Skip to main content

Law, Context, and Order // Ian Blair

     The Eumenides was quite the interesting read, and it is my opinion that Orestes' actual escape hinged on one aspect of argument in particular, that being context. In fact, Athena's "court trial" of sorts is a perfect portrayal of the power context can yield when used correctly. I'll use basketball as an example to explain: 

    If I said that LeBron James is overrated as a player because he has lost in six NBA Finals, people who didn't know any better would not question that statement. However, if I went through each loss individually, we would realize very quickly that Lebron has performed very well in the finals whether he wins or loses, causing my point of him being overrated to be false. The Furies suffer from the same problem as the ghost of Clytemnestra fills them in on only what she wants them to know about Orestes' deed. They are so bent on bringing a false sense of "justice" to Orestes that by the time Athena arrives, the Leader is going mad trying to get to Orestes. I could detail the entire opening interrogation for the Furies when Athena holds the trial, but I think it would be better to hear some of the questions from the leader herself:

"Answer us count for count, charge for charge. First, tell us, did you kill your mother?...But how did you kill her? You must tell us that...And who persuaded you? who led you on?...How could she breed you in her body, murderer? Disclaim your mother's blood? She gave you life." (Aeschylus, 256-258).

    After rereading the trial in its entirety, do you notice how the Furies never ask why Orestes killed Clytemnestra? As I said before, context is everything. Modern investigators often look for a motive when working on a case because knowing the motive of a suspect or criminal helps tremendously in catching them and bringing them to justice. I would argue that this practice could be applied to other areas of life as well. It is my firm belief that if society learned the context of specific political statements or even videos that people post to the internet that divide thousands by the day, our production and understanding would increase a hundredfold.

P.S. I commented on Haylee Lynd's and Rachael's posts.

Comments

  1. I love this post and the point you made! Context is so important. The Furies have such a simplistic and narrow view of wrong and right that it matters not why Orestes did what he did. They dismiss the argument that he had to avenge his father because they believe so strongly in a strict one-to-one ratio of crime and punishment. Their worldview is black and white, while that of humans is grey.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Excellent blog post. I often find myself without context in many real life situations, and that has affected a lot of my decisions and relationships with people. I am, what you would say, not gifted in the common sense department, so anything that has to do with the practical world MUST have context behind it for me to be able to react properly to it. Case in point, I am often like the Furies in this situation, only knowing one-half of the story.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Word Painting in Vesta—Lily Caswell

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...

Welcome to Honors! (Please Read This)

     Welcome to Honors! My name is Abbie Hedden and I serve as President of Honors. Jamie Peters is our Vice President, and Caroline Tucker is our Secretary. I look forward to getting to know all of you in class during this upcoming year! There are a few things you need to know about Honors.      There are no quizzes or tests in Honors. Grades are provided based on attendance/class participation, blogs, explication papers, and the research paper. The papers will be addressed at a later date, as they aren't due until later in the semester. However, there is a blog post due every week. Bearing that in mind, here are the requirements! Criteria Blog posts are due Monday at 11:59PM , and comments are due Tuesday at 9:29AM . DO NOT BE LATE ON ASSIGNMENTS. Points WILL be deducted from late assignments! Be sure to have your name in your Blogger profile Blog posts should include at least one to two paragraphs on that week’s reading assignment.  Blog posts shoul...

Topsy Turvy Day—Lily Caswell

  I cannot remember how old I was when I watched T he Hunchback of Notre Dame  but I was at least 8 or 9. I didn’t realize until probably a couple of years ago that the song  “Topsy Turvy” and the corresponding event was actually based on a real festival. The Feast of Fools was usually held on January 1 though it could have also been held on the 6 th  or the 13 th  of January. It was portrayed as a parody of Catholic feasts. Church bells were rung improperly, songs were sung out of tune, and the celebrants “wore strange garments and masks, and used puddings, sausages, and old shoes as censers.” (Seaton, p 77) In the song “Topsy Turvy”, it says “It’s the day the devil in us gets released / It’s the day we mock the prig and shock the priest / Everything is Topsy Turvy at the Feast of Fools… And it’s the day we do the things that we deplore ‘ On the other three hundred and sixty-four.”  I commented on Haylee Lynd’s and Jamie’s posts. Sources: https://www.brita...