Sophocles, Electra
The date of this play is unknown. Its relation to Euripides' Electra is therefore also unknown, but it is a question of great interest to which you might return when both authors are more familiar.
Matricide and high spirits: in this play Sophocles "reverts to the epic view that the deed of Orestes is simply laudable, and therefore final" [Jebb]. Is Jebb right? Or are there some ironies he misses? If he is right, why this change in attitude to the murder? Why is the matricide presented as a "deed of unalloyed merit which brings the troubles of the house to an end"?
Read the story of Aegisthus in the Odyssey (appendix I of print version).
The Sophoclean Hero
The Sophoclean hero acts in a terrifying vacuum, a present which has no future to comfort and no past to guide, an isolation in time and space which imposes on the hero the full responsibility for his own action and its consequences. It is precisely this fact which makes possible the greatness of the Sophoclean heroes; the source of their action lies in them alone, nowhere else; the greatness of the action is theirs alone. Sophocles presents us for the first time with what we recognize as a "tragic hero": one who, unsupported by the gods and in the face of human opposition, makes a decision which springs from the deepest layer of his individual nature, his physis, and then, blindly, ferociously, heroically maintains that decision even to the point of self-destruction. Bernard Knox, The Heroic Temper, p. 5
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Questions and topics for Sophocles' Electra
1. Study the scenes between Clytemnestra and Electra. Notice any changes or expansion in the parts of each?
2. How is Electra's "heroic will" dramatized?
3. What is the point of the false report of Orestes' death beyond the obvious need for secrecy? Why the long and detailed fictitious account of the games and chariot race? [Notice Homeric coloring: compare to Iliad 23.]
4. Why is the order of the murders changed? Which murder is the more important? Is the play about matricide?
5. Think about the deceptions. Why does Electra let her sister go on so long about the discovery of the grave offerings? Why does Orestes let his sister mourn for so long?
6. Is the ending satisfying? Why are there no furies? Are there no furies? Furies [Erinyes] are mentioned in the play.
7. Is Electra a grand heroic figure? How does Orestes come off beside her?
8. Some themes:
- -moderation and the lack of it [sophron, phronousa]
- -mother and daughter
- -mother and father
- -the gods: which are most prominent
- -the power of the grave and of the chthonic (underground) powers
- -prayers, dream, offering
- -learning and teaching
- -like mother like daughter
- -changes in recognition scene (note father's signet ring)
- -irony: the knowledge gap
9. What is the purpose of Chrysothemis? Do we know Electra better because we have a sister to compare her with? Consider the irony of her discovery of Orestes' offerings.
10. How does Orestes' resolve compare to his namesake's in the Choephoroe?
11. What is Apollo's part in this play? How important is the oracle? Apollo is "the supreme arbiter of purity" whose purpose is to protect Orestes from the Erinyes. Does Sophocles overcome this difficulty or is the lack of penalty and with it purification and resolution part of the play's message? Is the ending satisfying?
12. Consider the references to the land of Argos, the "sight-seeing" at the beginning.