When was electra written

Within this version of the myth, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus married Electra off to a kind peasant man in order to get her out of the palace and remove her as a challenge to their new reign. Orestes comes of age and returns to Argos with Pylades in order to avenge his father. The pair disguise themselves as …show more content… His interpretation of Elektra was written around , later in his life, and was considered one of his most successful works.

Elektra follows the same premise, with Orestes being sent away to Phocis later returning to Argos under the guise that he had been killed in the Delphic Games, posing as an urn bearer. When Elektra hears news that Orestes is dead, she is distraught that her only hope at avenging her father seems to have disappeared. The chorus that Elektra confides in is comprised of woman of Mycenae, and she also shares her thoughts on her current situation with her sister Chrysothemis, who has accepted their predicament and is therefore treated better than her sister.

At their first meeting, Elektra and Orestes do not recognize each other after having been separated for so many years. I gave you birth! Have pity on me!

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Read More. Creon: A Tragic Hero In Antigone By Sophocles Words 5 Pages The reader feels pity for Creon for his lack of time to grieve and his tragic mistake that led to the loss of his family, this demonstrates his goodness.

Livia In Ancient Rome Words 3 Pages During the civil strife that followed the murder of Julius Caesar her first husband Nero had joined the party of the assassins and fought at Philippi. Character Analysis Of Hamlet Words 4 Pages For Hamlet, however, the problem of seeing a genuine difference between his original father and the man Gertrude has called his father assumes enormous significance at precisely this.

Does Oedipus Deserve His Fate Words 3 Pages While he is escaping his fate he runs into his real father Laius, who he does not know is his real father, and kills him. Related Topics. Open Document. Its date is not known, but various stylistic similarities with the Philoctetes BC and the Oedipus at Colonus BC lead scholars to suppose that it was written towards the end of Sophocles' career.

Jebb dates it between BC and BC. Set in the city of Argos a few years after the Trojan War, the play tells of a bitter struggle for justice by Electra and her brother Orestes for the murder of their father Agamemnon by Clytemnestra and their stepfather Aegisthus.

When King Agamemnon returns from the Trojan War, his wife Clytemnestra who has taken Agamemnon's cousin Aegisthus as a lover kills him. King Agamemnon returns from the Trojan War with a new concubine, Cassandra. During the war, his wife, Clytemnestra, has taken Agamemnon's cousin Aegisthus to be her lover.

Cassandra kills the king and his concubine, believing the adultery was justified, since Agamemnon had sacrificed their daughter Iphigeneia before the war, for the gods commanded this way.

Electra, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, manages to rescue her infant brother Orestes from her mother, by sending him to Strophius of Phocis. The tragedy begins, years later, with Orestes returning for revenge.

Orestes arrives together with his friend Pylades, son of Strophius and his tutor. Hamartia Character flaw or judgment error of the protagonist of a Greek tragedy. Hamartia is derived the Greek word hamartanein , meaning to err or to make a mistake. The first writer to use the term was Aristotle, in The Poetics. Hybris or Hubris Great pride. Hybris often is the character flaw hamartia of a protagonist in Greek drama. Pride was considered a grave sin because it placed too much emphasis on individual will, thereby downplaying the will of the state and endangering the community as a whole.

Because pride makes people unwilling to accept wise counsel, they act rashly and make bad decisions. Machine Armlike device in an ancient Greek theater that could lower a "god" onto the stage from the "heavens. A contrived event is a plot weakness in which a writer makes up an incident—such as a detective stumbling upon an important clue or a hero arriving in the nick of time to save a damsel in distress—to further the action. The audience considers such events improbable, realizing that the writer has failed to develop the plot and the characters in such a way that their actions spring from their motivations.

However, it can also refer to a character who becomes the "god from the machine. Greek actors wore masks to reveal emotion or personality; to depict the trade, social class or age of a character; and to provide visual and audio aids for audience members in the rear of the theater. Ode Poem sung in a play or a festival. Old comedy displayed great imagination and used cutthroat satire, caricature, and sometimes vulgar dialogue to ridicule people, ideas, trends, and institutions.

The Clouds , by Aristophanes, is an example of old comedy. Onkos Headdress worn by some Greek actors to increase their height and, thus, visibility to theater audiences. Orchestra See Theater, Greek. Parabasis : an ode in which the chorus addresses the audience to express opinions of the author, including his views on politics, social trends, and other topics.

In The Clouds , a comedy by Aristophanes, the chorus scolds the audience for its lukewarm reception of an earlier production of the play. Paraskenia See Theater, Greek. Parodos, or Parode See chorus. Periakti Prism having surfaces painted with pictures. When it revolved, it could change the scenery on a stage. Peripeteia In a tragedy, sudden reversal of fortune from good to bad.

Poetics Important work by Aristotle written about B. It analyzes Greek theater and outlines its origin and development. One of its theses is that literature and other forms of art imitate the activity of humans. Tragedy is the higher form of the playwright's craft, Aristotle says, because it imitates the action of noble persons and depicts lofty events.

Comedy, on the other hand, focuses on ordinary humans and events. Prologos : Prologue that begins the play with dialogue indicating the focus or theme of the play. Proscenium See Theater, Greek. Protagonist Main character in an ancient Greek play who usually interacts with the chorus. In a tragedy, the protagonist is traditionally a person of exalted status—such as a king, a queen, a political leader, or a military hero—who has a character flaw inordinate pride, for example.

This character flaw causes the protagonist to make an error of judgment. Additionally, the typical protagonist experiences a moment of truth in which he or she recognizes and acknowledges his or her mistakes, failures, or sins.

Skene See Theater, Greek. Stasimon See chorus. Satire In Greek literature, a play or a passage in a play that pokes fun at public figures, institutions, ideas or the gods. An example of a satire is The Clouds , a comedy by Aristophanes. Satyr play Play that pokes fun at a serious subject involving gods and myths; a parody of stories about gods or myths.

Fragments of Sophocles' satyr play Ichneutae Trackers survive along with his seven complete tragedies. Tetralogy Four plays three tragedies and one satyr play staged by a playwright during the drama competition each spring in honor of Dionysus. Theater, Greek Open-air structure in which plays were performed. The stage faced the afternoon sunlight to illuminate a performance while allowing the audience to view the action without squinting.

A Greek theater consisted of the following:. Skene : Building behind the stage. First used as a dressing area for actors and sometimes an Paraskenia : Extensions or annexes on the sides of the skene. Proscenium : Acting area, or stage, in front of the skene. Orchestra : Ground-level area where the chorus performed. It was in front of the proscenium. Parados : Passage on the left or right through which the chorus entered the orchestra.

Thymele : Altar in the center of the orchestra used to make sacrifices to Dionysus. Theatron : Tiered seating area built into a hillside in the shape of a horseshoe. Machine : Armlike device on the skene that could lower a "god" onto the stage from the heavens.

Theatron Tiered seating area built into a hillside in the shape of a horseshoe. Thespian Noun meaning actor or actress ; adjective referring to any person or thing pertaining to Greek drama or drama in general. The word is derived from Thespis , the name of a Greek of the 6th Century B.