The Punishment Of Justice In Aeschylus The Oresteia

In Aeschylus’ The Oresteia, a controversial issue has been whether it is right or wrong to enact revenge, or if justice should be sought after by the law. On the one hand, some argue that justice can only be procured by the law and fair judgement of a trial, because it eliminates passionate thought and bias. On the other hand, however, others argue that justice is brought to a person with an “eye for an eye” perspective, where people take it upon themselves to get what they want. In the words of one of this view’s main proponents, Electra states, “a judge you mean, or just avenger?”(74). According to this view, Electra proposes the question of the whole play, whether people fairly judge, or if they decide the punishment of a person by acting …show more content…
The society that was created was made for everyone to believe that they belongs in a certain social class with certain rights and privileges. As certain people became out of line, it was difficult for these people to be punished, or at least punished properly because of the system that this society was run by. As the Chorus speaks, it states, “when all things are weighed there is nothing else, only Zeus”(9), showing that the gods were the word of the law. In this moment the gods were all that the civilians looked up to for guidance and they could not see much more than what the gods said. While the devotion to the gods was incredibly organized and allowed the citizens of Athens to function for so long, it was a toxic and ignorant system. This system that the citizens believed in did not allow them to have a bigger perspective outside of what everyone believed, and when it came to any controversial topics the citizens would not be able to prove their innocence or even have a trial of any sort. This lack of debate does not allow and individual to prove their innocence, thus never allowing any extraneous situations to be seen as …show more content…
As the aunt was judged for her pregnancy no question was made on whether she had premarital sex by choice or by force. The lack of acknowledgement of the aunt was seen as a punishment and even in the present, long after the situation happened the new generation states, “they want me to participate in her punishment. And I have”(Kingston 16). Because the narrator says this, she shows the power of a culture on an individual. The amount of blame put on the aunt was so widely accepted that even generations later no questioning of the aunt’s blame or innocence is brought up. Because the Chinese culture characterized in the story is dominantly patriarchal, it is easier to keep certain problems pertaining to social order silent rather than to bring them to light because attention to the problem would cause an uproar that could only be resolved by a change in the social system and mindset of the people. Because this type of change would be too difficult to enact because of the mindset people in this culture have been growing up with from many past generations, it is easier to ignore what is wrong if it keeps the peace among