Oresteia Feminist Critique Aeschylus Patriarchy Analysis

I would agree with feminist critics that both the decision of the court as well as the establishment of the court itself (to replace the avenging judgment of the Furies) is significant. The court explicitly states that the status of the father is superior to that of the mother. The woman’s role in defining a son’s identity is deemed lesser than that of the father. Thus, Orestes was deemed to be right to kill his own mother.

It should be noted that Agamemnon, the husband that Clytemnestra kills, killed his own daughter Iphigenia to get a fair wind to bring him to Troy, and also was unfaithful with his wife with other women. This was expected of men, but not of women in patriarchal ancient Greece. Clytemnestra hated her husband (and was unfaithful to him) on very legitimate grounds. But once again, this shows the devaluation of women in Greek society.

In fact, the creation of an all-male tribunal to replace the Furies itself symbolizes the triumph of males in patriarchy. They replace the female-centered justice that condemned Orestes for killing his mother, and giving the death of a woman significant worth. There is a guarantee that the persecution of people like Orestes will not take place again, but it is no guarantee that men like Agamemnon will not be able to abuse their power against women. Not only is Clytemnestra’s death unavenged, but the vengeance she took for her daughter Iphigenia against her husband is invalidated.

The court’s decision essentially pits a female-centric view of the world, where women are valued at least as mothers and for their contribution to society as mothers, and a male-centric view of the world which suggests that children belong to men, and men may dispose of them as they will.

The ultimate decision is a highly gendered one. The impersonal law that is laid down by the court is that the death of a man (a father) is the ultimate crime—patricide is worse than matricide. This creates a law so there is no tension or paradox in terms of what should be done when someone is facing a conflict like Orestes. But the law ultimately favors the male gender in the system of justice. Yes, impersonal laws are put into place, but they are laws which are inherently patriarchal and make life easier for Orestes, as women who sympathize with patriarchy like his sister Electra, not his mother Clytemnestra and Iphigenia.