Sophocles: Electra

by P.J. Finglass

One of Sophocles' more accomplished dramas, the Electra has always generated a good deal of scholarly debate. This 2007 edition, the first full-scale commentary on any play of Sophocles since the nineteenth century, explores afresh long-standing controversies such as the moral status of the killing of Clytemnestra, while also investigating many subjects which have traditionally attracted less attention, such as the place of rhetoric within the drama, the use of typical scenes, and allusions to epinician poetry. It provides original metrical analyses of the lyrical sections of the play and a revised Greek text. Research on the papyri, mediaeval manuscripts and printed editions has led to a more accurate apparatus criticus than ever before, with many conjectures attributed to their rightful owners.

Genres: Classics

660 pages, Paperback

First published August 9, 2007

Reviews

[Bill Kupersmith]

When I taught Greek drama in translation, introducing Euripides’ Electra to students was such fun, especially presenting Clytemnestra as a Lake Forest matron, scolding her despised daughter and asking, “What have you done to your hair?” But I’d never read Sophocles’ version of that great revenge story where Electra’s brother Orestes returns from exile in disguise and kills his mother along with her lover Aegisthus. After discovering the wonder of the Perseus word study tool for those of us whose Classical accomplishments needed a generous application of WD-40 and rekindling my love of Euripides’ Bacchae, I found I’d somehow acquired this gorgeously annotated text and decided to give Sophocles a go. The story is similar to Euripides’ treatment, but I found Sophocles subtler and his rendition of the principal character admirable. Readers who belong to what the ancient Athenians called the kaloi k’agathoi (people of the right sort) always love Antigone, but I think Sophocles depicts an even braver young woman in Electra. Like Euripides’ character, she detests Clytemnestra for killing her father Agamemnon, but this Electra, like Antigone, is impelled by a positive impulse—a fierce attachment to what is honorable and right. Sophocles introduces a sister for Electra, Chrysothemis, whose role parallels Ismene, trying to restrain her reckless sister. She also informs Electra of Aegisthus’ new punishment for her, to seal her up in an underground cell, as Creon did Antigone. By adding this threat to the story, Sophocles clears Electra of the onus of matricide—if your mother is complicit in a plan to kill you horribly, any filial obligations are off the table.

The prologue is riveting. At dawn an elderly tour guide orients two young strangers to the topography and when we’re aware of who they are, we can almost imagine hearing the theme of a Clint Eastwood movie. These are the avengers; the visitors are Orestes and his best friend Pylades and their guide is the Paedagogus, the tutor of the child Orestes who effected his rescue when his father Agamemnon was murdered by Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. This old man is a remarkable character; although a slave he takes charge of the entire scheme of revenge and orders Orestes, Electra, and Pylades about like a sergeant major. He also delivers an extraordinarily vivid messenger speech reccounting a (wholly fictitious) smash in a chariot race, convincing Clytemnestra that Orestes is dead and that undertakers from Phocis will bring home the urn containing his ashes. But the undertakers are really the disguised Orestes and Pylades, providing a very moving though perhaps extended anagnorisis when Electra learns her brother is bearing the urn, not inside it.

The plan to bury Electra alive, as well as Clytemnestra’s cruel and arrogant treatment, arouse the reader’s sympathy for the revengers. As Bowra put it: “Sophocles accepts the evil [of matricide] and makes no attempt to minimize it. He does, however, suggest that the task which is before Electra and Orestes and which excites a natural horror is necessary and right.” At its best, such is the message of the best tragedies: the denouement is excessive and cruel, yet inevitable (moira), necessary (ananke), and right (dike). Unlike Aeschylus and Euripides, Sophocles has Orestes dispatch Electra first, then Aegisthus with a wonderfully nasty surprise as he unwraps what he thinks is Orestes’ corpse. A no-nonsense finish; no Furies in pursuit. Avengers win.

Like Frankel’s Agamemnon, this edition provides much more than a novice like me could appreciate, but I hope to use it to explore the best passages again. I also found J. T. Kell’s commentary immensely helpful for construing the Greek, though repelled by its prosecutorial stance towards Electra and its nutty notion that she imagines the Paedigogus is the ghost of her father. Oh that I still had students to share my pleasure in this play. Especially I loved what the chorus say about Electra, at what seems her lowest point just before the avengers finally arrive.

ζῴης μοι καθύπερθεν
χειρὶ καὶ πλούτῳ τεῶν ἐχθρῶν ὅσον
νῦν ὑπόχειρ ναίεις:
ἐπεί σ᾽ ἐφηύρηκα μοίρᾳ μὲν οὐκ ἐν ἐσθλᾷ
βεβῶσαν, ἃ δὲ μέγιστ᾽ ἔβλαστε νόμιμα, τῶνδε φερομέναν
ἄριστα τᾷ Ζηνὸς εὐσεβείᾳ.

In Jebb’s translation:

May I yet see you live exalted in might and wealth above your enemies by as much as you now dwell beneath their hand! For I have found you enjoying no prosperous estate, yet for observance of nature's highest laws you win the noblest prize by your reverence toward Zeus.