Justice in Oresteia Arfa Fayyaz College

In the trilogy, The Oresteia, Aeschylus has depicted the evolution from an older, more primitive autocratic form of justice, to a new concept of civil justice formulated by Athena. In the beginning, there is the law of Dike i.e. not ‘justice’ but ‘requital’ that wrongs done must have their revenge, ‘the doer must pay.’ There is also the law of Hybris, that one outrage begets another, until the day of reckoning comes. Each character in the play has his/her own definition of justice and it leads to a continuing malicious cycle of murder. All the characters avenge with murder, and the aspect of forgiveness is not considered. The characters do not consider the future consequences of their actions. Their definition of justice is ironic but according to them, it seems fair and just. All the characters have their own motives which they achieve in the guise of justice.

Gods, militaries, and mortals from many generations are also exacting their own vengeances against each other. Gods are portrayed as vengeful as human beings. The furies also play a part in this cycle of revenge. They seek out those who kill their blood relatives and haunt them and torture them for eternity. So basically, they also take revenge for the ones that have...