English 2 Lesson 55: How does the view of ethical cause and effect in history in Works and Days compare with the furies’ view in The Eumenides?

There’s a major difference when it comes to the harshness of the 2 poems in ‘Works and Days‘ and ‘The Eumenides’.

In the poem ‘Works and Days’ the Greek poet Hesiod dedicated it to his brother Perses. Perses had taken Hesiod’s part of inheritance unfairly. This started when he got his share and wanted more, so he went to the court to attempt at stealing Hesiod’s part. In the end Perses won the case by bribing the judges. This poem was written to convince him to return the inheritance back to him. He didn’t just try to convince he also tried to teach him the ways how the culture works. Works and Days is a poem that is more reality based rather then The Eumenides. The Eumenides is more of a dramatic tragedy that gets the message to us in a harsh way.

The furies in the Eumenides demanded justice for those who kill their own mothers. They are the seekers of revenge and won’t let anyone get in their way. They will make sure that person will get what he deserved. On the other hand Hesiod was not only trying to convinced Perses to return what was rightfully his, but he explained to him that through hard work his part of the share will naturally come to him. The things explained in Works and Days tells us of the things we should do to live a prosperous life. Even today if the people follow some of his good moral ways of living virtuously, then we too can live a prosperous life.

Speaking of cause and effect, in Works and Days, if you are good and you do your part of the work (cause) then you will be rewarded for what is rightfully yours (effect). If you are lazy and you procrastinate to do any kind of work (cause), then don’t expect for money to just come flying at you (effect) it doesn’t work like that. Most of the poem is about Hesiod giving advice to Perses about the culture of working hard as a farmer.

In The Eumenides, if you were to just live your life not interfering with what already happened (cause), then you wouldn’t have to face any consequences (effect) let alone any serious ones. If you did something that’s against the law, the moral law (cause), then you are to suffer serious consequences (effect). The furies wanted that justice to be placed upon those who went against their law. They wanted revenge and restoration.

That’s about all for this essay, I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on this topic. Have an amazing rest of your day. I’ll post more soon.

(P.S. Does anyone know how this assignment was supposed to be done? Because on the day before, Gary north said 250 words essay for this topic, but then on review day the next day he said write a 500 word essay on the same topic. I’m a little bit confused so I just wrote this essay as I usually do with 500, can someone tell me what I was supposed to do? Any help would be very much appreciated!)