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Sophocles' Electra

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Sophocles' Electra Sophocles’ Electra Dramatic action and important elements in the play, scene-by-scene Setting: Mycenae/Argos Background: 15-20 years ago, Agamemnon (here named as grandson of Pelops) was killed by his wife and lover Aegisthus (also grandson of Pelops). As a boy, Orestes, was evacuated by his sister Electra and the ‘Old Slave’ to Phocis, to the kingdom of Strophius (Agamemnon’s guest-friend and father of Pylades). Electra stayed in Mycenae, preserving her father’s memory and harbouring extreme hatred for her mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. She has a sister, Chrysothemis, who says that she accepts the situation. Prologue: 1- 85 (pp. 169-75) - Dawn at the palace of Atreus. Orestes, Pylades and the Old Slave arrive. Topography of wealthy Argos/Mycenae, and the bloody house of the Atreids. - The story of Orestes’ evacuation. ‘It is time to act!’ v. 22 - Apollo’s oracle at Delphi: Agamemnon was killed by deception; use deception (doloisi – cunning at p. 171 is a bit weak) to kill the murderers. - Orestes’ idea to send the Old Slave to the palace. Orestes and Pylades will arrive later with the urn containing the ‘ashes’ of Orestes. «Yes, often in the past I have known clever men dead in fiction but not dead; and then when they return home the honour they receive is all the greater» v. 62-4, p. 173 Orestes like Odysseus: return to house and riches - Electra is heard wailing. Old slave: “No time to lose”. Prologue: 86-120 (pp. 175-7) - Enter Electra, who addresses the light of day. - The endless lament, day and night, for the events of the past, and the deep hatred for the adulterers - Before the “father’s doors” Electra invokes the powers of the underworld praying for the return of Orestes and the revenge of her father’s killing. She is worn down by waiting all these years. Parodos (Choral entry ode): 121-250 (pp. 179-87) Enter chorus, 15 women native to Argos. Age and status unclear. 130 lines of song in a dialogic form (rare), where the heroine’s passion and strong will dominate - The chorus’ warm, almost motherly address to Electra (later on she addreses them as ‘sisters’); wish for equal punishment of killers. Electra and her ceaseless lamentation, again (121-36) - «But you will never raise up your father from the lake of Hades!». Electra mourns, comparing herself to mythical heroines Procne and Niobe, who mourn for their children (137-53) - Endless waiting for Electra (again) and her disappointment of Orestes: “Why, which of his messages does not end in disappointment? Always he feels the longing, but for all his longing he does not think fit to appear” (154-72) - Zeus’ order will be restored, says chorus. Do not harbour excessive anger (176). Electra’s loneliness (no parents, husband, nor children) (173-92) Parodos: 121-250 (pp. 179-87) - The chorus recalls the murder: «Cunning was the teacher, passion was the killer; horribly they brought into being a shape horrible, whether it was a god or a mortal who was the doer». Electra refers to Agamemnon’s murder as ‘feast’… Wish that the murderers will pay the same price (192-212) - Chorus pleads with her again to tone down her anger. “Put up with this! You cannot struggle against those in power!” Electra is fully conscious:«I know it well, my passion does not escape me!». Asks to be left alone to lament in anger (213-32) - Resists the chorus’ admonitions and says will not forget. “That would be the end of reverence and of the piety of all mortals” (233-250) First episode: 251-471 (pp. 189- 209) [Electra’s presence is dominant and joins prologue, parodos and first episode almost in one continuous act. Repetition is deliberate - not a dramatic flaw] - Only the change of metre to spoken iambic separates this part from the previous. - Electra in monologue, reflecting again on the past: «the sufferings of [my] father’s house, sufferings which I see by day and night always growing worse and not declining» - Turn to present: her mother, Aegisthus and the adulterers’ bed again. Clytemnestra’s monthly celebration of Agamemnon’s murder. - Her daily clashes with Clytemnestra, the attitude of Aegisthus. Her attitude: “When things are so, my friends, there can be no good sense or piety, but since things are bad, then inevitably one’s conduct must be bad also” - Her frustration from Orestes’ delays and postponements. (-323) [Compare the construction of the Sophoclean Electra’s inner world with that of the Aeschylean Electra] First episode: 251-471 (pp. 189- 209) Enter Chrysothemis with libations. - Her thoughts about Electra’s rights, and her contrasting views: «but if I am to live in freedom, I must obey those in power in everything» - Electra explains her perception of her duty towards the father: “I give pain to them, so that I do honour to the dead, if any pleasure can be felt where the dead are”. Chorus pleads to tone down her anger. - The threat to imprison Electra in underground dungeon. - Stichomythia and climax of clash between siblings (-404, p. 203) - Chrysothemis’ libations and the dream of Clytemnestra (p. 205, 410- ): Agamemnon comes back to ‘the light’. The staff is planted in the house’s hearth and a tree shades Mycenae. - Electra’s change of mood “My dear..”