Aeschylus's Treatment Of Women In Oresteia

Aeschylus's Treatment Of Women In Oresteia

In Aeschylus's trilogy, Oresteia, the tragic manifesto paints a bloody chain of murder, adultery, betrayal, and kinslaying, in which DIKE (justice) and the relation of women to social and family structure serve as central themes. The Greeks were a misogynistic culture, in which women were relegated to an inferior status in society. Women were only given a limited voice because the family was the sovereign unit of society. The rule of justice stood for patriarchy. Cassandra's importance is merely in the first play but her prophetic visions and declarations about the House of Atreus peal through the entire trilogy. She's presented as a true inferior female to male superiority with little to no voice. Contrastingly, the female character, Cornelia, ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...The Furies, who were dark–winged, snake haired ladies from the underworld were put in charge to enforce the blood vengeance law. They were opposed to crimes enacted on mothers by their children. The ironic nature of the rivalry between Apollo and the Furies began at Apollo's temple in Delphi. They both possess ideals that were similar but sought to establish order and justice in the world in separate ways. In the last play, Eumenides, Apollo takes center stage to defend Orestes against the murder of his blood mother, Clytemnestra. They appeared in a courtroom like setting with the goddess Athena to judge the trial of Orestes for matricide. The prosecution (The Furies) began the questioning. The Furies accused him of being guiltier than his mother because he killed someone of the same blood as himself. Apollo argued but with a patriarchal standpoint all based on the notion that a woman's life is worth less than a man's. He argues for paternal rights, saying that the father who plants the seed, is the only true parent. "Man mounts to create life, whereas woman is a stranger fostering a stranger, nourishing the young, unless a god blights the birth" (Aeschylus, p. 145, 659–661). A person can have a father but no mother. Therefore, Orestes murder of his mother must be seen in the light of Clytemnestra's killing of his father. Athena brings

... Get more on HelpWriting.net ...