Greek Civilization
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Greek Civilization
“Charge answers charge, and who can weigh them, sift right from wrong? The ravager is ravaged the slayer slain. But it abides, while Zeus on his throne abides, that he who does will suffer. That is the law. Who will cast out the seed of curses from the house? The race is grafted to ruin.”
The text is part of a chorus for a poem recited by Clytemnestra, the wife to King Agamemnon. The poem is about an event in which Clytemnestra kills the husband as a form of vengeance for a similar killing that the king had perpetrated before (Aeschylus). Agamemnon had brutally killed Clytemnestra’s daughter, something that bred in her, bitterness and the desire to revenge. At the point in which the chorus is recited, the person who responds tries to convince Clytemnestra that she will also be killed the same way she did the husband. The chorus shows that people can hardly decide if Clytemnestra is right or wrong. What they are sure about is that a destroyer shall also be destroyed. A slayer shall be slain. For that reason, they believe that Clytemnestra will not be spared the punishment of killing her husband (Aeschylus). They expect the people to hate and chase her out of the city for they do not expect someone to do such a thing to their husband or a close person. Clytemnestra is bitter about the people because they did not do the same when Agamemnon killed a child whom she kept in pregnancy and bore through the pain. She also does not understand the reason why no one dared to speak about the issue if at all, they stood for justice. The people who recite the chorus represent the public. They also believe that the hate against Clytemnestra and her being chased out of the city is part of the laws of Zeus which require one to suffer for the bad things they do to others (Aeschylus). If that is the case, then the same happened to Agamemnon for he died through a brutal act as well.
There are several interesting features in the text. They include the mentioning of Zeus and Hades. The Chorus portrays the ancients Greeks as people who believed that Zeus was in control of almost everything that affected human life. At some point, the chorus says that everything in life exists with the support of Zeus, for nothing can exist without the existence of Zeus (Aeschylus). Clytemnestra believes that by killing Agamemnon, he will end up going to Hades, which is the underworld where the dead go. She also believes that when the husband reaches Hades, he will meet with the daughter whom he brutally killed. At that point, the daughter will kiss the father as was supposed to be when they were alive (Aeschylus). The elements of Zeus and Hades relate to some past course materials about Greek Civilization. Initial texts described Zeus as the most superior of the Olympian gods (Bonanno, 2015). He is the god of justice and peace. For that reason, he was expected to confer justice in Clytemnestra’s case by punishing her for her brutality. The people believe that Zeus is the best determinant of right from wrong and his actions are always justified. The past class materials also described Hades as the god of the underworld (Bonanno, 2015), who takes people after death. In this case, Agamemnon went to Hades after death. He went where the killed daughter also went. One of the significant factors that stress the people is Clytemnestra’s argument that her action was justified because the killing of her husband was not her intention, but she was only used as an agent of vengeance for past acts of brutality that the king had perpetrated.
References
Aeschylus. The Complete Aeschylus: Volume I: The Oresteia
Bonanno, A. (2015). A missing work of art: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Asklepios, Serapis, or Herakles?.