My review of this book disappeared so I am reposting it!

The three great Greek tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, dramatized Electra and Orestes' quest for revenge for their father's murder by their mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegtheis. While Aeschylus and Sophocles see this dual revenge killing as troubling yet ultimately justified, Euripides questions if matricide is warranted. He contrasts Electra's certainty with Orestes' ambiguity. Consequently, I found it the most interesting of the three plays.

This version of Euripides' Electra is part of a series that pairs a poet with a classical scholar. The exquisite translation, with fine-tuned writing, flowed throughout, making the play a joy to read.

I read all three versions back to back as part of a course on Greek tragedy. I enjoyed the sequential reading and recommend the play to anyone interested in Theater, the Classical World, or both.

ما پیش از آن که باقی زندگی‌مان را زندگی کنیم چه مدت باید غصه بخوریم و اندوهگین باشیم؟

Mommy issues are real.

This was fighting for women rights.

Finished: 16.11.2018
Genre: play
Rating: A++
#CCBookReviews
Conclusion:
Fast moving play filled with dramatic irony!
WE know more than the characters.
That will keep any Greek on the edge of their chair!
Question:
Did Sophocles ever watch TV show Sisters (1991-1996)
Here are my thoughts about that!

n  My Thoughtsn

ohh this is even better than the Sophocles one

بیشتر به هذیان می‌مانست و با منطق و طرز فکر امروز هیچ‌جوره نتوانستم توجیه و تفسیرش کنم. شاید به همین خاطر در انتهای کتاب نقدی را هم ترجمه کرده‌اند که مخاطب را اندکی راهنمایی کند، هرچند باز هم بیشتر پر از اما و اگر بود تا پاسخ
راستی کتاب‌ها و داستان‌ها تاریخ انقضا ندارند؟ همواره باید ستودشان حتی اگر امروز جز شناخت مردم کهن فایده‌ و زیبایی درشان دیده نشود؟ نمی‌دانم

An excellent play by Euripides that captures what makes the Agamemnon-Orestes cycle of Greek mythology so powerful.

It might be my favourite cycle in Greek myth because of the way that there’s a strong sense of Electra and Orestes righting a deep and old wrong. But the fact that Clytemnestra is nevertheless not entirely evil for avenging the death of Iphigenia and the slight done to her by Agamemnon bringing Cassandra home to Argos makes the myth even better. And the way that Orestes is tormented by the Furies afterwards reflects the moral complexity of the crime that Orestes and Electra commit.

This particular play does the best job of capturing that complexity of any I have read. It opens with Electra living with a farmer that Aegisthus has married her to, when Orestes and Pylades arrive with their identities hidden from Electra. When she learns who they are, Orestes and Pylades kill Aegisthus brutally in a ritualistic-sacrifice kind of way. The group then eventually turns on Clytemnestra, before Clytemnestra’s brothers, the Dioscuri, reveal the moral complexity I mentioned earlier: on the one hand, these children have killed their mother, but on the other hand, it isn’t an unjustified act. Electra and Orestes go their separate ways as each faces their own unique punishment, and Euripides left me with some considerable unease as Orestes has to go seek justice in Athens.

Mitos Yayınları'nın kitap girişine koyduğu katı uyarı nedeniyle alıntısız başlıyorum yorumuma...

Elektra'nın hikayesi ile tanışmam 2012 yılında Konya İl Halk Kütüphanesi'nin hiç unutmuyorum duvara yaslı taraftaki Antik Yunan tiyatroları'nın yer aldığı rafta bulduğum MEB klasiklerinden çıkan baskı ile oldu. Pek tabii, ben de herkes gibi psikolojide ismen atıflanan Elektra kompleksi ile çok az fikir sahibi idim ancak hikaye beni çarpmıştı. Euripides'in de aynı isimde bir tiyatrosunun olduğunu biliyordum ancak okumak 9 yıl sonraya fırsat oldu. Toplamda 3 farklı versiyonu olan bu hikayenin (Üçüncüsü Aiskhylos'a ait) Euripides versiyonu nedense bende Sophokles versiyonu kadar güzel bir etki bırakmadı.

