''Electra,'' ''Elektra, or The Electra'' ( grc, ΗΛΕΚΤΡΑ, ''Ēlektra'') is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...

. Its date is not known, but various stylistic similarities with the '' Philoctetes'' (409 BC) and the ''

Oedipus at Colonus ''Oedipus at Colonus'' (also ''Oedipus Coloneus''; grc, Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, ''Oidipous epi Kolōnōi'') is the last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's ...

'' (401 BC) lead scholars to suppose that it was written towards the end of Sophocles' career. Jebb dates it between 420 BC and 414 BC. Set in the city of

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

a few years after the

Trojan War In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has ...

, the play tells of a bitter struggle for justice by Electra and her brother

Orestes In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; grc-gre, Ὀρέστης ) was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, and the brother of Electra. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness an ...

for the murder of their father

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husb ...

Clytemnestra Clytemnestra (; grc-gre, Κλυταιμνήστρα, ''Klytaimnḗstrā'', ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the twin sister of Helen of Troy. In Aeschylus' '' Oresteia'', she murders Agamemnon – said by E ...

and their stepfather

Aegisthus Aegisthus (; grc, Αἴγισθος; also transliterated as Aigisthos, ) was a figure in Greek mythology. Aegisthus is known from two primary sources: the first is Homer's '' Odyssey'', believed to have been first written down by Homer at th ...

. When King

returns from the

, his wife

(who has taken Agamemnon's cousin

as a lover) kills him. Clytemnestra believes the murder was justified, since Agamemnon had sacrificed their daughter

Iphigenia In Greek mythology, Iphigenia (; grc, Ἰφιγένεια, , ) was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus a princess of Mycenae. In the story, Agamemnon offends the goddess Artemis on his way to the Trojan War by hunting ...

before the war, as commanded by the gods. Electra, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, rescued her younger brother

from her mother by sending him to Strophius of

Phocis Phocis ( el, Φωκίδα ; grc, Φωκίς) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. It stretches from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Var ...

. The play begins years later when Orestes has returned as a grown man with a plot for revenge, as well as to claim the throne.

Storyline

arrives with his friend

Pylades In Greek mythology, Pylades (; Ancient Greek: Πυλάδης) was a Phocian prince as the son of King Strophius and Anaxibia who is the daughter of Atreus and sister of Agamemnon and Menelaus. He is mostly known for his relationship with his cou ...

, son of Strophius, and a pedagogue, i.e. tutor (an old attendant of Orestes, who took him from Electra to Strophius). Their plan is to have the tutor announce that Orestes has died in a chariot race, and that two men (really Orestes and Pylades) are arriving shortly to deliver an urn with his remains. Meanwhile, Electra continues to mourn the death of her father Agamemnon, holding her mother

responsible for his murder. When Electra is told of the death of Orestes her grief is doubled, but is to be short-lived. After a choral ode, Orestes arrives carrying the urn supposedly containing his ashes. He does not recognize Electra, nor she him. He gives her the urn and she delivers a moving lament over it, unaware that her brother is in fact standing alive next to her. Now realizing the truth, Orestes reveals his identity to his emotional sister. She is overjoyed that he is alive, but in their excitement they nearly reveal his identity, and the tutor comes out from the palace to urge them on. Orestes and Pylades enter the house and slay Clytemnestra. As Aegisthus returns home, they quickly put her corpse under a sheet and present it to him as the body of Orestes. He lifts the veil to discover who it really is, and Orestes then reveals himself. They escort Aegisthus off set to be killed at the hearth, the same location Agamemnon was slain. The play ends here, before the death of Aegisthus is announced.

Similar works

The story of Orestes' revenge was a popular subject in Greek tragedies. *There are surviving versions by all three of the great Athenian tragedians: **''The Libation Bearers'' (458 BC), in the Oresteia Trilogy by

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

** ''Electra'' (Euripides play), a play by

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

, probably in the mid 410s BC, likely before 413 BC, that tells a very different version of this same basic story from Sophocles. **''Electra'' (Sophocles play) * The story was also told at the end of the lost epic ''

Nostoi The ''Nostoi'' ( el, Νόστοι, ''Nostoi'', "Returns"), also known as ''Returns'' or ''Returns of the Greeks'', is a lost epic of ancient Greek literature. It was one of the Epic Cycle, that is, the Trojan cycle, which told the entire history ...

