Electra
Quick Summary
Euripides's Electra is a tragic play that retells the Greek myth of Electra, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. After her father Agamemnon was murdered by her mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, Electra saved her younger brother Orestes. When Orestes returned, Electra aided him in killing their mother and Aegisthus.12
Euripides's version, performed in 408 BCE, portrays Electra as a frustrated and resentful woman who lures her mother to her death. After the matricide, both Electra and Orestes are consumed by remorse. The play is noted for its bitter realism and antiheroic depiction of Electra's suffering and unattractive personality. The story is also told in plays by Sophocles and Aeschylus.31
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