The Eumenides Summary and Analysis of Lines 1-139

Summary:
We are just outside the sanctuary of Pythian Apollo, in Delphi. The Pythia, Apollo's priestess,
sings a prayer that honors the gods who have prophesied from this shrine. The first was Earth,
then Themis, then Phoebe, and then fourth was Apollo. Apollo is the fourth in this tradition of
divine seers; he is the spokesman of his father, Zeus, king of the gods. The position of prophet
has always been passed from god to god peacefully, rather than through force. The Pythia
prepares to begin her day as the spokeswoman of Apollo. She enters the temple and almost
immediately comes out again, terrified because of what she has seen. A man is seated in the
suppliant's seat, his hands dripping with blood, carrying a bloodied sword in one hand and an
olive branch wrapped with wool in the other hand. Surrounding him are gorgon-like creatures,
dark and revolting, eyes oozing foul liquids. These creatures sleep. The Pythia trusts in Apollo to
clear things up.
The temple doors open, revealing Orestes and the sleeping Furies. Apollo and Hermes are there
as well. Apollo affirms that he will stand by Orestes' side; it is he who has put the Furies to
sleep. He expresses disgust for the Furies, and instructs Orestes to go to the city of Athena.
There, he must clasp the idol of Athena. They will find people to judge his case, and Orestes will
be purged of his mother's curse. Apollo asks Hermes to escort Orestes, reminding Hermes that
Orestes is his suppliant and the wanderer must be treated well in accord with the laws of Zeus.
(Note: the Greeks ascribed much importance to the rights of the suppliant. A suppliant was a
person in desperate need who put himself at the mercy of another; violation of the suppliant's
right to protection and hospitality was a great wrong. The Curse on the House of Atreus began
with the slaughter of Thyestes children, and part of the horror of the act was that Atreus
violated Thyestes' rights as a suppliant.)
Hermes, Orestes, and Apollo exit. Clytaemestra's ghost enters, bemoaning her fate. Among the
dead, she is condemned. No god protects her, but she can still have her revenge if the Furies
keep after Orestes. During her life, she gave the Furies offerings; she reminds them of this and
asks if the offerings were in vain. She tries to rouse them from their sleep, telling them that
Orestes is laughing at them, berating them for being less helpful allies than Apollo. After much
prodding, the Furies cry out in their sleep; even in their dreams, they chase Orestes.
Clytaemestra makes another attempt to rouse them, inciting them to drive on despite fatigue.
She wants them to make Orestes suffer horribly.
Analysis:
The Eumenides' important themes include the contrast or struggle between the old and the
new, between savagery and civilization, between the primal and the rational. This theme is
expressed in the progression of old to new gods. Although these forces come into conflict, the
drive of the play is to reconcile these opposites. The Eumenides opens with a story of peaceful
progression from the old to the new. The beautiful song of the Pythia recounts the history of
the shrine, which once was in possession of ancient goddesses much older than Apollo. The
primal goddesses handed down the position of seer peacefully: this peaceful handover provides
a powerful contrast to the violent wars between Zeus and the older Titans. It suggests an
alternative to the eradication of the ancient; Apollo is fourth in a proud tradition of peaceful
succession.
The Eumenides, or the Furies, are the Chorus of this play. They are ancient goddesses, residents
of the Pit, and they are brutal and physically repulsive. The sight of them disgusts the Pythia.
They also are repugnant to Apollo, who provides a great contrast to them. He is a younger god,
one of the Olympians, and he is a male god of rationality. The Furies, in contrast, are brutal
creatures of revenge. They are ancient. Apollo cannot destroy them, but here we see him
overpower them. He has put them all to sleep, and the hapless ghost of Clytaemestra has to
wake them and shame them into keeping up the hunt. Although everyone speaks of their
viciousness and ugliness, Aeschylus takes the edge off the Furies in this opening scene: when
we first see them, they are like sleeping babies or old women. They are vulnerable, exhausted,
and there is something comical about the way they chase after Orestes in their dreams and talk
in their sleep.
Clytaemestra's ghost is embittered and fixated on one thing: revenge. There is something
pitiable about her here: when she describes her ill treatment by the other spirits, she speaks of
how they have forgotten all of her reasons for doing what she did. By having Clytaemestra
speak of how others have forgotten her suffering, Aeschylus is briefly making us remember it.
