestigious event as base and trivial. It is apparent that military success does not function as the ultimate cultural pursuit that it had been in the past; rather it is secondary to the more important objective of philosophy and moral contemplation. As a search for justice rather than a tale of military expedition, the theme of Aeschylus's play reveals the enlightened intellectuality and purpose of the society around him. Aeschylus further reveals contemporary Athenian glory through the place and nature of the play's ultimate resolution.

The events that catalyze the search for justice all occur in Argos. Logically, the court that convenes to resolve the moral contradictions that arise from the events in Argos should then take place there as well. However, as Athena is brought in to mediate over the resolution, the court is taken to Athens to reach an ultimate decision. The scene of destruction in Argos shifts to a scene of progression and enlightenment in Athens. Athena refers to "my city" as the place to "establish a court into all time to come" and to the selection of judges as "the finest of my citizens" (151-152.475-487).

It is not coincidence that Athens is the place where they will examine this judicial discrepancy and come to an ultimate resolution to govern for "all time to come". Furthermore, the resolution they do decide upon there commands a revolutionary and innovative judicial system that parallels Aeschylus's own encounter with perceived justice in his time. In this newly established justice system, democracy and respect prevail as further homicidal crimes are resolved by a communal court and not by personal vengeance. Rather than base justice on a punitive system of fear for the letter of the law, the people are enlightened to respect the spirit of the law as they had in the Athens of Aeschylus's time. To initiate this, Athena constructively transforms the furies from fearful and miserable creatures of punishment into respected entities "free of all grief and pain" to "Do good, receive good, and be honored as the good / are honored" (165,166.868,893). Athena's modifications brought a progression of the past corruption into an evolved form of morality and truth.

The revolutionized form of justice established in the Oresteia embodies fifth century BCE Athens own enlightened and progressive perceptions and practices. However, although these parallel justice systems may have been innovative and superior, Aeschylus insists on including questioning and criticism towards them. When the court convenes to debate Orestes' guilt, Apollo's defends him with a condemnation of Clytaemestra through the markedly specious argument that the "The mother is no parent of that which is called / her child... a stranger she / preserves a stranger's seed" (158.658-661). Apollo asserts that mothers have absolutely no role in or impact on their children's lives; however this appears to be a direct perversion of reality. In this very same play, the audience encounters Clytaemestra's deep bonds with the child Agamemnon sacrificed for war and her wrath that arose from his actions. By making this argument, Apollo is exploiting every possible way to absolve Orestes, even if his justifications seem absurd and irrational.

Moreover, when the vote on Orestes' fate comes back a tie and Athena is forced to make the final judgment, she argues for his innocence with a similarly specious justification, "I am always for the male / with all my heart, and strongly on my father's side. / So, in a case where the wife has killed her husband... her death shall not mean most to me" (161.739-740). Athena appears to be pardoning Orestes simply because of her masculine predilections and not for any truly justifiable reason. In exposing such biased justifications and judgments as the basis for this revolutionary justice system, Aeschylus is revealing that there are still flaws and imperfections that exist in this system / However, by depicting these shortcomings, Aeschylus is not rejecting the validity and quality of the Athenian judicial system. This would be inconsistent with affirmative references to this judicial establishment as Athena declares "I see great good for our citizens" (170.991), and the chorus asserts "Much wrong in the world thereby is healed" (169.988) with this revolutionary perception of justice.

Rather than be condemning, Aeschylus is emphasizing that there is still room for modification and improvement to this system. This critical attitude though is not one born out of negativity and frustration. Instead it is characteristic of the enlightened state of contemplation and reflection of the society Aeschylus inhabits. The Athenians of the fifth century BCE do not merely accept things at face value, but rather examine and question the nature of every theory and conclusion. Nothing is certain or perfect in this highly philosophical time in Athens and so criticism is only a natural extension of their enlightenment. Thus the exposition of the flaws in the justice system established by the Oresteia only further expose the inherent contemplative nature of Athenian society and as such act as a praise for the culture's enlightened state of intellectuality.

Much of the textual content of the Oresteia is permeated by the era in which it was written. The theme, setting, and ultimate conclusion all develop as a result of the enlightened and idealistic time it was written in. However, the play does not merely consist of explicit textual praise for Athenian culture. Because Aeschylus reveals an analytical and critical attitude towards the justice system in his society, he is paradoxically exposing the heightened contemplation and intellectuality of his time. His ability to comfortably question and criticize the existing standards reveals an implicit praise for his culture. Because the Athenians experienced such philosophical supremacy, contemplation was not perceived as threatening or dangerous.

Rather, it was encouraged and embraced as a defining progressive characteristic of their empire.