Electra (Drama Classics)

The titular protagonist of the play, Electra embodies the attributes of a traditional Greek heroine in that she follows her own will in the face of authority and has a strong moral compass. Aside from her brother, Orestes, Electra is the only character who refuses to accept her father’s death. This refusal of acceptance is seen in her public displays of grief. She ignores all attempts at conformity and submission on the part of the Chorus, her sister Chrysothemis, and her mother Clytemnestra. These women tell Electra that she mustn’t waste away her life in suffering, yet she is incapable of ignoring her father’s unjust murder. She holds onto the hope that her brother will return and save their family from Clytemnestra and the new king Aegisthus’s corruption. Electra serves as a forceful reestablishing of justice, in that she vocalizes the pain of her father’s death and refuses to let her family members forget him.

Electra speaks her mind to everyone she encounters. She openly scolds Chrysothemis for being a coward and failing to act on the grave injustice that their family has suffered. She is also self-aware of her position within the family: “What is more, / I am a violation to them (477-478).