Electra

work by Sophocles

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June 26, 2026

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Electra is a play by Sophocles that tells the story of Electra, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. After her father's murder by her mother and Aegisthus, Electra saves her brother Orestes by sending him away. When Orestes returns, Electra helps him exact revenge by killing their mother and Aegisthus. The play focuses on Electra's anguish and her active participation in her brother's plan for vengeance. Sophocles, one of ancient Athens' great tragic playwrights, wrote Electra as part of his body of work, which includes other famous plays like Oedipus the King. The theme of Electra's story is also explored in plays by Aeschylus and Euripides.123

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Sophocles
Electra
As in Aeschylus’s Libation Bearers, the action in Electra (Greek: Ēlektra) follows the return of Orestes to kill his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover Aegisthus in retribution for their murder of Orestes’ father, Agamemnon. In this play, however, the main focus is on Orestes’…
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As in Aeschylus’s Libation Bearers, the action in Electra (Greek: Ēlektra) follows the return of Orestes to kill his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover Aegisthus in retribution for their murder of Orestes’ father, Agamemnon. In this play, however, the main focus is on Orestes’…
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acting
Genuine and feigned emotion
…actor Polus performing in the Electra of Sophocles, at Athens in the 4th century bc. The plot requires Electra to carry an urn supposed to contain the ashes of Orestes and to lament and bewail the fate she believed had overtaken him. Accordingly, Polus, clad in the mourning garb of…
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…actor Polus performing in the Electra of Sophocles, at Athens in the 4th century bc. The plot requires Electra to carry an urn supposed to contain the ashes of Orestes and to lament and bewail the fate she believed had overtaken him. Accordingly, Polus, clad in the mourning garb of…
Read More