He is aware that Orestes will receive forgiveness for his act while Clytaemestra will go
unforgiven. But although he allows us to feel sorry for Clytaemestra, her fate is part of his vision
of justice. Justice should not be overly compassionate, or overly understanding. In
Clytaemestra's death, order will be restored and the rightful heir will again sit on the throne.
But a reader who tries to evaluate Aeschylus on his own terms will see that he has a beautiful
vision of order and healing that is hopeful and full of faith. Although we feel sorry for
Clytaemestra here, her obsession with punishing her son undermines sympathy. Feeling sorry
for Clytaemestra does not necessarily mean hoping that she will get what she wants, which in
this case is more bloodshed. And there is nothing rational about her claim that she goes
dishonored among the dead because of the Furies' incompetence. Revenge will not restore
Clytaemestra to the honored ranks of the dead, but she clings to the idea that it will.
Apollo promises that once Orestes reaches Athena, all will be made right: "You will be rid of
your afflictions, once and for all" (l. 83). The implication is that not only will Orestes be cleansed
of his mother's curse, but that the Curse on the House of Atreus will finally come to an end. The
Olympian gods are intervening in human events, putting an end to a cycle of violence that has
gone on too long. Cleansing or purification is one of the themes of this play, and it is made
possible by concerted effort between gods and men and reconciliation of the old with the new.
Finally, the violence will stop.
The Eumenides Summary and Analysis of Lines 140-234
From the waking of the Furies to the scene change from Delphi to Athens. (Lines 140-234)
Summary:
The Eumenides wake up, and begin to howl. They cry out that Apollo has robbed them of their
rightful prey, a man who has committed the terrible sin of matricide. The Furies accuse Apollo
of injustice and offending the old order, saying that by championing Orestes the Olympian god
stains his own shrine. Apollo enters again, not bothering to hide his disgust for the Furies. He
tells them to leave his temple.
The Furies accuse Apollo of wrongdoing, reminding him that he was the one who commanded
Orestes to kill Clytaemestra. Apollo is responsible, and he has had the nerve to offer sanctuary
to the killer. He has prevented the Furies from doing their duty, which is to punish matricides.
Apollo asks about Clytaemestra's wrongs: the woman killed her husband. The Eumenides
respond that the murder was not committed against one who was related to her by blood.
Orestes' sin is worse, because he killed his own kin. Apollo argues that the bond of marriage is
sacred, and for the Furies to punish one murder and not the other makes void their claims of
righteousness. Orestes' case will be put before Pallas Athene, and the great goddess will be the
judge. The Furies insist that nothing will stop them from hounding Orestes. Apollo insists, with
equal force, that he will protect Orestes.
Analysis:
We see the clash between the old and the new deities. The Eumenides protest Apollo's
interference, as he seeks to deny or beat back powers older than himself. The Furies insistence
on Orestes' guilt has its own logic, as does Apollo's insistence on the guilt of Clytaemestra; their
different arguments reflect their natures. The Furies emphasize the sacredness of kindred blood
while Apollo emphasizes the sacredness of the marriage bond. The older, primal goddesses are
defending the bond that is in the blood; it is the more basic and primitive link, between child
and parent, that even animals recognize. The marriage bond is much newer than the bond of
blood; marriage is the product of civilization and social constructions, and Apollo defends its
sanctity eloquently. He symbolizes rationality and civilization, while the Furies are symbols of
the primal and primitive.
Apollo characterizes them as evil, but it is only because his nature is difficult to reconcile to
theirs. His disgust for them is understandable, but it is also unhelpful. The Furies are brutal, but
they are part of nature, and their arguments have their own logic. He can overpower them, but
he cannot destroy them; Apollo's limitation parallels the ways that civilization and rationality
cannot eradicate primal instincts. Later in the play, Athene will be able to reconcile the primal
power symbolized by the Furies with the rationality and civilization represented by the
Olympians.