'' (also known as ''Returns'' or ''Returns of the Greeks'') * The events are also brought up in Homer's ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major Ancient Greek literature, ancient Greek Epic poetry, epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by moder ...

Reception

Roman writer

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...

considered ''Electra'' to be a masterpiece, and the work is also viewed favorably among modern critics and scholars. In ''The Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama'',

John Gassner John Waldhorn Gassner (January 30, 1903 – April 2, 1967) was a Hungarian-born American theatre historian, critic, educator, and anthologist. Early life and education At birth in the town of Sighetu Marmației, Máramarossziget, Hungary (today ...

and Edward Quinn argued that its "simple device of delaying the recognition between brother and sister produces a series of brilliant scenes which display Electra's heroic resolution under constant attack." Of the titular character,

Edith Hall Edith Hall, (born 1959) is a British scholar of classics, specialising in ancient Greek literature and cultural history, and professor in the Department of Classics and Centre for Hellenic Studies at King's College, London. She is a Fellow o ...

also wrote, "Sophocles certainly found an effective dramatic vehicle in this remarkable figure, driven by deprivation and cruelty into near-psychotic extremes of behavior; no other character in his extant dramas dominates the stage to such an extent." L.A. Post noted that the play was "unique among Greek tragedies for its emphasis on action."

Commentaries

* Davies, Gilbert Austin, 1908 (abridged from the larger edition of

Richard Claverhouse Jebb Sir Richard Claverhouse Jebb (27 August 1841 – 9 December 1905) was a British classical scholar. Life Jebb was born in Dundee, Scotland. His father Robert was a well-known Irish barrister; his mother was Emily Harriet Horsley, daughter of t ...

) * *

Translations

* Lewis Campbell, 1883 – verse * Richard C. Jebb, 1894 – prose
full text
* Francis Storr, 1912 – verse *

Francis Fergusson Francis Fergusson (1904–1986) was a Harvard and Oxford-educated teacher and critic, a theorist of drama and mythology who wrote ''The Idea of a Theater'', (Princeton, 1949) arguably the best and most influential book about drama written by an Am ...

, 1938 – verse * E.F. Watling 1953 – prose * David Grene, 1957 – verse * H. D. F. Kitto, 1962 – verse * J. H. Kells, 1973 – verse (?) * Kenneth McLeish, 1979 – verse *

Frank McGuinness Professor Frank McGuinness (born 1953) is an Irish writer. As well as his own plays, which include '' The Factory Girls'', ''Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme'', ''Someone Who'll Watch Over Me'' and ''Dolly West's Kitchen'', ...

, 1997 – verse * Henry Taylor, 1998 – verse * Anne Carson, 2001 – verse * Jenny March, 2001 – prose (acting edition) * Tom McGrath, 2003 – prose; full text * M. MacDonald and J. M. Walton, 2004 – verse * G. Theodoridis, 2006 – prose
full text
* Eric Dugdale, 2008 – verse (acting edition) * Timberlake Wertenbaker, 2009 * Nick Payne, 2011 *

Mary Lefkowitz Mary R. Lefkowitz (born April 30, 1935) is an American scholar of Classics. She is the Professor Emerita of Classical Studies at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, where she previously worked from 1959 to 2005. She has published ten b ...

, 2016 - verse * Ian C. Johnston, 2017 – verse
full text

Adaptations

* ''Elektra'' (play), a 1903 adaptation by Hugo von Hofmannsthal * ''Elektra'', Op. 58 (opera), a 1909 one-act opera by Richard Strauss * ''Elektra: A Play by

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

and Rudd Fleming'', written in 1949, published 1989 by

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial su ...

* ''

Elektra (2010 film) ''Elektra'' is a 2010 Malayalam psychological drama film co-written and directed by Shyamaprasad, starring Nayanthara, Manisha Koirala, Prakash Raj, Biju Menon, and Skanda Ashok. It was produced by N. B. Vindhyan, who also produced Shyamaprasad ...

'', a 2010 Malayalam psychological drama film co-written and directed by Shyamaprasad

References

External links

*
Sophocles' Electra at Perseus Digital Library
* {{Authority control Plays by Sophocles Mythology of Argolis Trojan War literature Plays set in ancient Greece Plays adapted into operas Plays based on classical mythology