Justice and revenge lie at the heart of Sophocles’ Electra, still considered today a remarkable achievement in the canon of Greek tragedy. Based on one of the last episodes in the Mycenae royal family, Electra finds Orestes, son of the murdered King Agamemnon, returning home secretly after being taken out of Mycenae for his own protection. Intent on avenging his father’s murder, Orestes conceives a plan to trick his family into believing that he’s dead so he can take revenge on the killers: his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. Electra has all the elements of classic Greek tragedy, and was considered by some to be a masterpiece. Scholars aren’t sure exactly when it was written, but believe it was near the end of Sophocles’ career, between 420 and 414 BC.
Electra (Sophocles) guide sections