The debate about Orestes shows the difficulty of assessing a man's guilt or innocence. The
history of the House of Atreus is an example of how murder and violence escalate out of
control. Without recourse to courts, vengeance is the way to try to get justice. This play will end
with the establishment of a court to judge homicides; civilization and rationality will provide a
way to control violence and dispense justice. Gods and men work together to create an
institution in which murder cases can be weighed and judged.
the Eumenides Summary and Analysis of Lines 235-565
From the scene change to the re-entrance of Athene with twelve jurors and a herald. (Lines
235-565)
Summary:
The scene changes from the temple of Apollo at Delphi to the Acropolis in Athens, before
Athene's temple and statue. Orestes takes the suppliant position at the feet of Athene's statue,
asking her to help him. The Furies enter, hot on his trail. They find him seeking protection from
Athene, and they tell him that only his blood can answer for the blood of his mother. The Furies
torment him with promises of the suffering he will endure at their hands. The exhausted and
terrified Orestes defends himself, not denying the charge of matricide, but defending his
character and saying that Apollo has cleansed him of his guilt. He now calls on Athene to
protect him, showing faith that she can hear him no matter where she may be.
The Chorus gives a long response. They tell Orestes that he is theirs to devour, and the
Olympians cannot protect him. The Eumenides are agents of the most basic and ancient form of
justice. The blood that Orestes spilled can only be paid for by the spilling of his own blood. The
torment of guilty mortals has been the Furies' office from the first moments of the world. They
seek to bypass the authority of Zeus, who has declared them outcasts. The guilty receive their
punishment; the Furies are strong and cannot be appeased with words.
Athene enters and asks the identity of Orestes and the Eumenides. Athene listens to the
grievances of the Furies, but suspects that they tell only half the truth about Orestes. She will
ask him herself; the Furies trust her to adjudicate the case. Orestes insists that he is no
supplicant, and that he has been absolved of the blood on his hands. Orestes tells her his story;
the goddess Athene acknowledges his rights, but also acknowledges the position of the Furies.
The matter is too difficult even for her to judge. She goes to select a group of men to sit in
council and judge Orestes' case; it will be the foundation for a jury that will judge all future
murder cases.
The Chorus sings again, claiming that if Orestes goes free the values and laws of the new gods
will be proven false. Fear and violence are a part of justice, and the Furies make sure that the
guilty do not go unpunished.
Analysis:
The Eumenides are one of the most interesting Choruses in all of the Greek tragedies. Usually,
Choruses are made of benign onlookers: the citizens of the city, or the servants of the
household. The Chorus provides exposition and rushes of beautiful poetry. Here, the Chorus is
composed of Orestes' antagonists. Instead of beautiful odes praising nature, the Furies deliver
terrifying and intense songs of death and destruction. They are not exactly evil, but they are
dark and brutal. Aeschylus use of the Chorus in this play shows the incredible range of his
poetic imagination. The Eumenides is overall an extraordinarily optimistic work, presenting a
powerful and hopeful vision of the relationships between man and god, past and present. The
play provides a happy and harmonious ending to the Oresteia. But from the mouths of the
Furies, Aeschylus is able to deliver many dark and intense images. The tone of the play is
balanced between optimism and terror, with fear dominating the play's first half and optimism
and rationality dominating the second half. The beginning of the trial marks this shift in tone.
Another interesting aspect of the Furies is that they repeat entire long passages verbatim. The
effects are numerous. For one, the repetition is hypnotic and eerie. Their song to Orestes is a
song of the hunt, and the repetitions amplify the intensity of the Furies' emotions. It also fits in
nicely with the Furies' age and primal nature. There is something primitive and ritualized about
them; when they repeat whole passages verbatim, they seem even less human, more removed,
more mythical. They become mysterious speakers of intense, ferocious, and mysterious
incantations. After the reading of the verdict later in the play, the repetitions are used to
achieve a somewhat different effect.
The Furies are absolutely essential to the action; it is impossible to tell the same story without
them. In many plays by Sophocles and, to an even greater extent, Euripides, the Chorus is not
an absolutely essential part of the action. For these later playwrights, it often seems possible to
rewrite the play without the Chorus while keeping the fundamental elements of the plot intact.
That is not the case for The Eumenides.
Note the difference between the ways that Apollo and Athene treat the Furies. Apollo has
nothing but disgust for them. Athene treats them respectfully, but she also insists on being fair
to Orestes. The central theme of this play is the struggle/conflict between opposites, and the
reconciliation of those opposites. Athene herself is a symbol for that kind of reconciliation. She
is female, but she is also a warrior: Aeschylus has her enter dressed in full body armor. She is as
rational as her half-brother Apollo, but she is also compassionate and does not react with
disgust at the sight of the Furies. She is woman, but she is born of her father: according to
myth, she sprang from her father's skull. She is the goddess of wisdom and crafts as well as
warfare, making both the creative and the destructive within her jurisdiction. She reconciles the
best attributes the Greeks traditionally ascribed to the masculine and the feminine. Note that
the Furies listen to her and speak to her with tremendous respect. They trust her to stand as
fair judge over Orestes' case.
The theme of purification comes up again and again, with the Furies insisting that Orestes is still
stained by his mother's blood, while Orestes claims that Apollo has already purified him.
Orestes insistence on his innocence goes so far as to make him claim proudly that he is no
supplicant (even as clasps Athene's idol in the suppliant position). As a man free of guilt, he has
come simply to rid himself of the Furies. But Athene seems to think that Orestes is indeed a
supplicant, because she quietly labels him as such a few moments after he claims that he is not
one. Though Orestes claims repeatedly that he has been purified, citing the rituals of cleansing
and the sacrifices he has made at Apollo's shrine, the rituals seem to have been insufficient. For
one thing, his sacrifices were made to Apollo, and Apollo is not the god he needs to appease. At
the beginning of the play, Aeschylus suggests symbolically that Orestes still bears the stain of
guilt: when the Pythia sees Orestes, his hands are stained with blood. The blood on the hands is
a repeated image of The Eumenides. It is the Furies' favorite phrase for describing Orestes guilt,
and Orestes' hands literally stained with blood in the play's opening suggests that he has not
yet been purified. His continuing impurity suggests the need for a new step in humanity's
development. Ancient rituals and sacrifice of animals are not adequate to deal with Orestes'
actions. It will take the rational methods of a court to settle this matter once and for all.
Through the deliberations of a court of justice, Orestes will be purified. Reason and civilized
institution will wash away the bloodstains on the House of Atreus, ending the supernatural
power of the Curse.
Justice will come about through the courts, but the Furies represent an important face of
justice. When Athene leaves to gather the jurors, the Furies sing of the vital role that they play
in the world. Fear, they argue, is part of justice. To deny the Furies' rights is to invite anarchy.
The relationship between justice and fear is another important theme of The Eumenides. Part
of Aeschylus' vision is that fear, violence, and punishment are necessary tools of justice.
Athene's incorporation of the Furies into Athens' pantheon shows recognition of this fact. The
negative side of fear and violence is that when these forces are the only tools of justice,
unalleviated by reason and compassion, violence gets out of control. The self-perpetuating
Curse on the House of Atreus is the prime example of this phenomenon.
The Eumenides Summary and Analysis of Lines 566-753
From the re-entrance of Athene with jurors and herald to the reading of the verdict. (Lines 566-
753)
Summary:
Athene re-enters, with the jury of twelve citizens and a herald. She instructs the herald to blow
his trumpet, so that all of the citizens of Athens will watch the proceedings, which will form the
basis of the court for all time. Apollo enters, to testify on Orestes' behalf. Athene presides over
the trial. The Furies question Orestes about his mother's murder. When they accuse him of
being guiltier than Clytaemestra because he killed someone of the same blood as himself,
Orestes asks Apollo to guide his response.
Apollo argues with the Furies, implying that Zeus authorized Clytaemestra's death and
describing in detail the way that Agamemnon was murdered. The Furies say that the Olympians
are hypocritical for prioritizing the death of the father, for Zeus himself put his own father in
shackles. Apollo cannot veil his disgust for the Furies as he argues that there is a great
difference between shackling a man and murdering him. Apollo also argues for paternal rights,
saying that the father, as the one who plants the seed, is the only true parent. A person can
have a father and no mother, and as proof of this idea Apollo points to Athene, who was born
from her father's skull instead of the womb of her mother. Therefore, Orestes' murder of his
mother must be seen in light of the killing of Orestes' father.
Athene asks if the arguments have all been made. When the two parties agree that all has been
said, Athene takes a moment to establish this site as the site for the court in all time to come.
She advises the citizens of Athens to shy from anarchy and from tyranny alike; she warns them
of the danger of corruption and the sanctity of law. She also tells them that fear must be a part
of justice. The court will be like a sentry for the city of Athens, protecting her citizens from
injustice and violence.
The jurors begin to deliberate over the verdict, and the Chorus and Apollo both swagger and
speak of their strength, and the consequent dangers of upsetting them. Athene seems
unshaken by the threats; she casts her ballot in favor of Orestes, being without a mother
herself. She admits that she is always sides with the male. Her vote will decide Orestes' fate if
the jurors are tied. There is a moment of suspense, as Orestes frets about what the verdict will
be and the ballots are counted. Athene announces that the ballots are tied: Orestes is free.
Analysis:
Remember that Aeschylus was an Athenian; his city was particularly devoted to the goddess
Athene, and she is depicted here as majestic and wise. She uses the problem of Orestes as an
opportunity to establish a new institution for justice, for the protection of her city and its
people.
Athens was a democracy, although one with a very limited electorate. A relatively small number
of free male citizens ran the government; women did not vote, nor did slaves. Limitations of
their democracy aside, Athenians considered themselves more free and wise than their
neighbors. They had a strong distrust of dictatorship, although they were known to have
dictators during times of instability. Athenians believed that rationality and deliberation were
the most useful tools for making a decision, and that decisions are often best made in council.
Not even Athene considers herself up to the task of deciding Orestes' fate. She brings in twelve
jurors, hoping that a group of people together will be wiser than one judge alone. Her choice
reveals the democratic sentiments of Aeschylus and his city. Athene has the citizens of Athens
attend the trial, so that they can see for themselves the methods for dispensing justice. Here,
the stage parallels life: just as the citizens of Athens onstage watch the trial, the real-life citizens
of Athens are sitting in the audience watching the artistic representation of the trial.
The section foreshadows the shift in scope we will see in just a few short moments. Orestes is
becoming less central to the action; he barely speaks at his own trial, and instead has Apollo
answer for him. The clash at the trial is not between Orestes and the Furies, but between
Apollo and the Furies. The meaning is clear. Apollo and the Furies, and all the forces they
represent, are battling; Orestes' character is hardly significant. Drama here is not drama of
character, but drama of forces: history, progress, and myth. Orestes steps back and asks Apollo
to speak for him. Apollo is a symbol for the male, the rational, the young, and the civilized. The
Furies represent the female, the violent, the old, and the primal. These two forces clash over
Orestes' fate, and the Furies themselves say that more is at stake than one man. The trial will
set a precedent for how justice is to be dispensed for all time to come.
The arguments made at court reveal the Athenian love for rhetoric and the art of debate.
Although Apollo's argument for the supremacy of a father's rights is totally unscientific, he
structures his argument like a good public speaker. He responds to the cross examination of the
Furies with energy and confidence.
Although Athene represents a reconciliation of the opposing forces represented by Apollo and
the Furies, Aeschylus' vision is very patriarchal. Part of Athene's beauty, as we see it here, is
that she always, by her own admission, sides with men. Male power and female power have
struggled against each other throughout the trilogy; this clash of feminine and masculine
strengths has been one of the constant themes of all three plays. Throughout, Aeschylus sets
up male power as correct and right. Agamemnon and Orestes are the rightful rulers of Argos,
whatever their sins; Clytaemestra, no matter what her justifications, upsets the right order of
the world when she tries to sit on the throne. In The Eumenides, divine female power has many
shape. The Furies represent an ancient, primal, feminine power. The Pythia recounts the history
of Apollo's temple and the position of prophet, and, significantly, all of the deities who
previously held Apollo's position were female. But they have handed power and the prophetic
gift to Apollo. And the Furies, despite the respect that their age warrants, have been outcast by
Zeus himself, the greatest and most powerful being, the ultimate father and god. In Athene, we
see a reconciliation of male and female nature. She is a powerful female, but she is viewed as
benevolent in part because she uses her power and wisdom to support male authority. She is
her father's daughter, literally: she was born of his skull rather than from the womb of a
woman.
Aeschylus does not seek to seriously question this patriarchal order. He views it as correct,
desirable. He makes place for feminine power and authority, but it must be secondary to and
supportive of male-dominated order. We should not feel the need to apologize for Aeschylus'
views on gender, nor should we accept it as adequate in light of modern perspectives on
gender and equality.
