Super good play very interesting characters Odysseus is a dick fuck that guy. Has a weird ending that requires some thought and high key a little bit of re reading to get

Joyful sibling reunions and the wheels of justice....and just the side issue of matricide.

Having grown up in the aftermath of her father's murder by her mother and in witnessing the marriage of her mother to her father's ancient enemy, Electra is left to lament her fate as an outcast daughter. She rages against her mother's crimes and yearns for the day that her brother will return to seek vengeance. After much subterfuge and many misunderstandings, the brother and sister reunite at last. Together, they hatch a plot to avenge their father- by murdering their mother and her husband in the name of justice.

Although a beautifully constructed play in itself, this is by far the most unsatisfying treatment of the Electra myth I've read. We're lucky enough to possess the plays by all three of the great Greek tragedians on the subject of Electra/Orestes but I struggle to find a deep sense of tragedy or complexity in this version. The reason for Clytemnestra killing her husband Agamemnon (he sacrificed their daughter to the gods at the beginning of the ten year Trojan War) is brushed off by Electra as if it were merely an unfortunate necessity and no further mention is given to this motive behind her mother's actions. Although the play makes it clear that, from Electra's perspective, she has been mistreated and abused by her mother throughout the years, therefore providing her with extra motive, the cold and calculating Orestes shows absolutely no sign of hesitancy or revulsion towards murdering his own mother. There is no tension in this act, no sense of dread, no remorse or fear of the Furies, only cold 'justice'. In my opinion, this diminishes the myth's power and any emotional impact it might have had.

In terms of language, structure, set ups, it's all superb as you would expect, but I just don't feel it has the impact in the same way as in the Aeschylus or Euripides treatments of the myth.

Few works manage to capture the entire breadth of human emotion in a short 30-40 pages, fewer less do it well. Though these works benefit from an established base of characters and events, the craftsmanship of the Attic poets still shines through. Ajax, of the four, remains one of my favorite pieces of drama, peculiar among Sophocles works for having active participation of the Gods despite not being the source of resolution. Either way, incredible stuff.