How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #4
(Orestes): "Queen Athena, I have come at the command of Loxias. Be kind in your reception of one accused—no polluted suppliant, nor one with hands not cleansed, but with his guilt already blunted and also worn away in other men's houses and journeying with them. Land and sea alike I have crossed in observing Loxias' oracular injunctions; now I approach your house and statue, goddess; and I shall keep watch here where I am, and await the outcome of judgment." (235-243)
This quotation highlights the difference between "Justice and Judgment" and "Guilt and Blame." Even though Orestes has not stood trial for his crime, he still feels that his guilt has been "blunted and also worn away." By what, you ask? His answer to that question is strange: "in other men's houses and journeying with them."
What could he mean by that, do you think? Another question: how is the way Orestes deals with his guilt the same as or different from the way someone might today? Once you've given that question some pondering, you might want to ask yourself if the way in which Orestes deals with his guilt means that he—and the ancient Greeks—think about guilt in a different way from how we do now.
Quote #5
(Orestes): "The bloodshed is now drowsily asleep and wasting away from my hand, with the pollution of my mother's killing washed off; for while still fresh it was driven out at the hearth of the god Phoebus in a purification where young pigs were killed. It would be a long story for me from its beginning, all the people I approached harmlessly with my company; time cleanses everything as it ages." (280-286)
Here Orestes continues explaining how he has been purified of his guilt. This time he goes into more detail: it happened through a ritual of "purification where young pigs were killed." That sounds pretty gross—whatever floats your boat, Orestes.
How is the way Orestes deals with his guilt the same as (or different from) the way someone might today? What does the way in which Orestes deals with his guilt show about what he thinks guilt is? Just as a side note, we think it's really cool how Orestes is amazed at the people he has been able to approach "harmlessly," as though his guilt risked polluting anyone he came into contact with (this was a Greek cultural belief). What does Orestes's relief about this say about his character in general?
Quote #6
(Orestes): "Queen Athena, first I shall remove the great anxiety in your last words. I am no suppliant for refuge, and I had no pollution on my hands when I sat by your statue; and I will tell you a great proof of this. There is a custom that a man with murder on his hands does not speak until the slaughter of a suckling beast makes him all bloody, by a man who can cleanse from bloodshed. Long ago I was given this purification at other men's houses, with beasts as well as river-water. This concern of yours is thus to be dismissed, I tell you; and you shall quickly hear the facts of my descent." (443-454)
Orestes once again explains how he has been purified at other men's houses, and also by a special ritual involving animal slaughter. Why can't the play simply end there? Why does the play have to go on to show Orestes being tried in a legal context? In thinking about this question, you might want to ask yourself: what would be the consequences for a society if all people had to do after killing someone was go to some strangers' houses and bathe in some pig's blood?