Start: All right then, I will answer wha...

Start: All right then, I will answer what you said. You admit you killed my father. What speech could ever be more shameful than those words, whether what you did was justified or not? But I will prove to you that when you killed him you did not do it in the name of Justice. No, that vile man who is now your lover persuaded you to do it. Ask Artemis the hunter goddess, why she held in check the winds at Aulis. Was she punishing a wrong someone had done? I will tell you, since it is not right for us to question her. My father—so I’ve heard—was once out hunting in a sacred grove of goddess Artemis, when his footsteps roused a startled deer, a dappled stag with horns. He threw his spear and hit the beast. Then, as it so happened, he uttered a loud boast about the slaughter. Artemis was enraged. She kept the Greeks detained at Aulis, until my father, to compensate her for that creature’s life, sacrificed his daughter. So she was killed. There was no other way to free the army, so it could sail to Troy or go back home. He struggled hard against the god’s demands, resisting what he was compelled to do, but in the end with great reluctance he sacrificed her to preserve his troops, and not for Menelaus. But let’s assume, to adopt your argument, he killed her for his brother’s sake. Is that a reason for you to kill him? What gives you that right? Take care when you establish rules for men you do not bring yourself remorse and pain. For if we were to kill all those who killed, blood for blood, and you were dealt with justly, then surely you would be the first to die. You should consider whether what you say is just a mere excuse. Please tell me this—why do you now live in such a shameful way, committing the most atrocious of all crimes, by sleeping with a guilty murderer? He first conspired with you to kill my father, and after that you bore his offspring. The ones you had before you pushed aside, legitimate children of a lawful marriage. How can I approve of what you’ve done? Are you suggesting that your way of life is also retribution for your daughter? If that’s what you are saying, it’s a disgrace marrying an enemy to avenge a child! There’s nothing honorable in such an act. But there’s no point in criticizing you. You’ll only say I’m slandering my mother. Well, I don’t consider you my mother--you’re more my mistress. That’s how tiresome my life is here. You and that man of yours make everything so miserable for me! As for your other child, poor Orestes, who only just escaped your clutches, he spends his sad life far away in exile. How many times have you complained I raised him so he could punish you for what you’ve done? Well, you can be sure of this—I would have, if I’d been strong enough. For that, at least, you should denounce me, telling everyone whatever you like—that I’m disloyal, abusive, and absolutely shameless. For if I naturally possess the skill to act like that, then given who you are, I am a credit to the one who bore me.

For full extended monologue, please refer to clips or the script edition cited here: Sophocles, Translated by Ian Johnston, Electra, Public domain.

Full Text

Full Text