Hung Jury // Abigale Bell

 The question is of piety. I think The Eumenides can boil down to one question. Is Orestes' act of killing his mother right or wrong? This story shows family in a light that seems to contradict my idea of how the Greeks viewed family. In a culture where hierarchy reigned, it was unheard of for someone below their station to rise to another. In The Eumenides, is this not what Orestes did when he killed his mother? He took the place of her judge and jury.

This set of circumstances reminds me of Plato's Euthyphro. This is a work that outlines the dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro on the topic of piety. Similar to Orestes' situation (though slightly less drastic), Euthyphro is faced with a decision to pursue murder charges against his father, or remain the loyal son and overlook his father's crime. Euthyphro chooses the former path and takes his father to trial. Though we don't know the outcome based on this writing, it is enough to know that Euthyphro was willing to step up and challenge the integrity of his father. The question raised by Socrates is whether it is right, or pious, to do this. Since the gods were the poles of the Greek moral compass, the question became: do the gods approve?

Taking us back to The Eumenides, we see the gods themselves taking part in Orestes' trial. Athena takes on the role of judge; Apollo, the council of the defendant. The Furies take on the role of the prosecutor. I think it is interesting to view these stories side by side. In one story we see a question being asked of the gods; what is piety? In the other story, we see this question lived out. Although the gods confront the issue in The Eumenides, I don't see an answer is reached. Athena is asked to choose a side. Was Orestes right in his actions or are the Furies right in pursuing him for it?

"A crisis either way. Looking back and forth from ORESTES to the FURIES. Embrace the one? Expel the other? It defeats me." (Aeschylus, The Eumenides)

Even wise Athena cannot decide the righteous act in this conflict. Instead, she chooses men of Athens to sit on a council and cast a vote. Later, when Orestes stands before the jury, Apollo makes an entrance and argues on Orestes' behalf. Here, we see a battle between Apollo and the Furies. He, dragging Zeus into the argument to make his point. The Furies argue that a husband and wife are not bound by blood, but a mother and son are. Therefore, Orestes' mother killing his father was ok, but Orestes killing his mother for killing his father was not ok. This takes me back to the idea of hierarchy. Orestes' mother broke the standard for her station in life when she killed her husband. When Orestes takes revenge on behalf of his father, he is doing what seemingly would be expected. Instead of receiving honor for avenging his father's death, Orestes is hunted down by the Furies. Is this right? Does blood between family members really matter in the debate for right or wrong? Athena casts her vote for Orestes even before the jury has passed its judgment, cementing the decision before it has been reached. The ballots cast by the men are equal on both sides. Perhaps the point of this so-called trial is to say that there is no answer to the question of piety.

Commented on Haylee's and Rachael's posts.