Justice in Aeschylus' OresteiaHow can an endless and violently destructive cycle be just? The concept appears in places throughout the human timeline as diverse as the Bible and West Side Story. Why do people tend to amplify and repeat violence through a cycle of killing and revenge, and how can this destructive process be called justice? In The Oresteia, the cycle is familiar, but it is also embroiled with questions of gender and a sense of justice that shifts within the cycle itself. Instead of focusing on just one book in the trilogy, I think it will be more interesting to see how these patterns play out across all three books. The first chapter of the trilogy is the story of Agamemnon, the Trojan War hero who returns home after 10 years. years. The king had left on a rather sour note, having murdered his daughter Iphigenia to appease the gods so that the fleet would sail towards Troy. Clytomnestra, the queen, does not understand sacrifice. This is the first time in the trilogy that it's called the battle of the sexes. Agamemnon's actions are typical of the classical Greek "male" point of view. He is mainly interested in questions of war, honor and the well-being of the city. Clytomnestra, on the other hand, is more concerned with "feminine" issues, such as the well-being of the family. The queen, during the king's absence, becomes obsessed with her daughter's death and takes a new lover to the exclusion of her remaining children in an attempt to steal control of the city. When Agamemnon returns, instead of a faithful wife, he finds a quick death at the hands of Aegithus. Interestingly, another person is also killed, an innocent one. Clytomnestra kills Cassandra, a prophetic girl brought back from Troy, on a whim... middle of paper... because it would only allow her to commit even more injustice. However, the idea of ​​making him a better person in relation to society's values ​​is somewhat anti-Socratic. Socrates would prefer there to be an absolute ideal, with no room for human opinion or emotion. Unfortunately, the practical situation often prevents the realization of one's ideal. Its logic always involves the idea of ​​relative justice. In modern terms, this would mean sentencing criminals to therapy or a mental health institute rather than incarceration. This is not such a radical departure from what proponents of capital punishment suggest. But is society ready for justice where the guilty are not punished? I don't think so. As sad as it may seem, the human tendency toward hatred trumps true justice. Works Cited: Aeschylus. Oresteia. Trans. Pierre Meineck. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1998