The Rule of Law Versus Tragic Action in Aeschylus Tragedies

In his Poetics, Aristotle, from a structural perspective, assumes tragedy to be a tragic story based on hamartia. In this theory, the interrelation of the content of tragedy and its era has been delineated. Since the origin of tragedy is not merely ritual but also political and affected by social and structural developments in Athens, the content of tragedy needs to be examined from a political viewpoint as well. In tragedies of Aeschylus, tragedy and politics have been merged, thus, his tragedies are no longer mere religious or devotional poems associated with myths and rituals. However, these works are still tragic, but tragedies formed in a new social context known as a polis (the city, the state) and have adapted to the political requirements of living in such new social order. In Aeschylus tragedies, due to his reliance on the standards of the new political rule of law in Athens, this balance changed in favor of human interest and will in the new social order of the polis. Aeschylus is in search of justice whose fulfillment most deities do not welcome. Therefore, the suffering is imposed by deities on the man living in the sphere of the polis. In the polis the individual takes the responsibility of his life and intends to disseminate a new foundation for justice with recourse to his own rationality, obedience and will to resist the illegitimate demands of gods or other mythical figures. Therefore, Aeschylus’ works indicate a shift away from a tragic and mythical vision to the sphere of history and politics. That being so, Aeschylus’ application of tragic action is ruled out and the tragic action obtains a negative connotation. In these works, divinity and gods are not the exclusive source of validity and justice but rationality and man are also the standards based on which justice is evaluated. Accordingly, understanding Aeschylus’ tragedies without considering them in the context of history and politics will not be clarifying and thus acquiring this clarifying understanding involves the examination of political history of Athens and its evolutions. It suffices to ponder over this fact that Aeschylus’ tragedies were written concomitant with the domination of democracy. They affected and were affected by the new rule of law prevailing in the polis. As a result, the present article is aimed at examining Aeschylus’ tragedies as the oldest kind of tragedies handed down to us through delving into concepts such as the rule of law and justice. It is also to assess the political status and function of tragic action and hamartia in that particular context to elucidate Aeschylus’ understanding of the function and aim of tragedy, which is predicated upon peace and the rule of law. Thereby, the opposition between the rule of law and tragic action can also be investigated. To this end, it is required to refer to the original texts of the tragedies and to consider the concepts in their historical and political context. The result of this research reveals that having relied on the concept of law, Aeschylus’ tragedies have an anti-tragic aim.