Stephen Thornton
Dr. Andrew Jacobs
Great Books 1
September 20, 2018
Deliverer of her own Demise
One must wonder if forgiveness is known by a people such as the Greeks. There are several dark and demented stories that arise from a book as bloody and as gruesome as The Oresteia. Some of these twisted events exceed our imagination. One instance, in particular, jumps out beyond all the others. Orestes finds that a harsh fate must fall on his mother in order to restore justice, and when he becomes knowledgeable of this, he is tasked with fulfilling this monstrous act. Lastly, and most prominently, we see the irony: that a mother would give life only to receive death in return: that she would bear that which would drive her to an early grave.
Several questions arise from the text on this subject in particular. The first question is whether or not Orestes is justified in his actions. The second question is whether Orestes has become mentally ill due to the recent and frequent tragedies that have fallen on his house causing him to go mad and kill his mother. The last question is whether the god that demanded Clytemnestra’s blood was a power of hell disguised as a god from heaven.
Although this act of Orestes emanates from a dark nature, he is justified in his doings. First, Orestes was commanded to do so by a god. The book states as Apollo cries out to Orestes, “‘Gore them like a bull! he (Apollo) called, ‘or pay their debt with your own life, one long career of grief’” (Lib., 280-281). Apollo was in search of justice, and the gods are ultimately the standards of justice given their statuses. Second, Clytemnestra was not a good woman. She had committed adultery while her husband, Agamemnon, was at war, and she killed her husband to marry her adulterous lover while trying to destroy Agamemnon’s reputation of being an upright and humble man. Third, Orestes was protecting his house. Because Clytemnestra had killed Agamemnon, it was Orestes’ duty to kill her in order to protect him and his sister, Electra. If a woman can cheat on her husband and then murder him in cold blood while disrespecting his honor, she is capable of anything; this includes killing her children.
Orestes, although recently faced with numerous devastating events, shows no signs of mental illness throughout any of the book. Orestes’ actions and state of mind do not show any evidence of change. He remains focused on the task at hand which is serving justice to the evil of Clytemnestra’s acts. This can clearly be seen in Orestes’ dialogue with Clytemnestra just before her death. The author, as Orestes speaks to Clytemnestra, writes “You are the murderer, not I - and you will kill yourself” (Lib., 910). Any man who was mentally ill would not have been able to keep such composure and focus in the face of such a hard task.
The god that commanded this of Orestes was Apollo. Apollo is the son of Zeus. Therefore, we know his home resides on Mount Olympus and that his standard of justice is to seek a balance of the scales. Even if the book did not say if the god was a god of heaven, we can still know that it was a god of heaven because of the justice that was revealed. The gods of heaven do not waiver on their view of justice no matter how hard the task may be. This being said, if Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon in such a terrible and painful way, then it would be considered just for her to be killed in a very painful and terrible way because she would be receiving exactly what she gave as punishment.
The significance of Clytemnestra’s death is that it reveals the true nature of Orestes and the nature of the Greek’s religion in a very raw form. The Greek religion sees forgiveness as unrealistic, and it puts justice on a pedestal. If a wrong has been committed, the wrongdoer will be paid back in full for what they have done no matter who or what they are; no but’s about it. As for Orestes, it shows that he is just and as committed to justice as any man. It also tells that Orestes is a fairly ruthless person who is focused, committed, and will stop at nothing to make something right.
As we observe the reasons of why things play out the way they did, we see tragedy and justice. We see commitment and determination. We see power and weakness. We see the true nature of the book, the religion and mortality of the Greeks, and the culture of Greece. Lastly, and most prominently, we see the irony: that a mother would give life only to receive death in return: that she would bear that which would drive her to an early grave.