He was a man of his time, and the beauty of his vision is his faith that the existence of
seemingly opposing forces is a source of strength and hope rather than despair. Athene calls on
her people to remember that terror and justice go hand-in-hand. Fear has a role in preserving
order. Her advice about fear and justice foreshadows the offer she will make to the Furies. The
theme of integration and reconciliation works on many levels, and Aeschylus sees the
combination of terror and reason as justice's strength rather than its downfall. Closely
connected is the theme that man needs to come to terms with the savagery of the past, with
the power and energy of the primal, rather than destroy or efface these forces. The Furies will
not be destroyed at the end of the play, nor will they remain outcasts. They must be
incorporated into the new order.
Athene supports Orestes, and the jurors are tied. This close verdict shows that Aeschylus
recognizes the complexity of Orestes' case; this complexity is exactly the reason why courts are
necessary for the dispensation of justice. The complex circumstances surrounding Orestes' case
require the wisdom of the many: the collective judgment of the jurors and Athene is far
superior to the judgment of one or the blunt instrument of revenge.
The Eumenides Summary and Analysis of Lines 754-1047
Orestes' thanks and promise to the end of the play. (Lines 754-1047)
Summary:
Orestes thanks Athene, his speech overflowing with enthusiasm and earnestness. She has saved
him, and he knows it. He promises that Argos will forever be the ally of Athens, and Orestes'
spirit will forsake the future people of Argos should they ever turn against Athens. He exits, to
return to his homeland as its new king. Apollo goes with him.
The Furies are outraged by the verdict, saying that the new gods have trampled the old ways.
They promise to punish the land for this decision. Athene reasons with them, pointing out that
the ballot was close and that the decision was reached by a fair trial. She offers them a place
under the earth in Athens, to receive offerings from the people. The Furies repeat their last
speech verbatim, voicing their outrage and promising to bring destruction on the land. Athene,
unshaken, continues to reason with them. She reminds them that she alone of the gods knows
the location of the keys to Zeus' case of thunderbolts. She is powerful, and has Zeus behind her,
but it need not come to that. Athens is a rich land, and the Furies can have offerings, too. The
Furies do not believe Athene. They do not believe that the people of Athens will be able to treat
them with kindness; they bemoan their fate as outcasts, their ancient rights denied. Athene
continues to reason with them: she tells them that she understands their anger. She also
acknowledges that they have a wisdom she lacks because of their great age. But Athene, too,
possess a great wisdom, different from that of the Furies. She tells them that Athens will have a
great future; if the Furies come to Athens as beneficiaries, as great goddesses who preserve
peace and do good, protecting the country from the threat of civil war, then the Furies' days
will be rich and beautiful. In response, the Chorus repeats, verbatim, their expressions of
disbelief and anger about their status as outcasts.
Athene patiently continues to tell them about the benefits of accepting her offer. Instead of
continuing in the path of hatred and destruction, Athene offers them peace and position. The
Furies ask about the details of Athene's offer, and Athene responds to every question: they will
have a comfortable home, and they will power over the prosperity of men. The Furies can
hardly believe the generosity of the offer. They ask Athene what kind of prayer they should say
for the land. Athene describes, in beautiful language, a city prosperous and blessed. The Furies
accept Athene's offer, taking a position by Athene's side, promising to defend the interests of
Athens and praying for the prosperity of the city. Athene establishes the Furies' authority as the
dispensers of prosperity or ruin. Athene and the Eumenides speak in turns, Athene establishing
the Furies' authority and thanking Persuasion for helping her to tame them, while the Furies
repeatedly bless the city. The tone of the Furies' speech changes to one of gentleness; their
words are about peace, mercy, and love. Athene orders that the Furies be brought to their new
home, under the earth of Athens. There they will preside over the fortunes of the city, and act
as the city's guardians. A second Chorus forms, made up of the women who serve Athene. They
close the play singing of the harmonious arrangement brought about by their goddess, and they
bring the Furies to their new home. Peace will reign between the Athenians and their new
goddesses; it has all come to pass according to the wills of Destiny and Zeus.
