Electra (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Sophocles
- First Published: 1649
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Time of Work: c. 1250-1200
- Setting: Outside the royal palace at Mycenae, Greece
- Principal Characters: Paedagogus, Orestes, Electra, Chrysothemis, Clytemnestra, Aegisthus, Chorus
- Genres: Drama, 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, Tragedy, Rites or ceremonies, Prophecy or prophets, Greek or Roman times, Greece or Greek people, Trojan War
- Locales: Greece, ancient, Argos, ancient
The Story:
When Clytemnestra and Aegisthus murdered King Agamemnon, Electra had her brother, Orestes, spirited away by the Paedagogus, a loyal servant charged with caring for the boy. When Orestes became a man, he, the Paedagogus, and Orestes’ friend Pylades returned to avenge the murder. Urged on by Electra, Orestes had been counseled by Apollo to gain vengeance stealthily. Wishing to take the culprits off guard, Orestes pretended that he and his companions were strangers, that Orestes had been killed in a chariot accident, and that they had come to return the princely ashes...
[The entire page is 2136 words long]
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