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I must admit I've enjoyed a number of these over-the-top ancient Greek tragedies. I took my time with this and Sophocles' Electra did not disappoint. I read the translation by Meineck & Woodruff that was very easy to read. There were some contemporary words/phrases that did seem to jump off the page as not consistent with the rest of the more measured dialogue. Not that Electra was measured by any stretch of the imagination. She has let her anger grow through the years until it has erupted like a volcano with a lava of rage & hatred that flows over her misery and grief in this play. It is a character study of a woman who is obsessed by her desire for revenge. A revenge that involves killing her mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover Aegisthus who killed her father. Sounds reasonable, right? Well wait right there. King Agamemnon (Electra's father) had one of his daughters killed as a sacrifice to the Gods to ensure fair winds as they sailed to Troy. I'd say Clytemnestra had a right to be plenty angry herself. While Agamemnon was off to war for such a long time, Clytemnestra took a lover. When Agamemnon returns from war he was murdered by the lovers. Electra refused to live in peace with them, unlike her sister, which has led to a life full of unfulfillment & misery. When we meet her in the play her long lamentations are full of her grief over her father's death many years ago, her miserable life, rage and unrelenting desire for revenge. She prays for her brother, Orestes, who she had sent away for safekeeping to return to their home and be the instrument of her revenge & murder her mother & her lover.
Some things I wondered about: I am not a student of ancient Greek plays but found the Chorus to move from debating with Electra over her behavior & plans to being full team Electra. I don't recall if that was always the Choruses purpose in these plays. I thought they normally provided background & insight into the main characters.
Is Clytemnestra villain or victim? For the most part we only get Electra's side of the story that she has been kept practically a slave by her. But if she raged against her mother from the beginning, maybe that is why her mother turned away from her.
Electra also has an encounter with her sister Chrysotemis, who is a passive foil to Electra's rants. You wonder what it was about these two sisters that made them respond to their circumstances so differently.
Lastly, Orestes. Why was he so ready to fulfill his sister's wishes? He was a young boy when taken away from his home. Did his tutor fill his head with stories of his "evil" mother and the need for revenge?
The revenge scene is quite chilling.