Justice In The Oresteia

When people think of a good judge they typically think of somebody who is fair, not bias and has some sort of experience. However, in today’s society, particularly in the United States, our judicial selection methods are not made to select judges on their ability to reason well and rule impartially (Carter and Burke, 6). On top of that, judges have no actual training before they become part of the judiciary. The only training they receive is in school when they are studying the law. Sometimes when they pursue an apprenticeship with a judge they also get a little bit more experience or insight into a judge’s job.

President Clinton is about to select his first nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the next few months, Governor Schaefer will get an opportunity to fill key vacancies in Maryland 's two highest courts. It 's a good time to rethink the criteria for selecting judges.

Race can be an important fact when selecting a jury. It’s important to have a jury of different racial, ethnic, gender or religious believes to helps limit racial discrimination.

William Shakespeare’s “Othello” was a great example to showcase sacrifices made by characters to accomplish revenge or obtain power. Shakespeare told the story of Othello, a tragic hero, who was manipulated by Iago, which motivated him to kill his own wife. From this story, Shakespeare’s main goal was to portray characters making sacrifices for their ambitions. From this play, Shakespeare puts forth the idea of sacrifice through pointing out the importance of reputation and how sacrifices must be made to silence the truth.

As the precise definition of justice cannot be definitively stated, the line separating just from unjust actions is incredibly obscure. Many factors may influence an individual’s perception of what constitutes justice, such as time period, culture, or personal morals. Thus, while an act may be considered righteous in one context, the same act may be ruled unjust in other contexts. For instance, when Odysseus finally returns home to Ithaca, as retribution for defiling his home and attempting to court his wife, Odysseus murders all of Penelope’s suitors. The extremely graphic depiction of his retribution had appeared almost superfluous, causing the morality of his actions to be brought into question. Therefore, interpreting this scene from a

The Oresteia is a trilogy written by the Greek author Aeschylus that comprises of three plays; Agamemnon, the libation bearers, and the Eumenides. The central theme of this book is “justice” which in the case of Orestes has led to exile. This book was written at a time when the star of Athens was in decline. It was a time that marked the establishment of a new socio- political order, a democracy adjudicated by the rule of law. This rule of law meant the institutionalization of justice (i.e. having a justice system), where cases are heard and verdicts are being reached based on evidence. Justice shifted from been a personal vendetta or responsibility to been the responsibility of the state set down by the laws of the state. These represented a more democratic society, which was more modern. Literature as a whole is a direct representation of human existence and the beauty of the Greek drama is that it is portrayed in front of an audience, and as the words are being spoken the audience can directly relate and comprehend the actions of the characters. Hence, the theme of exile of Orestes in the Eumenides in the third part of the Oresteia is a lot more than alienating him from the rest of the world - it becomes a stepping stone for him to break free from political and social strife, question laws and believes that have been set down for many years and, bestow a new power upon himself and his society under a new form of justice.

Thin-slicing refers to the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behaviors based on very narrow slices of experiences. It involves making very quick decisions with minimal amounts of information. People usually indulge in this kind of thinking whenever encountering a new person, a new situation o when having to take a quick decision. Generally, education, experience and beliefs help to in thin-slicing a situation to gain a quick understanding.

The Oresteia is a political trilogy touching the topics of patriarchy and sexism. Even though, Agamemnon's death had happened years before, his essence is still evident in the hearts and minds of the people specially his children Orestes and Electra. His murder filled their minds even disregarding the fact that their father instigated the Trojan War and murdered their sister Iphigenia.

After Medea’s husband, Jason, betrayed her, desiring justice for his sin is a predictable action because the natural inclination to punish those who violate what is precious, for example, the sanctity of marriage, connects all of humanity – no matter the culture or time period. Therefore, one can understand Medea’s feelings and judge her goal as righteous. Moreover, the chorus, who’s role in a Greek play is to morally educate, defends and encourages Medea in

The actions of the play Orestes by Euripides occurred in Argos where the last two plays have been set as well. The play starts off a few of days after Orestes had killed his mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus with the help of his sister Elektra. Elektra starts off with another one of her long monologs explaining the situation that she and her brother are in along with the fact that their uncle Menelaus has come back with his wife, Helen, who is the cause of all the strife that her family has been going through. The reader then learns that Orestes and Elektra are awaiting whether or not they will be stoned for their actions against their mother and her lover. She goes on to explain that she hopes that Menelaus can help them because

The purpose of this essay is to argue why Orestes’ situation is tragic and how does Apollo affect it. I am going to argue that Orestes’ situation is tragic because is stuck in a cycle of violence whilst being influenced by Apollo’s power.

Clytemnestra is the wife of Agamemnon and Queen of Argos. Agamemnon is a play by Aeschylus that tells of her deathly plot against Agamemnon, who murdered their daughter, Iphigenia. Along with her lover, Aegisthus, Clytemnestra takes revenge for her daughter and claims the throne of Argos. She

Euripides, the writer of Medea and one of the most famous playwrights in ancient Greece, can be considered centuries ahead of many people in his time. His new ideas presented in many of his works were very controversial, and, as a result, unappreciated. However, most of his ideas such as equality for women’s rights and more rights for slaves correspond to our modern-day norms. In one of Euripides 's most renowned plays, Medea, the female protagonist possess characteristics that are generally found in male characters such as power, intelligence, and cunningness. The lower class characters such as the slaves and servants, who culturally are considered to be unimportant, are presented as being intelligent and also play a significant role in the drama. The playwright uses these characters to attack the upper class by showing that a life of humility and moderation is better than that of a quest for personal desires.

In Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, the audience encounters a dreadful array of violent acts, increasing in brutality and volume, which conclude in Tamora eating her own children ‘baked in a pie | Whereof their mother has daintily fed’ (5.3.59-60). The vivid representation and portrayal of violence, which begins with state-mandated execution, extends to rape and mutilation, and culminates in cannibalism, has earned Titus Andronicus the reputation of the most violent play written by Shakespeare. Through a close examination of the nature of the violence in the play, one could deduce that the chain of aggressions from a loss of control over legally authorized violence. The legal violence delineated in the earlier parts of the play is a dispute

Therefore, I decided to discuss and analyse one of the most controversial comedies of that time, “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes.