The Eumenides, 3

Athena starts the trial, and Apollo enters for the defense.  The Furies question Orestes, and he admits killing his mother, but under the instructions of Apollo.  He claims justification also because Clytemnestra had killed Agamemnon without suffering from the gods for it.  The trial turns on the question of whether the closeness between son and mother makes the killing automatically a ghastly crime, regardless of circumstances.

Apollo argues to the jury.  He claims his instructions came from Zeus, in part because of the greatness of Agamemnon who was struck down.  He further claims that the child is closer to his father than his mother, who is merely a caretaker even during pregnancy.  As proof, he points to Athena, who was not born of a mother but sprung whole from Zeus.  As fathers are necessary, but mothers are contingent, the weight of the argument is in Orestes' favor.

Athena calls for the jury's verdict.  As the votes come in, trash-talking between the Furies and Apollo.  Athena announces her tie-breaking vote, and it indeed comes down to that: Orestes is acquitted.  Apollo exits, and Orestes praises Athena, pledging devotion to her and to her city of Athens for the remainder of his life.

The Furies are pissed.  Athena tries to calm them down, pointing out that they did well if the verdict came out tied, but they won't hear it.  Athena keeps at it, eventually promising a promotion for them into the keepers and apportioners of justice for the people of Athens [I think].  The Furies, now called the Eumenides, are overjoyed at their new station, and eventually parade out in peace.

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This was not how I expected this to end at all.  I was sure the verdict was going the other way.  And upon first reading, I couldn't follow the final conversation between Athena and the Furies.  But the second reading opened it up a bit.

First of all, Athena is heaping much praise on the people of Athens, and their traditions of doing justice to each other and to the gods.  It reads like a whole lot of flattery Aeschylus is heaping on his fellow-citizens.  Perhaps this is how the playwrights won the drama prizes?

But Athena is doing more here when she promotes the Furies.  She is allowing them to dole out punishment, but also to dole out positive justice.  That has been missing from the Furies actions throughout the play-- they chased Orestes to inflict divine retribution, and could not be satisfied until the task was finished.  But as it turns out, that is a very one-sided view of justice.  In fact, that may be the crux of the failure of justice through the entire trilogy.  Each character was seeking revenge, seeking to do violence as the only way to achieve satisfaction.  True justice requires the possibility of other kinds of responses.

Update, 20 minutes later:  Looked up some interpretations.  Nailed it.