The Eumenides
Translated by Gilbert Murray
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This play offers a profound exploration of the birth of justice and the reconciliation of primal forces with civilized order, making it essential for understanding the foundations of Western legal and moral thought.
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Book Summary
In the final play of Aeschylus' Oresteia, Orestes is pursued by the Furies for killing his mother. He seeks refuge in Athens, where Athena establishes a court to judge him. The trial marks a shift from blood-feud justice to a civilized legal system, culminating in the transformation of the Furies into benevolent spirits.
The Eumenides opens with Orestes, purified by Apollo, arriving at the Temple of Athena in Athens, still hunted by the vengeful Furies (Erinyes). Athena intervenes, establishing the Areopagus, a court of Athenian citizens, to judge Orestes for matricide. During the trial, the Furies argue for the ancient law of blood vengeance, while Apollo defends Orestes, claiming that the father is the true parent and that Zeus's will justifies the act. The votes are tied, and Athena casts the deciding vote for acquittal, prioritizing patriarchal order and civic law over maternal blood ties. The Furies initially rage against this verdict, but Athena persuades them to accept a new role as protectors of Athens, renamed the Eumenides (the Kindly Ones). They are given an honored place beneath the city, symbolizing the integration of primitive justice into a civilized state. The play concludes with a procession celebrating the new order, where divine will, legal judgment, and reconciliation replace endless revenge.
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Orestes
Orestes arrives at Athens bloodstained and exhausted, a suppliant who has already been purified at Delphi yet remains unacquitted. His dilemma is that obedience to Apollo made him a matricide, and the Furies will not accept divine orders as an excuse. His long pursuit and his prayer at Athena's image force the play to ask whether a killer can ever be forgiven, and on what grounds.
Athena
Athena enters Athens to find Orestes at her image and the Furies closing in, each side certain of its claim. Where the Furies demand that the doer simply suffer, she insists on asking what motive drove him, a question their doctrine cannot absorb. By founding the Areopagus she shifts justice from blind retribution to reasoned inquiry, and her vote will decide whether mercy can coexist with law.
Apollo
Apollo sheltered Orestes at Delphi and sent him on to Athens under Hermes' guard, promising purification and release. In the trial he stands as the accused's advocate, insisting that he merely revealed the will of Zeus and that the father's claim outweighs the mother's. His confidence is both his strength and his liability, since he must defend a killing he himself commanded.
The Furies
The Erinyes are the hunters of the guilty, feared by ordinary gods and mortals yet cherished by Night and the wronged dead. Their rule is simple: the doer must suffer, and no plea of justification or intention can move them. When Athena proposes a trial by inquiry, they feel deceived and threatened, and their resistance becomes the play's central contest between old vengeance and civic justice.
Clytemnestra
Clytemnestra appears only as a dream, showing the wound in her throat and taunting the Furies for letting her killer escape. She reminds them of the offerings she once poured and burned for them, and of the shame she now endures among the dead while her son goes unpunished. Her reproach wakes the hunt again, making her the engine that drives the chase into Athens.
Zeus
Zeus is the authority behind Apollo's command and the ground on which Orestes' defense rests, cited as the highest law that overrides all lesser claims. His justice is treated as an ultimate fact that does not depend on argument, which is precisely what unsettles the Furies. Whether his will truly sanctions the acquittal, or whether mercy must be found another way, is the question the trial leaves hanging.
Justice vs. Revenge
The play explores the transition from primitive blood-feud justice, where the doer must suffer, to a more civilized legal system represented by the trial of Orestes before the Areopagus, emphasizing the need for reasoned judgment over cyclical vengeance.
Matriarchy vs. Patriarchy
The conflict between the Furies, who represent ancient matriarchal laws and blood ties, and Apollo and Athena, who champion patriarchal authority and the primacy of the father, is central to the trial and resolution of Orestes' guilt.
Divine Will and Moral Order
Apollo acts as the mouthpiece of Zeus, asserting that the will of Zeus is the highest law, which justifies Orestes' matricide and ultimately reshapes the cosmic order to accommodate mercy and civic justice.
Pollution and Purification
Orestes is initially polluted by the murder of his mother, but through ritual purification at Delphi and the legal judgment in Athens, he is cleansed, illustrating the shift from physical defilement to moral and legal absolution.