The Justice of the Oresteia. From Retributive Passion to Public Moderation
Konstantinos A. Papageorgiou
Professor, Νational and Capodistrian University of Athens, School of Law
The problem of tragedy as first presented by Aeschylus also contains its solution. Human life carries all the burdens accumulated by the failures, the imbalances and the violence of the past. The tragic experience of life as an evolution of consciousness about what happens to us, is thus presented as an endless moral processing and channelling of that burden. The “justice of Zeus” understands justice as restoring the balance of an order that has been disturbed, and the restoration must be effected in a manner equivalent to the act that upset the former order; a kind of retribution. In this way it affirms a rule but does not administer justice to the persons for their actions. It is doubtful whether such a notion of justice can be accepted for much longer in a society in which people are starting to demand “isonomy” and “isegory” in the polis. Lex talionis perpetuates the cycle of violence, essentially undermining the prospect of a more “civilised” and pacific way of resolving disputes, which would include the perpetrators in the procedure and would assess them not only through the lens of a predetermined social role but also as autonomous individuals and free citizens. Athena recognises the psychological, moral, political and ultimately epistemic significance of including in the quest for justice all factions comprising the political community, even those that she considers represent obsolete forces and views. Democracy and law do not suppress or manipulate the passions, but include and “socialise” them; they make them civilised in the sense that they integrate them into a real dialogue about law and justice in the polis. Aeschylus refers to institutions that have already been shaped but adds an original philosophical-political idea that goes beyond forging a political balance between opposing parties. In making the Furies more civilised through Athena, Aeschylus does not merely subjugate them to the rules of the new political game, but reshapes in a particularly noteworthy way the idea of justice itself.
Keywords: Tragedy; justice; retributive punishment; democracy; law
