Electra

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 450

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue, Lines 1-444

Lines 445-691

Lines 692-1466

Lines 1467-1859

Exodus, Lines 1860-2008

Character Analysis

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Exodus, Lines 1860-2008Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Exodus, Lines 1860-2008 Summary

Electra waits outside the house, keeping watch for Aegisthus. She describes what the men (including her cousin Pylades) are doing inside the house to the Chorus. Clytemnestra cries out for Aegisthus, ironically shouting “Oh child my child, pity the mother who bore you!” (1875). Electra comments that Clytemnestra has only ever pitied herself, never Agamemnon or Orestes. Clytemnestra cries out that she has been struck twice. Orestes exits the house and tells Electra that their mother will no longer insult her. Aegisthus soon approaches the house. Electra tells him that the men are inside with proof of Orestes’s death. Aegisthus demands the gates be thrown open to reveal this proof, to which Orestes and Pylades disclose a covered body. Orestes tells Aegisthus that the corpse is not his—that Clytemnestra is not about the house but right before him. Before Aegisthus can speak, Electra interrupts him out of fear that he will play word games.

Orestes tells Aegisthus that he will die in the same spot that Agamemnon did. He tells Aegisthus to enter the house, and that he will follow behind. Aegisthus, Orestes, and Electra walk into the house.

Exodus, Lines 1860-2008 Analysis

Electra’s themes of familial ties and the power of speech culminate in the Exodus. Clytemnestra is unaware that the man who murders her is her son. In her pitying the mother of this stranger, she is in fact, pitying herself. Clytemnestra’s self-absorbed nature is put on full display, as she cares little for her children’s wellbeing. Orestes also murders Aegisthus. In avenging his father’s unjust death, he reinstates Agamemnon’s bloodline on the throne and strengthens the family. The family is subsequently purged of Clytemnestra and Aegisthus’s wrongs insofar as Aegisthus occupied the place of Agamemnon. Electra’s grieving comes to an end, as she is finally reunited with her brother. The Chorus proclaims, “O seed of Atreus: / you suffered and broke free, / you took aim and struck; / you have won your way through / to the finish” (2004-2008). The seed of Atreus refers to Agamemnon’s bloodline, which is now free of corruption from that of Aegisthus and will be preserved by Orestes.

As Aegisthus observes Clytemnestra’s body, he quickly realizes its true identity. Aegisthus then proclaims that he is a “dead man,” knowing he has been caught in a trap (1966). He attempts to speak, but Electra is quick to remind Orestes that they must act quickly. Orestes tells Aegisthus, “Get in with you, quickly. / There is no word game: / your life is at stake” (1989-1991). He refuses Aegisthus any say in how he is to die. Again, Orestes’s identity changes before another’s eyes—the corpse presented to Aegisthus transforming from Orestes’s to Clytemnestra’s. Words and actions are used interchangeably, as Electra narrates the murder of Clytemnestra and urges Orestes to finish his deed instead of engaging in speech.