Electra (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Euripides
- First Published: 413
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Time of Work: After the fall of Troy
- Setting: Argos
- Principal Characters: Electra, Orestes, Clytemnestra, Aegisthus
- Genres: Drama, Character study, Tragedy
- Subjects: Mothers, Parents and children, Murder or homicide, Mistaken or secret identity, Obsession, Women, Revenge, Kings, queens, or royalty, Gods or goddesses, Fratricide, parricide, or filicide, Rites or ceremonies, Prophecy or prophets, Greek or Roman times, Greece or Greek people, Trojan War
- Locales: Greece, ancient, Argos, ancient
The Story:
When Agamemnon, the king of Argos, returned home from the Trojan War, he was murdered in cold blood by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. Afterward, Aegisthus and Clytemnestra were married, and Aegisthus became king. Orestes, the young son of Agamemnon, was sent by a relative to Phocis before Aegisthus could destroy him. Electra, the daughter, remained, but was given in marriage to an old peasant, lest she marry a warrior powerful enough to avenge her father’s death.
One day, after Electra and the peasant had gone out to do the day’s work,...
[The entire page is 1968 words long]
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