Electra
Sophoclesc. 410 BCESophocles wrote a revenge tragedy that strips heroism down to one burning obsession: a daughter's need to avenge her murdered father.
Read this if you…
- want to Finish out all of Sophocles
- liked the Oresteia extended universe and want more
Skip this if you…
- haven't already read oedipus to decide if you like Sophocles
Why It Matters
Sophocles wrote a revenge tragedy that strips heroism down to one burning obsession: a daughter's need to avenge her murdered father. Electra's refusal to move on, to forgive, to be reasonable makes her one of the most unsettling characters in Greek drama. The play fed straight into O'Neill, Sartre, and every modern story about grief curdling into rage.
The 
Take
Solid telling of Orestes revenge from point of view of Electra, who is juxtaposed with her sister who just gives in.
Where to go next
- The Oresteia by Aeschylus. Electra built on it. - *Electra* is Sophocles rewriting Aeschylus on purpose — the same tomb meeting, the same recognition and vengeance from the *Oresteia*'s middle play, the *Libation Bearers* - The difference is the point: Aeschylus centered Orestes; Sophocles recenters everything on Electra, and stages her grief around the funerary urn Aeschylus only gestured at - Reading the *Oresteia* first lets you hear *Electra* as the reply it is — every echo is a deliberate revision
- The Odyssey by Homer. Electra built on it. - The avenging-son myth Sophocles dramatizes descends from the *Odyssey*, where Orestes' vengeance on Aegisthus is the recurring warning urged on Telemachus - *Electra* is the closest extant retelling to Homer's version of the Orestes story - Read the *Odyssey* first and you hear the exemplum Sophocles is dramatizing — the dutiful son who set the standard
Depicted in Art
Orestes flees with arms raised against three Furies who close around him in a torchlit dark.
Carl Rahl, 1852
Electra stands grieving in dark robes at her father's tomb, head bowed, a water jar set beside her on the steps.
Frederic Leighton, 1869
Terracotta relief: Orestes, Electra and Pylades grouped at Agamemnon's tomb column.
Electra recoils in anguish at the urn handed to her by Orestes (disguised), believing it contains her brother's remains.
Jean-Baptiste Joseph Wicar, 1827
The siblings standing together against an antique backdrop, Electra robed, Orestes nude with sword — a recognition-scene tableau.
Robert Fagan, 1795
Recommended Editions
David Grene
University of Chicago Press · 2013
Grene's Electra in the Chicago Complete Greek Tragedies. His literal hand suits this play, Electra's grief and fury come through without anyone smoothing them out into something more decorous.
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Deep Dive
What It's About
This summary gives away plot details.
Notable Quotes
“Death is not the worst evil, but rather when we wish to die and cannot.”
“Time is god who makes rough ways smooth.”
More by Sophocles
- Women of Trachis
c. 450 BCE · Tragedy
- Antigone
441 BCE · Tragedy
- Ajax
c. 440 BCE · Tragedy
- Oedipus Rex
c. 429 BCE · Tragedy
- Philoctetes
409 BCE · Tragedy
- Oedipus at Colonus
401 BCE · Tragedy