Electra

Clytemnestra enters the scene and tells Electra that she is tired of her public lectures. She attempts to justify Agamemnon’s death: “It was Justice who took him, not I alone. / And you should have helped if you had any conscious. / For this father of yours, / this one you bewail, / this unique Greek, / had the heart to sacrifice your own sister to the gods” (705-710). She argues that Agamemnon had no share in the pain of childbirth, and therefore, had no right to kill what was hers (the late princess Iphigenia). Electra accuses her mother of killing Agamemnon out of love for Aegisthus. She recalls the story of Iphigenia’s sacrifice, presenting it as the only possible way to appease the titan-goddess Leto who had become angry with Agamemnon and his soldiers after the king shot a stag. Electra also exposes a flaw in Clytemnestra’s argument—that if one commits murder, then they deserve to die—as this cycle of murder would continue forever and would have begun with Clytemnestra herself. Mother and daughter banter until the former decides she has had enough. She prays to the god Apollo (son of Leto), asking that he preserve her current state of safety and wealth.

As Clytemnestra finishes her prayer, Paedagogus enters the scene. Paedagogus tells the fabricated tale of Orestes’s death while chariot racing. Clytemnestra reflects that a mother cannot help but love her child, stating that ever since Orestes decided to live in exile, he simultaneously denied her motherly care. Yet, she argues that Electra has done more damage, having lived in her home and taken her resources. She takes Paedagogus inside to reward him for relaying the news that has put an end to Electra lamenting her father (1089).

Electra remains outside and laments Orestes’s death. As she cries, Chrysothemis enters the scene enthusiastically. She proclaims that there is finally an end to Electra’s grieving, for Orestes has returned. Chrysothemis states that at their father’s tomb, she noticed a lock of hair belonging to Orestes. Electra does not believe Chrysothemis and relays that she received word of Orestes’s death. With Orestes dead, Electra believes it is up to her to murder Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. Electra urges Chrysothemis to help, but the latter advises reconsidering her position as a woman wanting to fight a bigger, stronger man. The younger resolves to take care of her suffering herself. The Chorus reflects on family relations: “Why is it— / we look at birds in the air, / we see it makes sense / the way they care / for the life of those who sow and sustain them— / why / is it / we don’t do the same?” (1392-1399). As the Chorus urges Electra to not lose faith, Orestes appears—but neither sibling recognizes the other.