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Essay / The absence of justice leads to an outdated path of revenge
In the Oresteia, Aeschylus presents his three books ("Agamemnon", "The Libation Bearers" and "The Furies") so that the story progresses from the madness and lack of justice in "Agamemnon", where Clytemnestra receives no punishment for her homicide, to Athena's establishment of a justice system so that Orestes can be properly tried for matricide in "The Furies" . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay The anarchy of the first book that leads to Agamemnon's death represents an outdated way of taking revenge, while the last book of the series breaks a potential for revenge. endless cycle of innocent murders when Orestes demands a trial to determine whether or not his murderous actions were justified. Essentially, the trial of Orestes ends the domino effect that begins when Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter, Iphigenia. The overarching themes that drive this three-book play are justice, the confluence of which affects the actions of Clytemenstra and Orestes and leads to the eventual development of a proper justice system. Although Agamemnon begins the cycle of murder with his mortal sacrifice of Iphigenia, his wife Clytemnestra continues the trend through the calculated murder of her husband and his concubine, Cassandra. The chorus of Argive elders finds Clytemnestra standing over the bodies of her victims, covered in blood, potentially on the verge of madness. In this post-massacre scene, there is a marked conflict between the ideas of at? and justice in Clytemnestra's motivation to kill. She believes that the murders are “justice demanded for her child” because her husband “wronged” her. However, Clytemnestra also delights in the fact that she is drenched in Agamemnon's blood, leading the audience to ponder what level of madness, or ?, one must possess to take so much pleasure in killing. Certainly, all cold-blooded murderers must possess a certain degree of insanity to commit such violence, but Clytemnestra takes her detachment to a new level by expressing pure joy, which contributes to her depraved image. Even though Clytemnestra believes that righteousness guides her actions, Iphigenia's death has visibly "made her mad", revealing the role of AT? in his violent vengeance. The presence of madness and justice in the first book of the Oresteia provides an example of how easily a character with an unstable mind can misinterpret the idea of justice. These themes also serve as an undercurrent, moving the plot forward toward more deaths in later books. In the second book, “The Libation Bearers,” justice is again an important theme when Orestes murders his mother, Clytemnestra. He returns to Argos to mourn and avenge his father's death, a decision supported by an ensemble of characters including his sister Electra, the chorus of libation bearers and even the god Apollo. These secondary characters believe that Orestes must uphold justice, asserting that "it is the law, which has shed blood which soaks the ground, demands blood in return" (85.400-401). The opinions of these characters represent those of the entire city. They believe that the only way for the community to heal from Clytemnestra's crimes is for Agamemnon's son, Orestes, to erase his mother from the earth and claim her title as head of the House of Atrius. This represents the old world idea of "an eye for an eye", which is justice led by? rather than a fair trial. It is this shared belief that drives Orestes to commit matricide in the first place. However, in doing so, he incurs the wrath of the Immortal Furies, who are the gods charged with avenging human wrongs..