Myth of Electra: Aeschylus

-Oresteia (trilogy)

-Clytemnestra is the principal agent of the murder of Agamemnon

-hounded by the Furies, Orestes has to go to Athens to be judged for the matricide (acquitted largely because Apollo commanded)

Myth of Electra: Sophocles

-his version of Electra probably came before Euripides'

Myth of Electra: Euripides

-by the time he wrote his version, Aeschylus' Oresteia was already a classic of the genre

-presentation of the myth has features typical of the poet:

(1) realism and incorporation of the everyday (ex. Electra, a noblewoman carrying water on her head)

(2)various psyc. features of the characters (ex. Orestes youthful hesitancy, Electra's obsessive anger)

(3)interest in (supposed) female psychology

Myths of the House of Agamemnon: 1st Generation

-Atreus and Thyestes contend for the throne of Mycenae/Argos

-Atreus is chosen by divine sign

-Thyestes seduces Atreus' wife

-pretending reconciliation Atreus recalls Thyestes from exile

-Atreus kills 3 of Thyestes' children and feeds them to him

-Thyestes curses the house of Atreus

Myths of the House of Agamemnon: 2nd Generation

-Thyestes has a son: Aigisthus

-Atreus has 2 sons: Agamemnon and Menelaus

-Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia on the way to Troy to retrieve his brother Menelaus' wife, Helen

-Aigisthus seduces Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra (sister of Helen)

-when Agamemnon returns from war he is killed by Aigisthus who seizes the throne 

Myths of the House of Agamemnon: 3rd Generation

-Orestes, exile son of Agamemnon, returs and kills Aigisthus and Clytemnestra, thereby regaining the throne

How is Electra a helper figure?

-Orestes, as the male figure returning from exile to reclaim his throne, would have been recognized as the hero by the ancient Greeks

-Electra's role is to aid the hero (Orestes) in realizing his objectives

-Electra's role is supportive in that she accepts her role in society that was established for wome, that is to support the men in their lives rather than being their own independent agents 

-similarly she is devoted to her father by not having children w/ the peasant, that would reflect badly on Agamemnon's family

How is Electra a hero?: Orestes' failure

-the failure of Orestes to take control, as a result of his youthful hesitancy, allowed Electra to take a larger role

ex.

(1) devises plan to trap Clytemnestra

(2) exhorts Orestes into action by telling him to "be a man"

(3) convinces Orestes to go ahead w/ the murder of their mother even though he is deeply against it

How is Electra a hero?: Electra's Personality

-her dominance is also a result of her personality

-various hardships have caused her to have an obsessive anger towards her mother and step-father:

ex.

(1) she verbally abuses the corpse of Aigisthus in order to futiley express her anger

(2) she pursues the matricide beyond moral behaviour

Ephebe

-young man preparing for the transition to adulthood

Young Athenian Men

-served a 2 yr stint in the military guarding the frontiers of the state, a location that emphasizes their liminal status

-during this time they fend for themselves and were encouraged to do this by the use of deception

Orestes as an ephebe

-concept overlaps w/ Orestes journey to reclaim his rightful throne as well as in the fashion he does this:

deception: various disguises to Electra and Aigisthus

like an ephebe he has no fixed home as he is in exile

borderland type location: does not directly attack Aigisthus and Clytemnestra in the palace, but does so out of doors and at the borders of the land where the peasant has farmland

psychological characterization: hesitant in making decisions, needs leadership from others (tutor or Electra)

Tyrranicide of Aigisthus

-as an enemy to the house of Atreus who has stolen the throne, the murder of Aigisthus is condoned and even praised

Matricide of Clytemnestra

-at the end of the play Castor (Clytemnestra's brother) agrees that it is fitting for her to die for her actions, but that Orestes and Electra were not the right agents of this punishment

-clearly shown in Orestes' hesitation and revulsion before the murder and he and Electra's lamentations for their deed after the murder

Theme of Character and Class

-questions whether traditional markers of personal worth are in fact reliable

Theme of Character and Class: Reflection in the Characters

peasant: poor but of good Mycenaean descent, his poverty trumps his family, as he has not constumated his marriage to Electra because he is not of her station

Aigisthus: Electra comments in her abuse of his corpse, that neither his wealth nor his beauty are indicative of his anoble nature

Orestes and Electra: do not appear in the best light by the end of the play

Apollo: even being a god does not guarantee one's character

Theme of Character and Class: How it Reflects on Social Conditions of late 5th century Athens

-politicians now emerging from non-aristocratic families

-politicians from aristocratic families could be criticized

-priesthoods were no longer held by traditional aristocratic families; chosen in a democratic fashion

-new individuas who were important to the democracy for their wealth or military contribution (rowers in the navy)

Theory of the Electra Complex

-Freud and Jung (coined the term) believed girls undergo a similar process to boys in the Oedipus complex

-the girl child begins w/ the same natural physical desire and bond w/ the mother

-when she learns sexual differntiation, she dev. penis envy, because she cannot physically posess the mother as the father does

-the girls is said to identify w/ the mother based on their similarities, and dev. a desire to replace her (internalizing the mother figure in her own identity)

-she then transfers her desire to the father, resulting in competition w/ the mother

-in fear of punishment for desiring her father, she displaces her desire onto other men

-parents are both role models that children base their own identites upon and are a potential opposition to them acquiring these identities, because the parents already hold these roles w/ in the family

Criticism of the Electra Complex

-misogynistic: explains women as basically broken men in their lack and desire for a penis

How is the Electra Complex related to the play?

-Clytemnestra does say that Electra always sided w/ her father; this is culturally sanctioned as the family was a posession of the male head of the family

-Electra is in conflict w/ her mother, but they are not in competition for the husband/father figure, rather they compete over who is to be understood as the male head of the family: Agamemnon or Aigisthus; if Orestes is successful Agamemnon is validated as the head of the family, if not Aigisthus remains the head of the family

-Electra reduces the motives of Clytemnestra and Aigisthus to sexual ones; Aigisthus seduced/corrupted Clytemnestra, Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon not because he killed Iphigenia, but because she desired Aigisthus