Monday, June 01, 2009
THE EUMENIDES
Author: Aeschylus
Date: 458 BC
The Eumenides is apparently well regarded mostly for its political subtext. The opposition between the Erinyes, which stand for individual justice, and Law as embodied by the Areopage, and the eventual cooptation of the Erinyes (in its new, "tamed" identity of the Eumenides) by this very legal system, has been deconstructed as the intrinsic reliance of any social organization upon some form of social coertion.
This is the third play of the Oresteia. My opinion of this trilogy is not very favorable. It is hard, in my opinion, to establish a personal connection with these works without a certain condescendence, and without bearing in mind at all times their historical, religious, and sociological context. Of course we all love Aeschylus for being the first, for having opened the way, so to speak. I am not denying that. But that is not the same as saying he was a great author.
Date: 458 BC
The Eumenides is apparently well regarded mostly for its political subtext. The opposition between the Erinyes, which stand for individual justice, and Law as embodied by the Areopage, and the eventual cooptation of the Erinyes (in its new, "tamed" identity of the Eumenides) by this very legal system, has been deconstructed as the intrinsic reliance of any social organization upon some form of social coertion.
This is the third play of the Oresteia. My opinion of this trilogy is not very favorable. It is hard, in my opinion, to establish a personal connection with these works without a certain condescendence, and without bearing in mind at all times their historical, religious, and sociological context. Of course we all love Aeschylus for being the first, for having opened the way, so to speak. I am not denying that. But that is not the same as saying he was a great author.