Sanırım bunda, kadına ve erkeğe yönelik Euripides'in alışageldiğim sert ifadeleri bir etken. Toplumsal cinsiyet okumaları yapan kişilerin gözüne hemen batacak bu ifadelerin dönemin koşulları altında değerlendirilmesi gerektiğinde ben de hemfikirim. Ancak yine de okuma keyfimi etkiledi mi? Evet etkiledi. Bir de, fakirlik ile ilgili tespitleri var ki Euripides'in akıllara zarar. Elektra'nın kocası gariban adamın isminin bile olmaması, fakirliği ile karikatürize edilmiş bu adamcağızın yazarına direnir bir biçimde inadına iyilik timsali olması... Hepsi daha ileri tartışmalara gebe.

Bu hikayenin en kafa karıştırıcı boyutu, karakterlerin kaderleri ile boğuşmaları zannımca. Kader kavramını felsefi olarak tartışmaya açmış -belki de istemeden- Euripides. Zira

kitabın sonunda yaşanılan suçluluk travması bunun en basit göstergesi. Ortada bir kötülük var mı yok mu kendileri aslında şüphede değiller. Aslında kendileri kötülük yaptıklarını biliyorlar.

Euripides, belki de mutlak iyinin veya mutlak kötünün olmadığını, iyinin ve kötünün bakış açısına göre değişebildiğini anlatmak istemiş... Bilmiyorum. Açıkçası Sophokles'te bu nasıldı çok zaman geçtiğinden pek hatırlayamıyorum ama yine de okunmalı mı? Muhakkak okunmalı.

M. Baran
20.02.2021
Saati 02:50 etmişiz ya!

Ankara

Euripides's version of the classic House of Atreus tragedy brought out the humanity in many of the main characters. In Aeschylus's version of the same timeline, Orestes and Electra are caricatures -- much of their reasoning is condensed into the typical revenge and honor plotline, mythical in exectuion. However, here, the characters are contradictory, confused, uncertain, brave, scared. They are logical and real. His female characters are undeniably strong and at the center of attention, their arguments and speeches revealing a clarity and intelligence that was surprising.

It is said that Euripides wrote in two keys, and this is none the more clear than in Electra, where the bleak is met with the humorous, seriousness met with parody. At times ruthless in its gruesomeness, this tragedy was at the same time infused with dark humor, sardonic and full of irony, comical in its parody of Aeschylus.

Euripides has quickly risen to the top of my favorite Greek tragedians.

دو زن روبروی هم.
الکترای شوی نادیده داغ دیده ی پدر و جفای مادر و شوهر مادر کشیده، در آتش انتقام می سوزد. او هوادار قانون پدر است:
که زن گرش عقل و هوش باشد
باید که سر پیش مردش فرو آرد
و آن زن که غیر از این پندارد
در چشم من جوی عقل ندارد
کلوتمنسترا شوهرکشی که دلیلش را دخترکشی شوهرش و خیانت او می داند.
دیالوگ روشنگری بین این دو قبل از قتل کلوتمنسترا در می گیرد.
سرانجام خشم الکترا اراده ی برادرش را برای کشتن مادر استوار می کند.

I've been going through The Oresteia: Agamemnon, Women at the Graveside, Orestes in Athens, An Oresteia, and other facets of the story. Now, last, I've gotten to Euripides version. In many ways this was my favorite version. I loved how Orestes was reluctant to kill his mother and Electra pushed him into it. I loved how compelling the argument was from Clytemnestra for sparing her life (more compelling than the emotional appeal of displaying her breast in Aeschylus's version) and how Euripides more effectively shifts perspectives and sympathies than other versions do. I loved the sly ways in Euripides made fun of the previous versions, like the idea that Orestes footprints or hair would be recognizable decades later, something that felt dramatic and exciting when I first read it but is obviously preposterous. And perhaps best was the way in which Apollo seems to be wrong in his command to Orestes to kill his mother and Orestes realizes it, pushes back, but does it anyway. All around, this play felt fresh, alive and exciting to me.

orestes: hey maybe we’re going a bit overboard ://
electra: what did you just say? that you’re a pussy?