Justice, The Necession Of Justice In Ovid's Metamorphosis

Oedipus is one character who responds to injustice from the “Oedipus Plays,” particularly in “Oedipus Rex.” The plague is put on his kingdom due to the death of the King. He did this response to this injustice by going on a journey to discover the truth and lift the curse from the city of Thebes. Oedipus is appalled by the injustice occurring, and succeeds on his journey for justice which was highly significant.

The pursuit of justice is an endeavor that many find to be challenging and a quest itself, as one will come across various trials and complications that may stop them in their pursuit or may mislead them. As humans, we find moral correctness and righteousness a very appealing state to be in, as justice will act as a platform to satisfy the desire for this correctness. In Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, we meet our miserable anti-hero, Oedipus, in his pursuit for truth and righting the wrong of the plague that is affecting his people of Thebes. As he makes efforts to solve this problem, he comes to find out that he is the source of the issue, thus exposing the tragic flaw of Oedipus and effectively making this play a very effective Greek tragedy. This pursuit of righteousness ends up being the downfall of Oedipus. In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex, Oedipus pursues justice through his realization of his past, his interactions with various characters in the play, and comes to understand more of justice in his situation through his reactions to adversity in this play, in order to portray a questionably successful pursuit of justice.

Justice in our times is almost completely different from what the ancient Greeks considered as justice. Justice, today can be defined as the quality of being just, the principle of moral rightness. In the ancient Greek era and most certainly during the time when the story of the Odyssey happened; Justice was frequently instantaneous and severe, almost unswerving. Odysseus is sometimes seen as being the one carrying out justice or being the one affected by justice. In the Odyssey, we see justice as revenge, and areas in which we can use to say that Odysseus is a just man.

A wronged woman gone violent in her grief and madness—Aeneas and Dido or Jason and Medea

Justice is a very important ruling power for both gods and mortals. For instance, in Sophocles' tragedy, Antigone,

Retribution is a monster of appetite, eternally bloodthirsty and never filled. Rage, resentment and envy does not change the heart of others. A massive success is the best revenge for a woman. It is the only way to get back at someone for a pain they have caused. In Euripides’ Medea and Ovid’s’ Metamorphoses, Medea and Juno exhibit vengeance to defend their dignity.

Even in today’s time, there is much controversy in the severity of punishments issued to law-breaking citizens. There is much disagreement when it comes to the offer of a death penalty, as some view it as fair justice and others see it as constitutionally banned cruelty. A similar theme is touched upon in “The Odyssey” when Odysseus orders that the suitors and all involved with the suitors be killed. However, based on the time period, the suitors’ plan, and the women’s involvement in this plan, Odysseus’ route of punishment is justified.

Within The Eumenides by Aeschylus, one of the main themes is Justice. Justice is a virtue perfecting the will, which enables one to give others their due. Justice involves punishing actions that are wrong and defending what is right. According to the play, justice is essential for order in society, for everyone must be given their due. Without justice, there would be a lack of order and peace.

Oedipus Rex is a form of literature that teaches life’s simplest lessons that people have trouble accepting today; the truth will always find its way out. Oedipus was just an ordinary man, raised by who he thought were his real parents, was strong and clever, saved the city of Thebes from the Sphinx and became the king. Though Oedipus might’ve seemed like a hero at first, accusations were made against him about the murder of King Lauis and that’s where everything unraveled. No matter how hesitant and neglective he was discovering the truth, it all started making sense to him. Oedipus had no idea he married his own mother and had kids with her as well. However, Jocasta thought she could outsmart the prophecy by sending Oedipus to his death, as a baby, but the messenger and the Shepherd saved him and Oedipus’s destiny had yet to come true. This proves that one cannot stop something from happening, and cannot hide from the truth

Contrary to many men who believe that a man must be strong and not show a woman his tenderness, Ovid shares his heart, saying, “do not think it a shame to suffer her blows or her curses; do not think it a shame, stooping, to kiss her feet” (Art 2. 522-553) . This is simply an outstanding statement, as it serves to show the true emotion and character of Ovid. This statement cannot be taken lightly

At first glance, Tales from Ovid appears just to be a compilation of disturbing narratives. It is as if Ted Hughes, finding nothing better to do, decided to try his hand at awfully vivid writing. There doesn't seem to be any clear pattern in the stories. But maybe we are searching a bit too deep for meaning. Reading Ovid is about accepting the terrible things that could happen and do happen.

In one word, the author Ovid describes the overall content and theme of his poem with the word “Metamorphoses” in the title. Some relative synonyms of this word among others are; altar, change, mutate, develop, and reshape (metamorphose). But Ovid goes further to describe the theme within the first two lines of the poem.

The concept of justice is manifested through the three plays of Aeschylus' Oresteia. The old tradition of justice, the private blood feud, caused an ungoverned succession of violent acts that spiralled uncontrollably. Aegisthus, Clytemnestra's lover, is introduced in Agamemnon; he desires vengeance for the plot contrived by Agamemnon's father (Ag: 1605-1611).1 Neither Agamemnon nor Aegisthus took part in this "plot" and yet as the chorus explains (Ag: 755-6)

Ovid's "Metamorphoses" is sometimes argued as a non-epic as well as a true epic. It is mainly viewed as a non-epic because Ovid's subject matter is far from the heroic themes of the "Illiad", "Odyssey", and the "Aeneid" (Keith 237). Ovid was different and was motivated to push the epic beyond its previous boundaries (Ovid). Perhaps in hopes to confirm the structure of his work, Ovid declares that he will undertake "one continuous song in many thousands of verses" (Keith 238-239). Ovid's wording here is a self-conscious declaration that he is going to write in the epic mode.

Transformations from one shape or form into another are the central theme in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The popularity and timelessness of this work stems from the manner of story telling. Ovid takes stories relevant to his culture and time period, and weaves them together into one work with a connecting theme of transformation throughout. The thread of humor that runs through Metamorphoses is consistent with the satire and commentary of the work. The theme is presented in the opening lines of Metamorphoses, where the poet invokes the gods, who are responsible for the changes, to look favorably on his efforts to compose. The changes are of many kinds: from human to animal, animal to human, thing to