Electra

• Favorite Line

  • ​Electra:“The world’s turned bad, and so have I” (16).

 

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• Favorite Moment

  • After Clytemnestra explains her reasoning behind killing Agamemnon, Electra retaliates with a long list of her mother’s contradictions and misgivings. This monologue ends with Electra retorting, “If you think me wicked, arrogant, shameless — good. / That proves me worthy to be your breed” (26).  

  • When Electra reunites with Orestes she asks, “do I hold you in my arms” and he replies, “hold me there for ever” (49).

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• Most Important Line

  • Electra: “Oh, you’ve brought back the old sorrow, / Never hide it — nothing can heal it — never forget it” (49).

 

• Most Important Moment

  • Aegisthus demands, “Call Clytemnestra, if she’s in the house” to which leads to Orestes response, “She is right beside you — look” (58) causing Aegisthus to unveil the dead body of Clytemnestra and realize his demise is on its way.

 

• Positives

  • Electra enters lamenting, “Divine light, / Sweet air, /  Again hear / My pain” (10). This is a beautifully rhythmic sentiment that perfectly embodies the pain that Electra is feeling.

  • The play does an excellent job of juxtaposing the tragedy of dying at home verses being killed in war. This first appears when Electra cries, “My father’s dead. / He did not die in war./  He does not lie on a foreign shore. / Here, at home, / My mother’s hand turned red” (10). These words illustrates how unsafe a person can feel when a death happens at home. This is then later compared to Orestes supposed death overseas. Electra laments, “you died in exile, far from home, from your sister. / It was a sad death. I was not there. / I could not wash your lovely corpse with my hands” (45). These sentiments show both the horror of dying at war and at home. These paradoxically feelings towards death and life that fascinated the greeks are still completely universal in today’s society.

  • Dreams are often used as a sign of hope throughout the play. This is first seen when Electra states, “I hear he dreams he’ll come home” (12). This sentiment shows Orestes desire to return to Mycenae. This sentiment is reiterated when The Chorus cheers, “That dream’s destroyed my fears” (22) after hearing of Clytemnestra’s dream and deciding that it is a sign that Orestes will come home.   

  • Psychology often discusses how people who experience trauma, will consistently feel as if they are reliving that trauma. In addition, these victims may repeatedly find themselves in traumatic situations after the first instance of trauma occurs. This play illustrates this phenomenon clearly when Electra laments, “I know the hardness of my heart. / But as long as there is breath left in my body, / I will not change direction no matter how harmful… there is no end to my lamenting. / There never will be an end to my sorrow” (14).

  • Electra states, “If I dishonor — if I forget my father. / If a dead man is to turn to dirt and nothing” (14). This sentiment scratches at the idea that humans die twice; once when they stop breathing and once when they are forgotten by the living. This is a fascinating philosophy that is explored throughout Electra’s mourning process. 

  • The sibling dynamic is so clear between Electra, Chrysothemis, and Orestes before they even interact on stage. This occurs when The Chorus asks, “You’re brother — will he come or not?” and Electra replies, “He says he will come. He does none of the things he says he will do.” When The Chorus retorts, “A man takes his time when he’s to do a great deed” Electra counters, “I did not take my time when I saved him” (16). This interaction perfectly highlights Electra’s commitment to saving her brother’s life and her irritation at the fact that he has not come to revenge his father’s death. This dichotomy is so inherent to sibling relationships.  

  • Chrysothemis’ line “I must obey them in everything if I’m to be a free woman” (17) clearly illustrates the danger that Electra is putting herself in by mourning outside. In addition, it creates the sense that Electra is being watched.

  • Electra has a tendency to be wonderfully sarcastic. An example of this is when Chrysothemis asks, “You do not care to leave the life you lead now? and Electra retorts, “Yes, the life I lead now is wonderfully agreeable” (19).

  • Clytemnestra reveals her reasoning for killing Agamemnon when she asks Electra, “Why did he scarifies your sister to the gods?” (24). This question reveals that all of the homicide in this play comes from a place of lose and revenge. 

  • This play offers a fascinating insight to motherhood through Clytemnestra. This is seen when she ponders, “giving birth is strange. / You do not hate your children, no matter how they treat you.” (31).

  • After Chrysothemis leaves Electra and refuses to help her revenge their father’s death, The Chorus reflects on family dynamics by observing, “consider the birds in the air. / In their fragile nest they sustain / those who gave them life and pleasure” (42). This juxtaposition of animals and human families is fascinating considering how violent the people are in this play.  

  • This play does an excellent job featuring strong women. This is present in the fact that The Chorus is referred to as being female, the scenes between Electra and her mother, and the scenes between Electra and Chrysothemis.  

