Justice is Blind in The Eumenides

The Furies (Q1)

The Furies defend their right to dispense justice according to the laws of blood vengeance. They assert themselves as enforcers of justice and state that their purpose is to avenge crimes like matricide. That is why they are holding Orestes accountable for killing his mother, an obvious crime. Their concept of justice is based on the idea of "blood vengeance," where they claim to have the authority to punish these kinds of crimes: “We chase out of their homes those criminals who slaughter their own mothers” (line 210-11). For the Furies, justice is impartial and unyielding; it exists so as to maintain the natural order of familial bonds; if those bonds are broken then the breaker must be punished and brutally.

The Furies interpret justice as inseparable from vengeance, which they argue sustains the moral balance. In their eyes, failure to punish Orestes would bring about social chaos. The Chorus warns of this consequence if Orestes were to elude punishment: “If now this matricide prevails, then newly set divine decrees will overthrow all order. Mortals will at once believe that everything’s permitted” (lines 630-34). It is a logical argument. It also suggests that justice must be blind to all things but maintaining the balance, the harmony, the yin and yang. Mercy and understanding, empathy and sympathy, do not enter into the equation. The gods and mortals may have these values—but the Furies do not and cannot.

The Furies’ interpretation of justice is something beyond the grasp of mortal man. It appears out of step with humanism and a humanistic society like what ancient Athens had. And yet there is something in this balance-based, retributive idea of justice that makes sense—because it stipulates that all crimes must be paid for, whether we empathize with the offender or not. There must be payment—of some kind. Personally, I believe this is rational—but as a Christian, there is another idea of mercy that may be found, which sits as it were alongside the authority of the Furies. How the two go together is, of course, a mystery.