Daly McKay September 27, 2019 Word Count: 1082 Justice in the Oresteia When developing the key concepts for the series of plays that make up the Oresteia, Aeschylus focused on the concept of justice. As shown inAgamemnonandThe Libation Bearers,the concept of justice translates to revenge, often urged by divine powers. However, by the end ofThe Furies,Aeschylus addresses the idea that justice does not derive from the constant struggle to avenge a loved one, but rather through a democratic system, shifting the focus from a private form of justice to a public form of justice. In this paper I will argue that although his view of justice evolves throughout theOresteia, Aeschylus ultimately found that justice cannot be determined by one person, but rather a collective group of people in a democratic system. Aeschylus’ views on justice seems almost contradictory. InAgamemnon, Clytemnestra claims she is justified in murdering Agamemnon because she is avenging her daughter Iphigenia after Agamemnon sacrificed her to the Gods (Ag.1431-1433). Aeschylus shows Clytemnestra’s view of justice is something akin to an eye-for-an-eye mentality. However, as Aeschylus addresses in the firstStasimonofAgamemnon, Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia to the Gods in order to establish a safe passageway for Greek ships on their way to Troy (Ag.135-137). It is difficult to understand whether an action is morally just from Aeschylus’ writings. Not only do Agamemnon and Clytemnestra’s ideas of justice differ, but so do the gods’. Helene P. Foley addresses the issue of Zeus demanding the sacrifice of Iphigenea and Artemis claiming the sacrifice as morally wrong (Foley 1998, xxix). How could the gods disagree when they are all
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