Overview
- Female: 1
- Male: 1
Context
Electra is working in the yard with her neighbours (the chorus of women) when Orestes - disguised as a messenger - arrives. At first she fears that he is a bandit, but he tells her that he comes with news of her brother. Electra, unaware that she is speaking to Orestes, asks the messenger how her brother fares, and shares the story of the crimes that have come to pass after their father’s death. During this conversation, Orestes learns that Electra shares his desire for vengeance on their
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ELECTRA (catching sight of ORESTES AND PYLADES) Ha! Friends, I break off my lament; yonder are strangers just leaving the place of ambush where they were couching, and making for the house. We must seek to escape the villains by flying, thou along the path and I into my cottage.
ORESTES Stay, poor maid; fear no violence from me.
ELECTRA O Phoebus Apollo I beseech thee spare my life.
ORESTES Give me the lives of others more my foes than thou!
ELECTRA Begone! touch me not! thou hast no right to.
ORESTES There is none I have a better right to touch.
ELECTRA How is it then thou waylayest me, sword in hand, near my house?
ORESTES Wait and hear, and thou wilt soon agree with me
ELECTRA Here I stand; I am in thy power in any case, since thou art the stronger.
ORESTES I am come to thee with news of thy brother.
ELECTRA O best of friends! is he alive or dead?
ORESTES Alive; I would fain give thee my good news first.
ELECTRA God bless thee! in return for thy welcome tidings.
ORESTES I am prepared to share that blessing between us.
ELECTRA In what land is my poor brother spending his dreary exile?
ORESTES His ruined life does not conform to the customs of any one city.
ELECTRA Surely he does not want for daily bread?
ORESTES Bread he has, but an exile is a helpless man at best.
ELECTRA What is this message thou hast brought from him?
ORESTES He asks, "Art thou alive? and if so, How art thou faring?"
ELECTRA Well, first thou seest how haggard I am grown.
ORESTES So wasted with sorrow that I weep for thee.
ELECTRA Next mark my head, shorn and shaven like a Scythian's.
ORESTES Thy brother's fate and father's death no doubt disturb thee.
ELECTRA Yes, alas! for what have I more dear than these?
ORESTES Ah! and what dost thou suppose is dearer to thy brother?
ELECTRA He is far away, not here to show his love to me.
ORESTES Wherefore art thou living here far from the city?
ELECTRA I am wedded, sir; a fatal match!
ORESTES Alas! for thy brother; I pity him. Is thy husband of Mycenae?
ELECTRA He is not the man to whom my father ever thought of betrothing me.
ORESTES Tell me all, that I may report it to thy brother.
ELECTRA I live apart from my husband in this house.
ORESTES The only fit inmate would be a hind or herd.
ELECTRA Poor he is, yet he displays a generous consideration for me.
ORESTES Why, what is this consideration that attaches to thy husband?
ELECTRA He has never presumed to claim from me a husband's rights.
ORESTES Is he under a vow of chastity? or does he disdain thee?
ELECTRA He thought he had no right to flout my ancestry.
ORESTES How was it he was not overjoyed at winning such a bride?
ELECTRA He does not recognize the right of him who disposed of my hand.
ORESTES I understand; he was afraid of the vengeance of Orestes hereafter.
ELECTRA There was that fear, but he was a virtuous man as well.
ORESTES Ah! a noble nature this! He deserves kind treatment.
ELECTRA Yes, if ever the wanderer return.
ORESTES But did thy own mother give in to this?
ELECTRA 'Tis her husband, not her children that a woman loves, sir stranger.
ORESTES Wherefore did Aegisthus put this affront on thee?
ELECTRA His design in giving me to such a husband was to weaken my offspring
ORESTES To prevent thee bearing sons, I suppose, who should punish him?
ELECTRA That was his plan; God grant I may avenge me on him for it!
ORESTES Does thy mother's husband know that thou art yet a maid?
ELECTRA He does not; our silence robs him of that knowledge.
ORESTES Are these women friends of thine, who overhear our talk?
ELECTRA They are, and they will keep our conversation perfectly secret.
ORESTES What could Orestes do in this matter, if he did return?
ELECTRA Canst thou ask? Shame on thee for that! Is not this the time for action?
ORESTES But suppose he comes, how could he slay his father's murderers?
ELECTRA By boldly meting out the same fate that his father had meted out to him by his foes.
ORESTES Wouldst thou be brave enough to help him slay his mother?
ELECTRA Aye, with the self-same axe that drank my father's blood.
ORESTES Am I to tell him this, and that thy purpose firmly holds?
ELECTRA Once I have shed my mother's blood o'er his, then welcome death!
ORESTES Ah! would Orestes were standing near to hear that!
ELECTRA I should not know him, sir, if I saw him.
ORESTES No wonder; you were both children when you parted.
ELECTRA There is only one of my friends would recognize him.
ORESTES The man maybe who is said to have snatched him away from being murdered?
ELECTRA Yes, the old servant who tended my father's childhood long ago.
ORESTES Did thy father's corpse obtain burial?
ELECTRA Such burial as it was, after his body had been flung forth from the palace.
ORESTES O God! how awful is thy story! Yes, there is a feeling, arising even from another's distress, that wrings the human heart. Say on, that when know the loveless tale, which yet I needs must hear, I may carry it to thy brother. For pity, though it has no place in ignorant natures, is inborn in the wise; still it may cause trouble to find excessive cleverness amongst the wise.
Euripides. Electra.
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