How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
(Apollo): "Do not weary […] by brooding on this ordeal, but go to Pallas' city and seat yourself there, clasping her ancient statue; and there we shall have judges for this matter, and words to win them over, and find means to release you once and for all from these miseries." (78-83)
Isn't the whole point of trial by jury supposed to be that it's impartial? Doesn't an impartial judgment usually mean that you don't know in advance what the judgment is going to be (because the judge and jury have to listen to each case patiently)? If so, then what do we make of the fact that Apollo is convinced that he will find "words" to "win […] over" the judges to Orestes's side and "find means to release [him] once and for all from these miseries"? Is Apollo just trying to cheer Orestes up, or is he really so cynical about the whole judicial process?
Quote #2
(Clytemnestra's Ghost): "Hey! Stay asleep, then, do! And what's the use of your sleeping? Here am I dishonoured like this among the other dead because of you, and with the slain ceaselessly reproaching me for those I killed; and I wander in shame. I tell you solemnly that they accuse me very much; and that although I have suffered so terribly from my closest kin, not one divine power is angry on my account, although I was slaughtered by the hands of a matricide." (94-102)
By bringing the Ghost of Clytemnestra onstage, Aeschylus shows us that Orestes's actions in killing his mother were not merely abstract—there was a real victim involved, who gets to express her feelings in these lines. This reminds us that there is right on both sides of an argument.
Quote #3
(Chorus of Furies):
"Such things as these are done by younger gods
with power wholly beyond justice
at the throne dripping with murder
all round its foot, all round its head.
I can see before me
the earth's navel, which has taken
bloodshed on itself, a ghastly defilement to have." (162-168)
These lines remind us that the Furies in the play always portray themselves as speaking in the name of justice. Of course, if you actually look at what they mean by justice, it's pretty terrifying. Like, we don't know exactly what "justice / at the throne dripping with murder / all round its foot, all round its head" means, but it sounds pretty freaky. The problem for Apollo, Athena, and the other characters in the play will be convincing the Furies that their interpretation of justice isn't the only one.