. The provenance of the dream. No libations from Clytemnestra to propitiate the dead – offerings to ask them to help avenge. (-471, p. 209) First stasimon: 472-515 (pp. 211-13) Electra remains on stage. “Revenge will come” – and the family’s background. - First stanza: the dream has been sent from Justice (Dike) and Agamemnon. - Second stanza: the Erinys is approaching menacingly. The adultery will be punished, and the dream will be fulfilled. - Epode: The story of Pelops, deception, the prize of a woman, a house (and wealth and power). Second episode (516-822, pp. 213- 39) - Clytemnestra enters with offerings: Clash with Electra. Dramatic impression of ‘one more clash in an endless series of clashes…’. Court-like tone (agon logon) - Clyt: the behaviour of Electra. Agamemnon’s guilt at Aulis. «Yes, Justice was his killer, not I alone» (528, p. 213) - Electra: the adulterers’ guilt. In defense of Agamemnon. «If we are to take a life for a life, you should die first, if you were to get what you deserve». Clytemnestra’s treatment of her children. Conclusion: «So far as that goes, proclaim me to all, whether you like to call me bad or loud-mouthed or full of shamelessness. For if I am an expert in such behaviour, I think I am no unworthy child of yours!» (-610, p. 221) Second episode (516-822, pp. 213- 39) - Chorus: “I see you breathing forth anger” (610) - Clytemnestra: Electra’s insolence - Electra «I am aware that my actions are wrong for my age and unlike my nature ... For shocking behaviour is taught by shocking things» (-621) - Electra at 628 (p. 223) “You are carried away into anger” - Climax of altercation – but neither woman goes. They remain in the same space. - Clytemnestra prays to Apollo about the dream (634-659). «If some persons are plotting to rob me of the wealth I now enjoy, do not allow it, but grant that I may always live a life unharmed, ruling the house of the Atreidae and this kingdom, living with the friends with whom I now live, enjoying prosperity …. » Second episode (516-822, pp. 213-39) - Old Slave enters: announces the death of Orestes. Electra is devastated. - The “messenger”’s false speech about Orestes’ death at the Delphic games: Orestes’ sweeping victory at start, then chariot contest and horrific accident. The funeral pyre and the urn with the ashes. (680-763) - Clytemnestra momentarily shocked: «Giving birth is a strange thing; even when they treat one badly, one does not hate one’s children»; bitterness but also relief: «He … swore to do terrible things, so that neither by night nor by day would sleep cover me, but from one moment to another I lived like one about to die.» - Electra’s mourning and new clash. Clytemnestra and the Old Slave exit into the house (803). - Absolute loneliness and devastation for Electra. “By this gate I shall let myself go, and without a friend waste away my life. In face of that, let any of those inside kill me … ” Kommos (dirge in dialogic form) instead of stasimon 823-70 (pp. 241- 47) - Electra continues to dominate the stage. She never leaves - Intense lyric dialogue/dirge. - Electra still resists the consolation and admonitions of the chorus. - The mythical example of Amphiaraos who was killed by deception but rules in the underworld. But Electra does not have anyone to avenge the injustice. - Dirge climaxes. Third episode (871-1057; pp. 247-65) - Chrysothemis enters at the moment of absolute despair. A stark contrast. Excitement about her findings, confidence for the return of Orestes. The evidence. - Electra resists again: «I have been pitying you for your folly all the while». Orestes is dead. Alternative interpretation of the offerings(«for dead Orestes»). - Electra’s plan to act. Suggestion for collaboration for adulterers’ murder. Their life now and the hope for a better life. - Chrysothemis declines («You are a woman, not a man; 997, p. 259»). The tyrants are so powerful that the sisters could only gain an ignoble death. Advice to restrain passion and yield to those in power. - Electra’s determination to act alone. Clash and passionate reaction. “I envy your good sense but I hate you for your cowardice” (1027, p. 261) Chrysothemis insists: «There are times when being right does one harm».
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