Electra
by Sophocles
- 9 Members Following
Follow a topic to see new activity, such as homework help questions and answers, in your personal feed on the homepage.
Navigate
At a glance:
- Author: Sophocles
- First Published: 1649
- Type of Work: Drama
- Type of Plot: Tragedy
- Setting: Mycenae, Greece
- 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: Europe, Greece, Greece, ancient, Argos, ancient
The Story:
When Clytemnestra and Aegisthus murder King Agamemnon, Electra has her brother, Orestes, spirited away by the Paedagogus, a loyal servant charged with caring for the boy. When Orestes becomes a man, he, the Paedagogus, and Orestes’ friend Pylades return to avenge the murder. Urged on by Electra, Orestes is counseled by Apollo to gain vengeance stealthily. Wishing to take the culprits off guard, Orestes pretends that he and his companions are strangers, that Orestes was killed in a chariot accident, and that they come to return the princely ashes to his mother.
...(The entire page is 2430 words.)
Want to read the whole thing?
Subscribe now to read the rest of this article. Plus, get access to:
- 30,000+ literature study guides
- Critical essays on more than 30,000 works of literature from Salem on Literature (exclusive to eNotes)
- An unparalleled literary criticism section. 40,000 full-length or excerpted essays.
- Content from leading academic publishers, all easily citable with our "Cite this page" button.
- 100% satisfaction guarantee READ MORE
