Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews February 6, 2023 January 30, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Jupiter is Orestes's most obvious opponent. He creates the moral systems intended to order human action. By inspiring fear in his subjects and by showing them signs, Jupiter hopes to force them to act in the way he wants. There is only one flaw in this design: Jupiter can't actually force anyone to do anything. Only human beings can decide whether or not they will follow Jupiter's wishes; his goal, then, is to make sure that they do not realize that they have this freedom to decide for themselves. Since Orestes is the only person in the play who understands what it means to be free, i.e., to have the ability to choose for oneself instead of doing what one is told, he is the clearest threat to Jupiter's reign. Jupiter's character does not develop in the course of the play. Because he is a god rather than a human being, he does not have the ability to change over time. Jupiter is not really a person: he is an image that people keep in their minds. He must always present the same image of himself to human beings: the image of a supreme judge to be feared and obeyed.
The character of Jupiter stands for all systems of political or moral authority. By forcing rules for action onto people, these systems attempt to deprive human beings of their power to act freely. Sartre cleverly interprets farce and melodrama into his presentation of Jupiter. Jupiter's tricks of making flies fall down and his ability to move stones appear fairly silly: he raises his arm and speaks nonsense. Sartre wants us to realize that institutions that seek to limit human freedom are only images that maintain their power because human beings believe in them. What lies behind the image isn't power at all; the power is contained in the value we ourselves assign to the image. The comical way in which Jupiter carries out his magic tricks and the melodrama with which he gives his orders show us one thing: what lies behind all moral domination is farce.
Please wait while we process your payment