An analysis of how dikh (‘justice’) and its associated values are Essay

An analysis of how dikh (justice) and its associated value bepresented and translated in two passages from Sophocles Electra. What broader issues are raised and how would these be investigatedfurther?The concept of dikh, or justice has many subtle meanings andvariations in Ancient Greek ranging from the direct definition givenin LS (Liddell and Scotts, Greek-English Lexicon, Intermediate,1889, page 202) of custom to right, judgement, lawsuit, penalty andvengeance. The OCD (Hornblower S, Oxford perfect Dictionary, 1996,Page 469) reference to Likh describes it as the, personification ofjustice and the daughter of genus Zeus that, reports mens wrongdoing toZeus.Sophocles rendition of the tragic black market Electra forms a useful focalpoint for the analysis of how dike and its associated values arepresented and translated. As Kitto (Kitto, H.D.F, Greek Tragedy,1997, Routledge Page 131, Section 4) pointed out, this passs,central problem is a problem of dikh (Justice). The play itsel fexamines both(prenominal) the desire for justice by the children of the murderedAgamemnon as well as the arguments of justice by his wife(Clytaemnestra for his murder). All of this takes place under the rattling eye of Apollo, the God of both reason and prophecy, both ofwhich play a part in the story that is told.The first extract is that of the argument amidst Clytaemnestra andElectra (Sophocles, Translator Watling, E.F., Electra and otherplays, pg 84-56, lines 518-543) concerning her justification for themurder of Agamemnon. In this extract we are presented with aselection of references to justice and how Clytaemnestra explains howshe was right in her murder of her husband. At line 518 (Ibid.,) shecomplains at her portrayal as an unjust tyrant, presumably implyingthat she was not within her right or custom to kill him. mingled withlines 524-526 (Ibid.,) she says that justice and duty are tiedtogether and that her duty was to set about justice whilst Electra failedin this area . At line 535 (Ibid.,) she says, why should he not bebrought to justice for killing what was mine?. In modern monetary value thiscould be considered simple revenge, or dikhn. She is does not justifyher action because of usance or precedent, purely because he tooksomething of hers. In lines 539-541 (Ibid.,) she argues thatAgamemnon love might ... ... bring ties in perfectly with the idea of moral dilemmas, duty andespecially justice. In Electra we find our idea of our own valuesand those of the period to be challenged, this discover may assist here.Williams. B, Moral Luck, 1981, CambridgeWilliams. B, Problems of the self, 1973, CambridgeWilliams. B, Ethics and the Limits of philosophical system, 1985, CambridgeWilliams work covered a wide range of ethical and morality areas andhis research is relatively recent. Moral Luck, though not right awayrelated will almost certainly have a hardly a(prenominal) useful ideas concerning fateand possibly justification.Plato, Translator Gu thrie, W.K.C. Protagoras and Meno, 1956, PenguinBooksPlato discusses the idea of virtue in great depth in the Protagorasand this could shed further light on the ideas of virtue, honour, dutyand possibly justice.Aeschylus, Translator Fagles, R, The Orestia, 1977, Penguin BooksEuripides, Editor Ferguson, J , Medea and Electra, 1987, BristolClassical crushAnother version of the story of Electra would be of great use,especially by another tragedian, in this case Euripides. This versionis written as more of a melodrama.