  • Orestes’ reveal to Electra that he is alive offers an incredible relief to an otherwise very heavy play. This moment begins when Orestes exclaims, “we don’t bury the living” (48). 

  • Orestes presents himself as a feminist when he tells Electra, “Woman can fight as well. / You know that from experience.” (49). This is a wonderful sentiment that is necessary to have in a world that deals so much with oppressed women.

 

• Negatives

  • The servant gives the audience a plethora of very important backstory in his first monologue. He states, “From here your father led the Greeks to Troy. / Here that poor demented creature Io, wandered. / There’s the market place called after Apollo. / Hera’s shrine, so famous, lies to your left. / This is Mycenae” (7). While this is all important information, it may be a lot for the audience to digest in the first few minutes, especially if they are not familiar with the story.

  • Electra is very much bound to a world that oppresses women. This is apparent when she cries, “I’m a childless woman who is melting away. / I have no man to protect me. / I live like a slave in my father’s house” (13). While it is important to explore the oppression Electra must be feeling given her situation, her desires outside of this oppression are never explicitly discussed. Furthermore, the idea of Electra needing/wanting a child and a man to protect her could have been fleshed out a bit more to make Electra seem more dimensional.

  • In order to make the plot clear, certain lines are only present for the purpose of exposition. An example of this is when The  Chorus sees Chrysothemis and states, “your full sister from the same father and same mother.” (17). While these lines may be necessary for an audience to follow the plot, it is difficult for them not to come off as presentational exposition. 

  • The Chorus will often refer to offstage characters in their longer speeches. An example of this, is when they state, “Pelops, long ago / You began this sorrow. / Thrown from his chariot / Martilus died, brought / Down by your deceit” (21). While audience in ancient Greece would have been familiar with this backstory, it may be harder for a modern audience to grasp the significance of these individuals.

  • Some excessive detail is given when the Servant is describing how Orestes died in the games. He muses, “The first was Achaen, the second a Spartan, Two came from Libya, skilled charioteers. Orestes came next” (39) and the list continues on. These details seems a bit excessive for a fabricated story.

  • Clytemnestra cries from offstage, “you have struck me” (55). While this is for the purpose of indicating her death, it feels a little too on the nose. 

 

• Questions

  • Orestes instructs, “We’ll spill wine and leave a lock of hair” (8). What is the religious significance behind this act?

  • The Chorus states, “God is still great in his heaven, and he sees everything.” (12). Why does The Chorus refer only to one seemingly omnipotent God as opposed to discussing the greek gods or naming a specific god from greek mythology? 

  • Electra describes her mother and Aegisthus when she states, “cattle are slaughtered, and they dance” (15). In this moment, is Electra referring to the scarifies her mother gives “to the gods that protect her” (15) or is she discussing the murders her mother and Aegisthus have committed?

  • Electra refers to Aegisthus as “a man letting his woman fight his battles” (16). Why does Electra see this as a bad thing? Furthermore, why does she proscribe to the idea that men have to be the ones to fight and wait for Orestes to return to kill Aegisthus?

  • Chrysothemis tells Electra that their father does not demand revenge. She suggests that if they comply with Aegisthus’ wishes their father “will forgive us this — I know” (20). How would Agamemnon feel about his daughters and son revenging his death?

  • Electra asks Chrysothemis “why are you carrying those offerings?” (20) to which Chrysothemis replies, “ For my father’s grave — my mother sent me with them” (20). What type of offerings would these be?

  • Clytemnestra rants, “Menelaus has two children. / They ought to have died, not mine. / Was it not for their father and mother that this war started?” (24). What are the exact circumstances of the war Clytemnestra is referring to?

  • The servant describes Clytemnestra as “she has the look of the queen” (28). What about Clytemnestra signifies this?

  • What is The Chorus referring to when they state, “A woman’s golden necklace brought down King Amphiaraus, / And now beneath the earth” (33)?

  • The Chorus states, “O voice that’s truly heaven sent” (42). In this instance, is heaven referring completely to a Christian idea or do ancient greek religions refer to a heaven?

  • Different types of verse are spoken throughout the play. A unique example of this is when Electra cries, “Pain — / Pain — / Pain — / Pain — / Pain — / You have destroyed me, my loved, loved brother, / Yes you have destroyed me” (45). What is the significance of this verse as well as the other types of verse present in the play?

  • Electra exclaims, “I swear by the Virgin” (49). In this instance, is McGuinness conflating Christianity and Greek mythology or is their a virgin within Greek mythology that Electra is referring to?

