Sophocles Electra - Essay Example

Sophocles’ ElectraElectra who is a daughter to Clytemnestra tells us that her mother is an unkind and merciless woman. She killed her own husband; therefore, deserves to be punished for her deeds (Sophocles and Roisman 24). According to Electra, Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon the husband (Sophocles and Roisman 167) so that she could be with Aegisthus. However, Clytemnestra gives a different picture on murder. According to Clytemnestra, she was exacting vengeance for Agamemnon's pointless sacrifice of their daughter.

In this case, the murder of his husband takes a new shape in a move to justify that she has some humanity and this supports her actions.Chrysothemis is the youngest daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra Chrysothemis. Even though, she knows her mother is corrupt, and she understands her unjust murder of her father, she refuses to mourn the way her sister Electra does. She recognizes that she will benefit enormously by siding with those in authority. On the contrary, Electra who sticks to the doctrines of justice, Chrysothemis sides to the principle of pragmatism in a bid to satisfy and benefit on her own demands (Sophocles and Roisman 54).

Electra who plays the hero has a difficult role in ensuring that the principle of fairness and honor is in play at all times. She finds it inevitable to participate in her mother's killing. Her position is increasingly evident though out the drama of the uncertainty of Electra's understanding on the very levels of justice that motivate her.It is evident from the onset that Electra is right to cry for the murder of her father by her mother. Her mourning is a natural reaction to a horrible manifestation, and she purports that even though she does not certainly decide on grief, she feels compelled, by the values of integrity, to performance as she does.

Electra's mourning arises from mistreatment by both Aegisthus and Clytemnestra to her, who, possibly susceptible by Electra's denial to forget the past.Electra is ready to feel pain because of integrity and honesty. She lawfully longs to revenge her father's death (Sophocles and Roisman 125). Electra soon weakens her situation in her opening meeting with Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra claims that she killed Agamemnon to apply vengeance for his sacrifice of their daughter. Electra retaliates by opposing that integrity cannot be attained by countering murder of one person with another killing.

Electra represents the woman in Greek society. The play portrays the unimportance of women in the Greek society considering mistreatment that she undergoes. Her sister Chrysothemis plays down in order to benefit from the authority, unlike her who insists on justice for wrong doings by her mother. When Orestes revealed his identity to Electica, his sisters’ passion at the prospect of finally exacting vengeance increased, and she gained confidence, validating an intense ambiguity to her first persistence to look for justice.

Electra cries out for additional aggressiveness as she pays attention to Orestes deal lethal blows to Clytemnestra, and she lures Aegisthus as he returns back home. She denies Aegisthus the opportunity to express himself before he dies, and she insists on leaving his dead body out for vultures to eat (Sophocles and Roisman 167).She is successful at the end because she attained justice at the end of her struggle. Having been mistreated and abandoned by the sister and killing of her father by his mother Clytemnestra and Aegisthus.

Electra remains on stage singing monody of sorrow towards expressing her grieve over the unjust deeds of her families. She shares her grief and her constant cry over the killings of her father of her, Agamemnon.Work citedSophocles, Electra, and Hanna Roisman. Sophocles Electra. Newburyport MA: Focus Publishing, R Pullins Co, 2008. Print