Electra

by Euripides, J. D. Denniston

Overview

The play begins with a peasant's brief recap of some of the background story: how the vengeful Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon on his return from the seige of Troy, and now rules over Argos with her lover, Aegisthus; how Electra's brother Orestes was sent away by the insecure Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, and put under the care of the king of Phocis, where he became friends with the king's son, Pylades; and how Electra herself was also cast out of the royal house and married off to a farmer, a kind man who has never taken advantage of her or her family, and who Electra helps with household chores in return. Despite her genuine appreciation for her peasant husband, Electra clearly still strongly resents both being cast out of her house and her mother's loyalty to the usurping Aegisthus.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198720942
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/12/1979
Series:	Plays of Euripides
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 5.04(h) x 0.68(d)
Lexile:	1290L (what's this?)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Janet Lembke, a poet, is the author of Bronze and Iron and Dangerous Birds. Kenneth Reckford is the author of Aristophanes' Old-and-New Comedy: Six Essays in Perspective. Together they have edited Hecuba, also in the Greek Tragedy in New Translations series.
The late William Arrowsmith was University Professor and Professor of Classics at Boston University, and was the celebrated translator of numerous works from the Greek and Latin. Herbert Golder is Assistant Professor of Classics at Boston University. He is editor-in-chief of Arion.