  • Electra exclaims, “I have seen the hand of heaven” (50) what is she referring to in this instance?

  • What happens to Chrysothemis at the end of the play? Do her siblings forgive her for not assisting in the murder of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus or do they seek revenge?

 

• Cracks/Threads

  • I grew up with two younger siblings. Tristan, my brother, is four years younger than me, while my sister, Ava is eight years younger. While they are both technically half siblings, I have always been extremely close to both of them. As a child and adolescent, I remember feeling extremely responsible for their upbringing. This sentiment only strengthened when my mother divorced my step-father (my siblings father) and all of a sudden, there was one less person around to enforce any type of parenting. As the years went on, my siblings and I all developed vastly different relationships with our parents, especially in light of their divorce. In many ways, this echoes a far less violent version of Electra’s relationship with her siblings. While Electra loves her siblings more than anything, it is so clear how their family dynamic is strained based on where their allegiances lie with their parents after a traumatic event. While the story of Electra is about murder and vengeance, it is also about love and loyalty, particularly the love between siblings and how those bonds can be strained, but are never truly broken. This sentiment allows me to dive into the play, and place it within a frame of my reality, that is surrounded by the loving bonds I have with my siblings.

 

• Audio and Visual Imagery

  • The Servant refers to “blood-red Mycenae’” (7). This image creates the feeling of violence that is present within the setting of the play.

  • The Servant illustrates the time of day with the imagery in his opening speech. He states, “The day is breaking to the birds’ voices. / The stars have shrunk. / The night is nothing” (7). This sentiment makes it clear that the play begins at dawn.

  • Orestes protests, “I’ve heard of heroes in the past, / they were presumed dead and when they rose again, / The honour given to them was all the greater” (9). This image of heroes rising from the dead reoccurs throughout the play including when Chrysothemis asks, “How can I make the dead rise?” (38). This image is fascinating because it not only has roots in greek mythology that Sophocles is referring to, but it evokes Christian images of Jesus, which would have been present in Frank McGuinness’ Irish culture in the 1990s. 

  • At the beginning of the play, Orestes hears a noise and wonders, “Electra — could it be her weeping?” (9). This sound indicates Electra’s state of being before she is even seen on stage.

  • Electra mourns, “In this house of ghosts / I lie alone” (10). This image clearly highlights how Electra is so preoccupied with mourning the death or her father, that she has forsaken the rest of her family who lives in the house, creating a feeling of desperate loneliness.

  • Electra first explains how Agamemnon died when she states, “Adulterer, she and Aegisthus,/Split him open with an axe / The tree fell” (10) this method of murderer evokes exactly how violent the nature of this story is. Furthermore, by comparing her father to a tree, Electra is highlighting the security her father brought her.

  • Electra compares her sorrow to that of a nightingale when she states, “I will be like the poor nightingale / Who killed her young, / The sorrow raped her heart. / That is the song I will spill” (11). This idea gets repeated by The Chorus when they state, “She weeps for her poor father / like a bird who has lost its child” (43). This comparison gives a sense of the tonality and devastation to Electra’s mourning. 

  • Electra often uses nature imagery to illuminate the pain she feels. This first occurs when Electra protests, “It’s a cruel child that forgets a father’s cruel end. / I’d sooner turn to stone and my tears to rivers” (12). This sentiment shows Electra’s commitment to mourning her father as well as her disengagement from the rest of her life. Her use of nature imagery to highlight her pain continues later in the play when she suspects that Orestes has died and she states, “My life is a river. / It floods with grief. / And it never stops, this flood” (34). 

  • Electra remarks that Aegisthus “wears every stitch my father wore. He pours wine on the same fire where he was murdered, And the worst — what is worst — / I see my father’s bed, and his killer lies beside my mother” (15). This sentiment shows exactly how Aegisthus is usurping the throne. 

  • Chrysothemis explains to Electra, “They will lock you away from the light of the sun if you don’t stop lamenting. / You will be taken away from this country. / You will be buried alive in a dungeon and left to mourn there” (18). The image of this punishment is so potent because it uses the image of lacking sunlight, as a means to describe the punishment that awaits Electra.

  • Chrysothemis urges Electra to “bow the knee to those in power” (19) this is both historically a symbol of respect for authority and in the instance of Electra, an admitted defeat. This is why she replies to Chrysothemis’ plea with “you can bow the knee, I will stand upright” (19) proving that she will not honor Aegisthus’ rule. 

