Let us now see how the subject is treated by Euripides.
The scene is laid before the cottage of a husbandman, or small farmer
(“
αὐτουργός”), who lives in Argolis,
but near the borders (v. 96), and far from the city of Argos (v.
246). The time is dawn.
Analysis. I. Prologue:
1— 166. (1) 1st scene, 1— 53. |
The play
is opened by a speech of the farmer. Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra
have given him Electra in marriage; fearing that, if she wedded a
richer
1 spouse, he or his offspring might avenge
Agamemnon. The worthy man adds that respect for the family has
forbidden him to regard the union as more than formal
2.
Electra comes out of the cottage, poorly
clad, with her hair cut short (in sign of mourning), and bearing a
water-jar upon her head. She is not forced, she says, to do these
menial tasks, but she wishes to show the insolence of Aegisthus to
the gods (v. 58). The farmer deprecates such work for her, and she
expresses her grateful esteem for him. Then she goes on her way to
the spring, and he to his plough.
Orestes enters, with Pylades
3 (who is a mute person
throughout). An oracle of Apollo (he says) has sent him. He does not
dare to go within the walls of the city. But in the night he has
secretly sacrificed at Agamemnon's tomb, and has placed a lock of
hair upon it. He has now come to find Electra, of whose marriage he
has heard, and to seek her co-operation. —He now sees a
woman, apparently a slave, approaching, and proposes to seek
information from her. This is Electra, returning with her water-jar
from the spring. In a lyric lament she speaks of Agamemnon's fate
and her brother's exile. Orestes, listening, soon learns who she is,
for she introduces her own name.
The Chorus enters. It consists of fifteen maidens from
the neighbourhood, who hold a lyric
dialogue with Electra. They invite her to a festival of the Argive
Hera, but she excuses herself, on the ground of her sorrow, and also
of her poor attire. They offer to lend her better clothes, but she
replies by reminding them of the unavenged wrongs which she is
mourning
4.
Electra now perceives that two armed strangers are near her
II. First episode:
213—431. (1) 1st scene, 213 —340. |
cottage, and is disquieted. Orestes does not reveal himself, but
says that he has come to bring her news of her brother. Having heard
his tidings, she speaks of her own fortunes. If Orestes returned,
she would help him to slay their mother (vv. 278 f.). She describes
how Aegisthus insults Agamemnon's tomb, and mocks at Orestes.
The farmer now reappears, and is somewhat disconcerted
at first, but quickly recovers himself,
and gracefully offers hospitality to the strangers. Orestes accepts
the invitation, after moralising on the nobility of nature which may
lurk under a rustic exterior. The two guests having gone in, Electra
reproves her husband for having invited them, when he knew the
poverty of the household. He must now go, she says, and look for a
certain old man in the neighbourhood, who is capable of bringing
some better fare for the visitors. This old man, it seems, had been
an attendant of Agamemnon when the latter was a boy (v. 409). The
farmer obeys, and goes forth—to be seen no more.
The Chorus sing of the
voyage of the Greek heroes to Troy, and the shield of Achilles. They
end with imprecations upon Clytaemnestra, who slew the leader of
such a host.
III. Second episode:
487—698. (1) 1st scene, 487 —552. |
The
old retainer of Agamemnon, for whom the farmer went, now arrives,
bringing lamb, cheeses, and some good wine for the guests; but,
though he can provide these comforts, he is clad, after Euripidean
fashion, in rags (v. 501).
On his way he has visited Agamemnon's tomb, and has been surprised by
finding recent offerings there. One of these, a lock of hair, he
brings with him, and suggests that, since it is like Electra's, it
may be from the head of Orestes. She ridicules his surmise; and here
follows the well-known satire on the other signs used by Aeschylus
for the ‘recognition
5.’
Orestes and Pylades come out of the
cottage. Electra introduces the old man to the strangers as one who
formerly saved her brother's life. The old man recognises Orestes by
a scar over one eyebrow (v. 573), caused by a fall in childhood,
when he and Electra were chasing a fawn. The joy of the recognition
is compressed into very narrow limits; but the Chorus sings a short
ode (vv. 585—595).
Orestes now consults the old man as to a
scheme of vengeance. It would be impossible (says the old man) for
Orestes to enter the guarded stronghold of the usurpers (615 ff.).
