Who is electra

A woman may be styled a temptress, an instrument of temptation, a natural force that needs control, and yet she need not do anything to earn these epithets. Yet the man who is tempted, or controlling, must act to earn this distinction.

Thus the ethics are applied with a double standard. Answer: Kentauros was originally the name of a primitive Thessalian tribe. It can be transliterated perhaps as without bull. Question: how is electra portrayed in libation bearers, electra and electra? I think that Electra is harder in Euripides version, what circumstances different from Sophocles play do u think has made her this way?

Answer: To both Sophocles and Euripides Electra was an historical person. For some reason there were a number of stories about her that both these authors had access to. Each author may have had access to different stories. First the author had to make sense of the story, then he had to fit that information into a play that brought Electra to life. Finally he had to fit the whole play to the moral purpose that he wrote it for.

Different playwrights had different purposes in writing a play. There may have even been political motivations. Answer: Electra lived during very difficult times. One theory has it that myths are formulated during stressful times. The explosion of the valcano at Thera may have done this. Half, or more, of the population was destroyed. The political scene was upended, and people had to struggle to survive. One result was stories that are still being retold. Electra seemed to fare better than some.

Her brother had trouble with the furies. She had to help him through this difficulty. Later she married and had a family. Answer: The general thinking is that the works of Homer are not works of fiction, but rather stories that have be passed down through the ages from poet to poet.

But many aspects of these stories are hard to support as historical. So we look to archaeological evidence to support the historical aspects of these stories. Some aspects have been supported. But the life of Electra is not supported by archaeological evidence. She is mentioned once in Homer and not in Hesiod. Since she does appear in The Orestea of Stesichorus — BC it is not likely she is a fictional character of Aeschylus.

So she would have to be classifed as a mythical mortal. One argument against her being a mythical mortal is her name. This is a name which identifies a realm that is consistent with the ancient beliefs of the Indo-European Culture. It is generally believed that the goddess and the mortal are two separate beings. The name does not seem to relate to the stories of Electra presented in the ancient Greek Dramas.

The names of both Clytemnestra and Penelope both relate to the myths including them. Helen has a name with a meaning similar to Electra and she is believed to be a demoted goddess. There were actually cults that worshipped Helen but Electra does not seem to have collected any cults. I have some interesting similarities with Electra. I was hone when my dad died and heard a Crack and found my dadad lying on the floor of the bathroom naked with the back of his head caved in.

The police reported this was from him hitting his head and recanted reports of homicide. My mom is still with the man I believe helped murder my dad and all this took place because my dad was having see with my oldest sister not his daughter and he became amore informant for the drug task force and received only 10 months in County jail for his crime and even tho his charges had nothing to do with drugs, he was able to get out of charges.

An interesting read on this site, thank you. I am doing a paper on her and I need some. Also is this Electra the same goddess as Electra the mother of Iris? Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker. To ask a question about this topic note the topic Electra and Click here Questions and Answers Question: How has the ideal of Electra influenced society in art, literature, etc from the Grecian times and downward?

Answer: The ideal of Electra: For if he that is dead is earth and nothing, poorly lying, and they shall never in their turn pay death for death in justice, then shall all shame be dead and all men's piety. Answer: One of the following images of about BCE could be of Electra: woman on far left head of woman on far left woman on near left head of woman on near left woman on right head of woman on right For your purposes one of these images should work.

If you wish pictures contemporary with the subject then study these: Sarcophagus with dead man Question: who was she? Question: centaurs and lapith Answer: Lapiths and Centaurs were related by being descended from Ixion. Question: what about electra with aiskhelos,sofoklis and urpedes? Euripides, Electra ed. Gilbert Murray Sophocles, Electra ed. Sir Richard Jebb Question: what is the electra complezx?

Answer: In addition to reading this article, you need to read the two plays called Electra. Question: what famous person can be compared to electra? Answer: You could try Lucrezia Borgia Question: Who is the tragic hero in Electra? Answer: Orestes is driven crazy by his deed of murder. Question: what message was Euripides tring to portray to the Greek audience? In a later Roman tradition, the poet Virgil describes how she tried in vain to warn the Trojans against accepting the Greek gift of the Wooden Horse.

In a bid to shock and appall their audiences, the later tragedians, Sophocles and Euripides, writing 40 years after Aeschylus, placed her front and center, in a much more active role. He is relentlessly pursued by them to the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi where he is instructed to go to Athens to be tried in a fair and just court.

In the homicide court of the Areopagus next to the Acropolis , attended by the goddess Athena, he is tried and absolved of the crime — symbolic of the triumph of Athenian justice over blood-guilt and vengeance. The story of a sister and brother taking revenge on their mother for the murder of their father is bursting at the seams with dramatic content.

All three Athenian tragedians of the 5th century BC, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides , present her as fanatically hostile to her mother Clytemnestra, and certainly the main driving force behind her brother Orestes, but there are key differences in their portrayal.

Euripides went even further, always seeking to provoke his audiences. His portrayal of Electra is nothing short of a femme fatale : forceful, calculating, and full of guile. She is obsessed with her hatred for her mother, her love for her father, but is nevertheless overcome by guilt and remorse.

The impact on Athenian audiences would have have been shocking — yes, Orestes was the one who committed the murder but she was the real killer. While Agamemnon was away at war, Clytemnestra took a lover named Aegisthus, and they plotted to murder Agamemnon when he returned.

They also wanted to kill Orestes, Agamemnon's young son, but his sister Electra rescued him and sent him away to live in safety. As an adult, Orestes returned home with his cousin Pylades to avenge his father's murder. Although Orestes disguised himself to enter the palace, Electra recognized him. She helped her brother and Pylades murder Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.

Orestes and Pylades go off in search of Aegisthus, find him engaged in a sacrifice, and make him the victim. The body of Aegisthus is brought in, and Electra addresses it with all the hate-filled remarks she has long stored up. When Clytemnestra comes to the hut, lured by a report that Electra has had a child, mother and daughter exchange reproaches and insults.

Then Clytemnestra enters the hut, and her screams tell the audience that she is being killed. Both Electra and Orestes are remorseful and doubt the justice of what they have done. They instruct Electra to marry Pylades and inform Orestes that he will find absolution for his act only after a long persecution by the Furies.

It was the Sophoclean tragedy that influenced Voltaire and the Italian tragedian Vittorio Alfieri in their 18th centuiV dramas named after Orestes, as well as many later European authors. The Strauss-von Hofmannsthal Elektra is even more vehement, and their Clytemnestra even more depraved, than the Sophoclean originals. Strauss was apparently tiying to outdo his previous music drama Salome in bizarre musical effects and sensational action.