The plots of the three plays have many points in common; three that illustrate Electra’s character in each are 1) her reunion with Orestes, 2) her role in the murders of In Greek mythology, Electra Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, and 3) her reaction to the murders and their consequences. Throughout the stories, Electra is shown to be hopeful that Orestes will is the loyal daughter of return and vengeful toward Clytemnestra and Aegisthus (as well as abused by them); but she also takes on distinct characteristics in each one. Trojan War hero Agamemnon and his treacherous wife Euripides’ Sophocles’ Clytemnestra. When Aeschylus’ Introduction Agamemnon returns from Electra Electra the war, Clytemnestra and The Libation Bearers her new lover Aegisthus brutally murder him, and destine his son Orestes to avenge the murder. The three Electra plays— Aeschylus’ Electra is mild-mannered and This Electra is made practical and self- Here, Electra is passionate and ireful above Aeschylus' The Libation deferential. She grieves and struggles, but possessed by a life of hard work and frustrated all. Both her grief and hope are unending. Bearers or Choephori, maintains her poise. hope. Sophocles' Electra, and After a day of conflicting stories about Orestes’ When an old man recognizes Electra’s guest as Euripides' Electra—tell the When hopeful detective work leads to her death, Electra is nearly hysterical with joy story of Orestes' return from reunion with Orestes, she is happy and Orestes, she resists the temptation to believe when she is reunited with her brother; her exile and, with Electra's help, prayerful, and immediately transfers control it, but once convinced snaps to planning the flood of emotion nearly ruins the murder murder of Clytemnestra and of the prayer to Orestes. murders. plots. Aegisthus. Each play tells its After the siblings pray, Orestes dismisses When Orestes’ commitment to kill While Orestes kills her mother, Electra cheers own version of the story and Clytemnestra wavers, Electra not only imagines different Electras. Electra into the house, where she will keep him on and encourages brutality. When it is lookout. Electra expresses no disappointment strengthens his resolve but shares the sword time for Aegisthus to die, she denies him the at her detached relationship to the justice she with him as he takes her life. right to last words, insisting he be killed has awaited for so long. Immediately afterward, she feels intense immediately. Goals Below are selections from Electra’s initial remorse. Her suffering is deepened when she Neither sibling experiences consequences of • Compare and contrast prayer for Orestes to come home. Tony is again separated from her brother, but is the murders. Not even the Eumenides come 3 versions of the Electra Harrison’s translation is punchy and a bit soothed by her engagement in a favorable for Orestes, and the pair literally get away plays cryptic, while David Slavitt’s is polished and marriage. with murder. • Determine the Electra Motivation poignant. character constructed in Below are selections from Electra’s keening each play “Electra's a bondslave, and Orestes an over what she believes are Orestes’ ashes. • Find compelling exile./...I pray Orestes returns with luck in Ezra Pound’s translation is earthy, spare and translations of the three his life-lot/ and my life-lot unsullied, not rich. Anne Carson’s is clear and flowing. plays marred like my mother's,/ heart and hands “All that is left me/ my hope was Orestes/ blameless, unblemished by blood.” dust is returned to me/ in my hands nothing, Importance Harrison, p54 • Contributes to Dr. John dust that is all of him,/ flower that went Harvey's new translation “I am a servant here, a slave, and my forth.” Pound, of Sophocles' Electra brother/ roams the earth, a vagrant, alone p50 • Informs direction and and impoverished./...But Orestes may come,/ “If this were all you were, Orestes,/ how choreography of the new may reappear any time... And this is my could your memory/ fill my memory,/ how is translation prayer./ Grant it, father. Bring him home, it your soul fills my soul?/ I sent you out, I get • Enhances ability to soon, soon./ And keep me true and chaste—I you back:/ tell me/ how could the difference discuss the history and am not like my mother!” Slavitt, p76 variety of Electra plays be simply nothing?/ Look!/ You are nothing with cast and audience at_all.” Carson, p184 • Evaluate the 45 Conclusions translations available in The Next Step: the Stage • Assessed similarities and differences in M.D. Anderson Library This research allows us to: • Select a small group of plot lines Method • Place our production it in its artistic • Grasped constructions of Electra and elegant, interesting context dynamics between Electra and other translations for each play • Share outstanding, illuminating characters • Analyze the groups in translations with the cast • Discovered gripping translations of terms of style and content • Design and choreograph the Center for Aeschylus and Sophocles’ plays, but not of Creative Work’s Electra, Spring 2010 Euripides’ .