Aeschylus Orestia And Antigone Essay

For the protagonists in both Aeschylus’ Orestia and Sophocles’ Antigone, there are two forms of justice – justice on earth and justice with the gods. Justice on earth is determined by external traditional structure, the rule of law, in which one is directly accountable to and punishable by a jury of peers. Justice with the gods is an independent, internal communication – there are no circumscribed rules to be followed, no general policy applied to each and every person, no external interference and no public judgement. The protagonists seem to rank justice with the gods over justice on earth and, as a result, act in accordance with the former even if it is in direct opposition to the latter. More often than not, violence is used as a means
It seems as though, as soon as the gods introduce and permit a certain illegal action, the actors dutifully carry out the crimes, which often include very personal domestic violence, in the name of the “greater good.” For Agamemnon, it is almost understandable – I could see how he, as a ruler, may need to prioritize the survival of his empire over his daughter and make the utilitarian choice for the “greater good.” But does he consider his wife, the mother of his child? He acts with impunity because a god said his ships would perform better, and that was apparently all he needed. But for Orestes, his decision to kill his mother in order to restore some type of honor for his father is extreme. Apollo said it was okay, then Orestes decided to murder her because he was convinced it was the right thing to do, which Athena agrees with. Her vote results in an overall split vote and Orestes is acquitted, even though the Chorus says he “is meddling in matters of blood, and it is not your
According to Creon, the king of Thebes, Eteocles was a man who “died this city’s champion” (line 194, 168) and Polyneices was “a returned exile, who sought to burn with fire from top to bottom his native city”(lines 198-199, 168). Antigone is convinced that it is her duty to bury Polyneices through any means necessary. However, it is illegal for her brother to receive a proper burial because he threatened the safety and violated the laws of the city. Antigone refuses to accept the ruling, which she considers unfair and decides to bury her brother. However, her burial would be an illegal act that leads to a fatal punishment. Yet, from the beginning of the play, it is understood that she is willing to die for her commitment, even going so far as to say “it will be good to die, so doing”(lines 72-73). She constantly alludes to the gods and she answers to their rule, not the law of the city. She believes that in burying her brother, she is acting through the righteousness of the gods, her true rulers. She says “the time in which I must please those that are dead is longer than I must please those of this world” (lines 76-77). But in the commitment to the gods, she loses her commitment to her own sister, fiance, and her future life as the ruler’s wife. Antigone’s obsession with burying her brother and the gods causes her to lose touch with