"At his best, man is the noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the worst" (Aristotle 384-322 B.C.). The mark of a great literary tragedy is what it reinstalls into society. From an Aristotelian perspective we have to ask ourselves what good do tragedies offer to the whole? Tragedies are a form of entertainment that bring forth enjoyment but beneath that are fundamental concepts that construct the foundation of society. Justice is the foundation by which society remains stable. Without a uniform idea of justice, society would be nothing more than separate primitive groups. The trial of Orestes in The Eumenides embodies the evolution of justice as the underlying foundation of society. The best way to understand what justice is to first examine what justice is not throughout a sequence of tragedies.
Aristotle' quote reinforces this idea that mankind is whole, when justice is the foundation, but in its absence we are nothing more than irrational animals. An example of the absence of justice is the curse on the house of Atreus. This curse comes about when Atreus tricks his brother Thyestes into eating his own children. Thyestes reacts by calling down this curse upon his brother's house. The action of Atreus and the curse gives way to the transference of injustice through lineage. As a result of Atreus' demented action, parricide, adultery, human sacrifice, and war ensue throughout the tragedies of Agamemnon and The Libation Bearers. These results bring out the worst in people and in society. This is not justice because it's an endless ritual cycle of iniquity that corrodes the foundation of society. These examples and their placement in a sequence of tragedies follow our methodology of finding what justice is from defining what it is not. .
When we arrive to The Eumenides, we see Orestes falling victim to the endless ritual of the curse on the house of Atreus.