Analysis:
Orestes exits after line 777. For almost a quarter of the play, then, Orestes is completely
absent. The trilogy named after him finishes without him. The Eumenides is quite different from
the other two parts of the Oresteia. The layers of symbolism (viper, serpent, poison, the net)
are no longer present. We have gods that symbolize greater forces, but it might be more
accurate to say that the gods are embodiments of these forces; the gods for Aeschylus are
simultaneously symbols of abstract forces and real personalities. Also, for readers whose
exposure to Greek tragedy has been limited to Oedipus the King, Antigone, or Medea, the
ending of this play may come as a surprise. Indeed, for readers whose only exposure to Greek
tragedy has been the first and second part of the Oresteia, the ending may come as a surprise.
The ending of the trilogy is more than merely happy: it is a beautiful, lyrical, and optimistic
ending that points to a great future. A great and beautiful fate awaits Orestes and his kingdom,
the friendship between Argos and Athens, the Eumenides, and the city of Athens itself. The
scope of the trilogy has opened up. Orestes exits promptly after his verdict, leaving Athene and
the Furies to hammer out the beginnings of a new future.
The tendency of the Furies to repeat themselves is put to new use after the reading of the
verdict. The Furies cannot initially see beyond their rage. In response to Athene's powerful
arguments, they can only repeat threats and old grievances. These repetitions also suggest the
directness of their minds; they are fully invested in certain thoughts and ideas. They have not
the suppleness of thought possessed by Athene and Apollo. When Athene tries to reason with
them after the verdict, it takes a while to get through to them; the Furies repeat their list of
grievances and threats verbatim before Athene's arguments begin to make any impression on
them.
But Athene is gracious, acknowledging the wisdom possessed by the Furies. While Clytaemestra
used persuasion and flattery as part of her scheme to murder Agamemnon, Athene
acknowledges Persuasion as her ally in taming the Furies (ll. 970-2). The abuses of Persuasion
and Fear are corrected. Persuasion becomes the voice of reason, reconciliation, and diplomacy,
and Fear becomes the tool of justice.
In successfully bringing the Furies into the new order, Athene ends the danger of the new gods
trampling the old ways. Apollo, unable to contain his disdain for the Furies throughout, exits in
a huff with Orestes. It is Athene who is wise enough to recognize that the Furies are the
embodiments of a vital aspect of Truth. They were gods before Athene and Apollo were born,
and they have their own kind of wisdom. According to Aeschylus' vision, their ferocity and
strength can be part of maintaining order. Integration in the Oresteia is not the fusion between
equals; the many opposing forces we have seen (male versus female, old versus new, primal
versus rationally) are reconciled by the arrangement at the end of the play, but in most cases,
one force is subordinated to the other. Female power supports and submits to male power; the
old make way for the new; the primal forces accept their place in a rational pantheon. Still, no
force is eradicated. The subordinate forces are necessary to the new order. The strength of the
new order is dependent on integrating the primal past. The Furies are powerful allies for the
young city of Athens; they are significantly transformed after accepting Athene's offer, but at
their core they retain their ferocity and power to strike fear into men's hearts.
Aeschylus ends with a celebration of his own homeland and a tribute to Destiny and the plans
of Zeus. The trilogy ends with the promise of a mighty destiny for Athens; the city's strength will
come from its incorporation of the archaic alongside the rational, the violent alongside the
gentle. Reason will be among the city's tools, as will ferocity and strength of arms.
Zeus and Destiny, sing the women of the Second Chorus, have willed that the Furies and Athene
should make peace with one another. We have been made to understand the will of the gods.
The urge to create teleology, or explain the ways of the divine in human terms, is an important
theme of the trilogy. All of the events that have rocked the House of Atreus have led to this
great triumph. The trilogy has explained to us how the people of the House of Atreus played a
part in the progression of civilization. Brutality followed brutality for generations, until the gods
intervened. Out of the need to deal with this violence rose the first homicide court of Athens.
We must see the earlier tragedies of the house as part of a greater design, one leading to a
hopeful and harmonious new order. Aeschylus captures a mythical moment in history, one in
which the world was torn between a savage and archaic past and the bold new order of Greek
civilization, the young Olympian gods, and rationality. The difficulty of the struggle between
these two worlds is dramatized by the cycle of violence in the House of Atreus and the clash
between Apollo and the Furies. The Oresteia is about the growing pains of a nascent civilization.
In the end, the new has to integrate the old rather than destroy it; with help from the gods, the
young is reconciled with the ancient. Out of the tragedies of the House of Atreus, Destiny has
raised up a richer, deeper order, strengthening and civilizing men and gods alike