The Tragic Story of Electra

Paper Summary:

This paper compares two versions of the tragic story of Electra by Sophocles and Euripides. It shows how the ancient Greek playwrights used her story to illustrate a number of themes about the nature of courage, honor and loyalty. The author also notes the important ways in which these plays are similar to each other as well as the key ways that they diverge from each other.

From the Paper:

"The fundamental elements of the story are this: Electra was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra and the sister of Orestes (Aeschylus would write about Electra in his Orestia trilogy). Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon (with the help of her lover, Aegisthus) in part to gain greater power but in large measure because she has never forgiven her husband for the sacrifice of another one of their daughters, Iphigenia, whom Agamemnon has killed as an offering to the gods in order to win favorable winds for his ships in his war against Troy."

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