How long is the play electra

Queen Clytemnestra no longer has to worry about her son coming back to kill her. She takes the slave inside to celebrate. Electra grieves alone outside the palace and resolves that, now that she can't rely on her brother, she has to kill her mother herself. Before she starts sharpening her sword, Orestes shows up with his friend, Pylades.

When he realizes that this bereaved woman is his sister, he reveals his true identity. Much embracing and rejoicing follows. The two of them quickly agree to avenge their father together. By "together" they mean that Orestes will go inside and stab Clytemnestra, while Electra stands outside and encourage him verbally. So they do. We know from Clytemnestra's screams that the deed is done. Orestes comes back outside, carrying Clytemnestra's body covered in a sheet.

Electra is overjoyed. Just then King Aegisthus shows up, pleased as punch because he heard that Orestes is dead. He's about five minutes behind everybody else. Yep, says Orestes, and here's his body! It doesn't take long for Aegisthus to realize that the dead body is his wife and the man before him is Orestes. He resigns himself to his fate being murdered by Orestes , and is ushered inside the palace as the play comes to a close.

Parents Home Homeschool College Resources. Study Guide. By Sophocles. Previous Next. What's Up with the Ending? Tired of ads? Join today and never see them again. Get started. Electra, Orestes's sister, is heard sobbing within the house outside of which the three stand discussing how to execute their plan. Orestes wishes to greet her, but instead the Old Man leads him away to present an offering at his father's grave, as Apollo's oracle has instructed. Electra emerges from inside the palace gates, pouring forth her grief in a mournful address to the heavens and praying to the deities to help her exact revenge for her father's death.

The chorus, which is comprised of the virgins of the palace, attempt to console Electra, but Electra, bemoaning the oppression she suffers at her mother's hands, her deep sorrow at her father's death, and her longing for Orestes' return, proves inconsolable.

Chrysothemis, Electra's younger sister, emerges from the palace with a funeral offering. She is unsurprised to find Electra mourning as usual outside the palace gates, and scolds her for it, urging her to get on with her life. She warns Electra that Aegisthus, their mother, Clytemnestra's, husband, intends to lock her away in a secluded room unless she pulls herself together, to which threat Electra rolls her eyes. Chrysothemis then explains her purpose in carrying funeral offerings.

She has been sent to make an offering at Agamemnon's grave by Clytemnestra, who is terrified by a dream she had the night before that Agamemnon, the husband she murdered, returned and planted his scepter in the floor of the house. The scepter grew branches from which leaves grew and overshadowed the land.

Electra successfully convinces her sister to throw away their mother's offering and instead to leave an offering of their own. Chrysothemis agrees and leaves to do so. Clytemnestra approaches with a servant who also carries an offering. She chastises Electra for mourning in the streets, and the two have an argument about Agamemnon's murder. Clytemnestra maintains that it was a just murder, done as revenge for Agamemnon's sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia.

Electra holds that the sacrifice was necessary, and that, regardless of this detail, Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon out of lust for Aegisthus. After this angry altercation, Clytemnestra, standing beside an altar, prays to Apollo for wealth, longevity, and, in guarded terms, for the death of her son, Orestes, so that he might not return and disrupt her life. As soon as Clytemnestra has finished praying, the Old Man enters in the character of a Phocian, bearing a false account of Orestes's death.

Clytemnestra is briefly touched by maternal feelings, yet delighted that her prayer has been answered; Electra is overcome with grief. Clytemnestra ushers the Old Man inside to receive her hospitality. Chrysothemis returns from Agamemnon's grave, full of joy and sure that Orestes has returned, because at their father's grave she found a fresh offering of flowers and a lock of hair. Electra informs her sister that, to the contrary, Orestes is dead, and that is revenge is to be achieved, the sisters must take matters into their own hands.