Electra

By Sophocles

One of the lesser known plays of the Greek tragedian Sophocles, "Electra" tells the tale of a young daughter's revenge for her father's death. Electra is one of the daughters of Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was killed by his wife's lover, and Electra wishes to avenge Agamemnon with the help of her twin brother Orestes. When she receives word that he is dead, Electra laments and fears she will not be able to avenge her father. When the man delivering her brother's ashes arrives, however, secrets are uncovered and Agamemnon's killers feel the full weight of the grieving children's revenge.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Digireads.com Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781420936667

Sophocles

Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than or contemporary with those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides.

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ELECTRA

BY SOPHOCLES

TRANSLATED BY LEWIS CAMPBELL

A Digireads.com Book

Digireads.com Publishing

Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-3312-3

Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-3666-7

This edition copyright © 2012

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CONTENTS

THE PERSONS

ELECTRA

ELECTRA

THE PERSONS

AN OLD MAN, formerly one of the retainers of Agamemnon

ORESTES, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra

ELECTRA, sister of Orestes

CHORUS of Argive Women

CHRYSOTHEMIS, sister of Orestes and Electra

CLYTEMNESTRA

AEGISTHUS

PYLADES appears with ORESTES, but does not speak.

SCENE. Mycenae: before the palace of the Pelopidae.

Agamemnon on his return from Troy, had been murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her paramour Aegisthus, who had usurped the Mycenean throne. Orestes, then a child, had been rescued by his sister Electra, and sent into Phocis with the one servant who remained faithful to his old master. The son of Agamemnon now returns, being of a full age, accompanied by this same attendant and his friend Pylades, with whom he has already concerted a plan for taking vengeance on his father's murderers, in obedience to the command of Apollo.

Orestes had been received in Phocis by Strophius, his father's friend. Another Phocian prince, named Phanoteus, was a friend of Aegisthus.

ELECTRA

[ORESTES and the OLD MAN—PYLADES is present]

OLD MAN. Son of the king who led the Achaean host

Erewhile beleaguering Troy, 'tis thine to day

To see around thee what through many a year

Thy forward spirit hath sighed for. Argolis

Lies here before us, hallowed as the scene

Of Io's wildering pain: yonder, the mart

Named from the wolf-slaying God,{1} and there, to our left,

Hera's famed temple. For we reach the bourn

Of far renowned Mycenae, rich in gold

And Pelops' fatal roofs before us rise,

Haunted with many horrors, whence my hand,

Thy murdered sire then lying in his gore,

Received thee from thy sister, and removed

Where I have kept thee safe and nourished thee

To this bright manhood thou dost bear, to be

The avenger of thy father's bloody death.

Wherefore, Orestes, and thou, Pylades,

Dearest of friends, though from a foreign soil,

Prepare your enterprise with speed. Dark night

Is vanished with her stars, and day's bright orb

Hath waked the birds of morn into full song.

Now, then, ere foot of man go forth, ye two

Knit counsels. 'Tis no time for shy delay:

The very moment for your act is come.

ORESTES. Kind faithful friend, how well thou mak'st appear

Thy constancy in service to our house!

As some good steed, aged, but nobly bred,

Slacks not his spirit in the day of war,

But points his ears to the fray, even so dost thou

Press on and urge thy master in the van.

Hear, then, our purpose, and if aught thy mind,

Keenly attent, discerns of weak or crude

In this I now set forth, admonish me.

I, when I visited the Pythian shrine

Oracular, that I might learn whereby

To punish home the murderers of my sire,

Had word from Phoebus which you straight shall hear:

'No shielded host, but thine own craft, O King!

The righteous death-blow to thine arm shall bring.'

Then, since the will of Heaven is so revealed,

Go thou within, when Opportunity

Shall marshal thee the way, and gathering all

Their business, bring us certain cognizance.

Age and long absence are a safe disguise;

They never will suspect thee who thou art.

And let thy tale be that another land,

Phocis, hath sent thee forth, and Phanoteus,

Than whom they have no mightier help in war.

Then, prefaced with an oath, declare thy news,

Orestes' death by dire mischance, down-rolled

From wheel-borne chariot in the Pythian course.

So let the fable be devised; while we,

As Phoebus ordered, with luxuriant locks

Shorn from our brows, and fair libations, crown

My father's

[March Delgado · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

August's Alibrate challenge, reading an unusual genre, completed.
I don't know why I don't read more theater; I've read two tragedies by Sophocles, and I enjoyed them very much. Revenge, deceit—even though so many years have passed—are still very much relevant. It can be read in one go, the characters, names aside, are easy to follow, and the plot is simple but very powerful. Highly recommended. (Translated from Spanish)

[Alejo..s · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If Oedipus Rex deals with the special relationship that Oedipus has with his mother, Electra expresses her love for her father through a longing lived for justice. There are also similarities with Antigone, in both cases there are two sisters who think and act oppositely, representing a different system of thought.

The context in which the play unfolds is at the end of the Trojan War, as the protagonists return to their homes. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and commander of the Greek troops, returns to his throne and home. His wife, Clytemnestra, with the help of her lover, Aegisthus, treacherously murders him. She takes over the throne and lives with her new companion. It was a way of avenging Agamemnon's sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia, to the gods over ten years earlier, to obtain favorable winds and reach Troy.

This composition was written around 418 BC, without knowledge of the exact year of its premiere. The conflict is presented to us from the beginning as there is an unavenged murder of Agamemnon, and a vengeance is demanded to appease the spirit of the dead and restore his honor. From this structure, Sophocles introduces us to the dark realm of the dead and the infernal deities such as Hades and his wife Persephone, the Furies known as Erinyes or Eumenides, and the infernal Hermes who will guide Orestes in achieving his goal of avenging Agamemnon's death. We find ourselves in the perfect place for revenge; how will it develop? Sophocles represents the moment of greatest splendor of Athenian society in the second half of the 5th century BC.

Although twenty-five centuries separate us from that society, this work, as a historical document, reveals that humanity had certain needs, which we still require today: inherent values of justice and equality. This tragedy has a structure that will serve as a model for universal theater concerning the division of the plot, being a template to follow. (Translated from Spanish)