Sophocles Electra

Sophocles’ innovative plays transformed Greek myths into dramas featuring complex human characters, through which he explored profound moral issues. Electra portrays the grief of a young woman for her father Agamemnon, who has been killed by her mother’s lover. Aeschylus and Euripides also dramatized this story, but the objectivity and humanity of Sophocles’ version provides a new perspective. Depicting the fall of a great hero, Ajax examines the enigma of power and weakness combined in one being, while the Women of Trachis portrays the tragic love and error of Heracles’ deserted wife Deianeira, and Philoctetes deals with the conflict between physical force and moral strength.

Full-scale 2007 commentary on a revised Greek text, with original metrical analyses of the lyrical sections.

Sophocles' Electra is a riveting play with a long and varied reception. Its nuanced treatment of matricidal revenge with all the questions it raises; its compelling depictions of the idealistic, long -grieving, rebellious Electra; her compliant sister; her brother; and her mother; and its superb poetry have all contributed to making this one of Sophocles' most admired plays, as have the moral issues it raises and its political reverberations. In recent decades it has been repeatedly translated, adapted, and produced, sometimes on its own, sometimes in combination with selections from Aeschylus' Libation Bearers and (more often) Euripides' Electra. While the play certainly stands on its own in any language, reading it in the original Greek adds immense value. A commentary on the Greek text would enrich its reading by elucidating the words and world of the ancient language for those who are reading it more than twenty- five hundred years after the play was written. Such a commentary would also contribute to our understanding of other ancient Greek texts, not necessarily because they use the same words in the same way, but by providing information for contrast, comparison, and clarification. This commentary includes an introduction, text and notes, an abbreviations list, a stylistic & metrical terminology list, an appendix of recurrent words, and, a list of irregular verbs and their principal parts.

Based on the conviction that only translators who write poetry themselves can properly recreate the celebrated and timeless tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, the Greek Tragedy in New Translations series offers new translations that go beyond the literal meaning of the Greek in order to evoke the poetry of the originals. Under the general editorship of Peter Burian and Alan Shapiro, each volume includes a critical introduction, commentary on the text, full stage directions, and a glossary of the mythical and geographical references in the play. Although it has been at times overshadowed by his more famous Oedipus Tyrannus and Antigone, Sophocles' Electra is remarkable for its extreme emotions and taut drama. Electra recounts the murders of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus by Clytemnestra's son Orestes, to avenge their murder of his father Agamemnon, commander of the Greeks at Troy, upon his return home. Sophocles' version is presented from the viewpoint of Electra, Orestes' sister, who laments her father, bears witness to her mother's crime, and for years endures her mother's scorn. Despite her overwhelming passion for just revenge, Electra admits that her own actions are shameful. When Orestes arrives at last, her mood shifts from grief to joy, as Orestes carries out the bloody vengeance. Sophocles presents this story as a savage though necessary act of vengeance, vividly depicting Electra's grief, anger, and exultation. This translation equals the original in ferocity of expression, and leaves intact the inarticulate cries of suffering and joy that fill the play.

A Study Guide for Sophocles's "Electra," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Drama For Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Drama For Students for all of your research needs.

Sophocles' Electra deals with the famous story of Orestes' vengeance on his mother Clytemnestra for her murder of his father Agamemnon. This book discusses whether the matricide is a just and final act of violence, or whether Sophocles ironically implies that it is more problematic than it seems. Electra is notable among Sophocles' plays for the prominent part played in it by female characters, and especially the heroic resistance and suffering of Orestes' sister Electra. The book pays particular attention to the portrayal of Electra herself, but also discusses wider issues of dramatic characterisation and Greek ethics. Sophocles is one of the greatest masters of the medium in the history of theatre, and the book explains the formal conventions of Greek tragedy and examines various aspects of his skill as a dramatist. The book concludes with an examination of later adaptations of the play, of which the most important is that by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1903), a study in extreme psychology which he adapted to form the libretto for Richard Strauss's opera Elektra.

"Sophocles' Electra deals with the famous story of Orestes' vengeance on his mother Clytemnestra for her murder of his father Agamemnon. This book discusses whether the matricide is a just and final act of violence, or whether Sophocles ironically implies that it is more problematic than it seems. Electra is notable among Sophocles' plays for the prominent part played in it by female characters, and especially the heroic resistance and suffering of Orestes' sister Electra. The book pays particular attention to the portrayal of Electra herself, but also discusses wider issues of dramatic characterisation and Greek ethics. Sophocles is one of the greatest masters of the medium in the history of theatre, and the book explains the formal conventions of Greek tragedy and examines various aspects of his skill as a dramatist. The book concludes with an examination of later adaptations of the play, of which the most important is that by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1903), a study in extreme psychology which he adapted to form the libretto for Richard Strauss's opera Elektra."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

In this edition of Sophocles' Electra, one of the greatest tragedies in Greek or any literature, Mr Keels presents the play as a study in revenge, but in a subtle way whose meaning depends upon the continuous use of dramatic irony. He relates the confrontations of principle and character depicted to the social and political controversies of the period in which Sophocles was writing. The introduction describes the background to the play, explains some of the main features of Sophocles' style, and outlines an interpretation which is fully worked out in the detailed commentary. There are appendices on metre and the text. The edition is intended for use by senior school and undergraduate students, and all those concerned to read and appreciate the play in the original.