  • The images present in Clytemnestra’s dream not only creates  resurrection imagery, but also foreshadows the return of Orestes to revenge his father. Chrysothemis retells this dream to Electra stating, “they say our father came back to life. He returned to the light of day” (21).  While Agamemnon does not actually come back to life, the fear that is present in this dream for Clytemnestra is realized when Orestes returns to revenge his father’s death and Electra exclaims, “On the one day I’ve seen you dead and alive… If my father came back from the dead, I’d believe it” (50). 

  • Nature is often personified in this text. An example of this is when Chrysothemis tells Electra that their mother “told her dream to the Sun” which leads Electra to tell Chrysothemis to “give (Clytemnestra’s offers) to the wind” (21). This establishes parts of nature as both sacred gods and actual elements. 

  • Electra describes her mother’s murder of her father when she states, “She cut his corpse to ribbons. / And she wiped the blood off her hands on his head” (21). This sentiment shows not only the violent nature of Agamemnon’s death, but the ease Clytemnestra had with committing the crime.   

  • The Chorus describes Electra’s plan for revenge when they state, “she will plant her fatal kiss on the lips of your enemies” (22). This line evokes images of Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss.

  • Electra retells the story of her sisters death when she states, “They say my father was hunting in a grove sacred to the divinity… when he hilled the animal, (Artemis) heard him boasting… A scarifies had to be made: his daughter for the beast” (25). This monologue clearly illustrates the circumstances of Electra’s sister’s death.

  • The Chorus uses the elements to describe individual’s emotions. An example of this is when they describe Electra as “There’s a fire in her head” (26).

  • While Sophocles may not have had written stage directions, McGuinness has added certain sounds to highlight a characters emotions. An example of this is when “Electra howls” (29) after being told that Orestes has died. This occurs again later when “The Chorus howls with pain” (35).

  • Electra places all the pain she feels over Orestes supposed death in her heart when she rants, “don’t breathe a word of hope that he who’s dead is still alive. / do that and you dance on my breaking heart.” (33). This image clearly illustrates the pain Electra feels.

  • Chrysothemis describes, “ I approached my father’s grave, there were streams of milk flowing, / And round the urn a garland of every kind of flower” (36). This image is significant because it alerts Chrysothemis to the fact that Orestes has visit the grave of their father.

  • Oreste’s discusses Electra’s disheveled nature when he tells her “Your beauty has been broken and wickedly disfigured” (46). This highlights both the physical and emotional torment Electra has suffered and is now displaying. 

  • Emotional vocalizations are used to signify joy, in addition to the pain the characters feel. This happens with Orestes reveals his identity and “Electra gives a cry of joy, matched by Orestes” (49). This auditory moment gives such a clear stage picture of a joyous reunion. 

  • McGuinness calls for “Clytemnestra cries from within the palace” (54) as an auditory indicator that Orestes attack has begun.

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• Concretes

  • When The Chorus sees Chrysothemis they observe, “She’s carrying offerings from the house to give to the dead” (17). It is important to see Chrysothemis with these offerings to demonstrate that she too is mourning the lose of her father. 

  • Electra instructs Chrysothemis to “Go to our father’s grave and cut a lock from your hair. / Take this tangled one from my unhappy head. / It’s very little, but it’s all I have” (21). This not only reiterates the significance of placing hair at a loved one’s grave, but illustrates the disheveled state Electra must be in, by having her be able to pull out a patch of her hair. Electra then goes on to continue to offer “my belt too, It’s a poor thing, but give them to him” (22). These offerings are significant because it again symbolizes how poor Electra is. 

  • While in disguise, Orestes tells Electra “He’s dead. / This small urn — it contains all that’s left of him” (44). The presents of this urn is necessary in order for Orestes to maintain the illusion to Electra that he is dead.

  • Orestes uses his “father’s signet ring” (48) to prove who he is to Electra. This is especially important considering Electra cannot recognize him until this point.

  • “A shrouded corpse” is needed in order to reveal Cltemnestra’s death or Aegisthus when he “lifts the covering” (58) expecting to see Orestes and is instead faced with the corpse of Clytemnestra. 

  • As Orestes exits the house, the chorus yells, “Look — their hands are stained” (56). This signifies that Oreste’s should have blood on his hands in order to show that he has murdered Clytemnestra. 

 

• Summary

  • The story of Electra embodies the history of ancient greek mythology and legends, while still holding relevance to modern day society. While Electra tells the fantastical myth of a king who is murdered by his wife and their children who seek revenge, the play also holds such universal themes of grief, lose, trauma, love and family. These themes that are deeply imbedded in classical greek plays are what makes greek drama so universal, despite the constant references to gods and cities that have long since been forgotten. It is through plays like Electra, that modern audiences can deal with these trauma through the experience of catharsis that greek theater provides.       

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