Explore "Electra" by Euripides on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Composed between 413-419 BC, it is unclear whether Euripides' play was produced before or after Sophocles' version of the Electra story. The tragedy concerns Electra and Orestes, the children of King Agamemnon of Mycenae, and their vengeful killing of their mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus for the murder of Agamemnon.
The play begins by introducing Electra as the wife of a humble, but honest farmer. Her mother Clytemnestra, fearing that if Electra remained in the royal household and married a nobleman, her children would be more likely to try to avenge Agamemnon's death, had opted to give her daughter a farmer for a husband. The man Electra is married to, however, is kind to her and has taken advantage of neither her family name nor her virginity. In return, Electra helps the peasant with household chores. Despite her appreciation for her peasant husband, Electra resents being cast out of her house and her mother's loyalty to Aegisthus.