Agamemnan, The Inferno, Don Quixote Essay - 1232 Words

Agamemnon, The Inferno, and Don Quixote may seem to be vastly different stories written across centuries of time and within incongruous cultures but the three tales share related themes. * Set among the ruling family of Argos, Aeschylus’s Agamemnon examines the topic of justice: ancient eye-for-an-eye progressing toward modern disinterested justice, attributing all to the gods. Similarly, in Dante Alighieri’s Inferno each sinner is placed in a punishment to fit his crime: divine perfection of justice. * Miguel de Cervantes approaches the other side of justice, Don Quixote questions what happens when an antiquated or fictional moral code is put into play in a different time or place. * What is Justice? Aeschylus suspends justice somewhere†¦show more content†¦* Aegisthus says as much in his speech on page 302, â€Å"It feasts my eyes-/he pays for the plot his father’s hand contrived.† Although Aegisthus claims he is the â€Å"weaver of Justiceâ €  and â€Å"plotted out the kill,† we FIRST-PERSON LANGUAGE!! The syllabus says the Test fails here. are told by the Chorus that â€Å"[Zeus] lays it down as law that we must suffer, suffer into truth.† According to them, Justice is not meted out by man’s will alone, but as a cog in the machine of the gods; a means to a divine end. * In the following plays, the wheel comes full circle as Agamemnon’s son comes home to avenge his death, by killing his mother Clytemnestra. Under the system in which they have labored to this point, her death should beget the death of her son and so one SP. However, having been killed by her son, in retribution for killing her husband, Clytemnestra’s death cannot be avenged. There is no one left to claim that responsibility. Aeschylus’s gods step in and create a newer, better system of justice to put an end to the vicious cycle. Justice is an imperfect proposition until a higher power steps in and sets it right. Aeschylus uses several literary devices to portray the imperfection of the old system. Throughout the play, in many lines Aeschylus makes use of parallel structures. This device is melodic but also symbolic of the two separate systems of Justice. Looking at the flaws of the ancient system, the chorus says â€Å"Each charge meets counter charge,† and â€Å"The plunderer