Dec 21, 2009

The Oxford Dictionary of Plays | Electra

Electra (Elektra)

Author: Sophocles

First Performance: c.425–410 BC, Athens?

First English Translation: 1649

Genre: Greek trag. in verse

Setting: Before the Palace of Mycenae, some years after the Trojan War

Cast: 4m, 3f, chorus (f)

Accompanied by his tutor and by his friend Pylades, Orestes arrives at his birthplace, from which he was taken as a child after his mother's brutal murder of his father Agamemnon. Orestes is determined to avenge the death of his father by killing his mother Clytemnestra. In order to gain access to the house, his tutor pretends to be bringing news of Orestes' death. Clytemnestra is overjoyed to be free of the fear of vengeance, but the news is devastating for Orestes' sister Electra, who has been awaiting Orestes' arrival for many years. Electra now determines to carry out...

[The entire page is 477 words long]

The Oxford Dictionary of Plays | Electra

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