But Aegisthus is now in the country, about to sacrifice to the
Nymphs. He has no guards with him,—only servants. Orestes
must present himself at the sacrifice, and take his chance of being
asked to assist. Clytaemnestra is at Argos. But Electra undertakes
to send her a message which will bring her to the cottage (v. 652).
It was customary that, ten days after the birth of a child,
offerings should be made to Eileithyia. The old man must tell
Clytaemnestra that her daughter entreats this pious office at her
hands, as she herself is unacquainted with the ritual (v. 1125).
The old man promises to take this message. He will also guide Orestes
to Aegisthus. The brother and sister pray to the gods. Electra then
enters the house, while Orestes sets forth with his guide.
The Chorus recite the legend of the golden lamb, the cause
Second stasimon:
699—746. IV. Third episode: 747— 1146. (1)
1st scene, 747 —958. |
of the quarrel between
Atreus and Thyestes.
A messenger tells Electra how Orestes has slain Aegisthus. The tyrant
welcomed the youth and his comrade (Pylades), who described
themselves as Thessalians going to Olympia. Orestes was asked to
assist in dismembering a bull; and, while Aegisthus was stooping to
scan the omens, felled him from behind. The slaves, on hearing the
name of Orestes, acclaimed him as their rightful king.
The Chorus and Electra express their joy. Orestes enters (v. 880)
with a ghastly trophy—the body
6 of Aegisthus, carried by attendants. Electra
expresses her hatred in a long speech over the corpse (vv.
907—956).
Clytaemnestra now approaches from Mycenae (v. 963), in a
(2) 2nd scene, 959
—1146. |
chariot, with a retinue. Orestes is
seized with shuddering at the thought of slaying his mother. Electra
nerves him; reminds him of his duty to his father, and of Apollo's
oracle. He enters the cottage—resolved to do the deed, and
yet shrinking from it.
The Chorus briefly greet Clytaemnestra with pretended reverence. She
bids her Trojan handmaids assist her to alight, but Electra claims
the office, remarking that she herself is virtually a slave. Then
follows a dispute between mother and daughter as to the fate of
Iphigeneia and of Agamemnon (1011—1099). But the queen is
presently touched by Electra's misery, and expresses regret for the
past. Electra, however, is not softened. Then Clytaemnestra enters
the house, to perform the rite on behalf of the (supposed) child.
Electra bids her be careful that in the smoky cottage her robes are
not soiled—and presently follows her in (v. 1146).
The Chorus recall the death of Agamemnon, and
foretell the vengeance. In the midst of their chant, Clytaemnestra's
dying shriek is heard from within.
Orestes and Electra are now shown (by the eccyclema) standing by the
corpse of Clytaemnestra; that of Aegisthus lies near.
Orestes is full of anguish and despair. He describes how he drew his
cloak over his eyes as he slew his mother. Electra, on the contrary,
is in this scene almost a Lady Macbeth. She tells how she urged her
brother on, and even guided his sword when he covered his eyes
7. Then she throws a covering over her
mother's body.
At this moment the Chorus greet the apparition of
two bright forms in the air. These are the Dioscuri. Clytaemnestra,
they say, has been justly slain, and yet Orestes is defiled. Apollo
gave him
an unwise oracle; though, as that god is their
superior, they will say no more
8. Electra is to marry Pylades, and go to
Phocis—taking with her the good farmer, who is to receive
a large estate (v. 1287). Orestes is to go to Athens, where, under
the presidency of Pallas, he will be tried and acquitted; he will
then settle in Arcadia
9. Aegisthus will be buried by the Argives;
Clytaemnestra, by Menelaüs and Helen, who have just arrived
at Nauplia from Egypt.
The play ends with a most curious dialogue in anapaests
between the Dioscuri and the other persons. The Chorus bluntly ask
the demigods why they did not avert murder from their sister
Clytaemnestra? Well, they reply, the blame rests on Fate, and on
the unwise utterances of Phoebus10. Electra then asks why she—to
whom no oracle had been given—was involved in the guilt of
matricide? The only answer which occurs to them is that she suffers
through the hereditary curse upon the whole house of Pelops
11. Orestes changes the awkward subject
by taking leave of Electra, whom he is not to see again. The
Dioscuri have words of comfort for each. And then they warn Orestes
to hasten away; already dark forms can be seen approaching, with
snaky arms
12. The Dioscuri
themselves ‘will go with speed to the Sicilian sea, to
save the ships
13.’
