Classical Mythology

(^420) THE GREEK SAGAS: GREEK LOCAL LEGENDS
nant by him; the children that she bore him she loved once but now, as it is all
too clear, they have become her dire enemy. I'll tell you what she is like. If she
had been born a serpent or a viper, she would have been able to infect by touch
alone, no need of fangs to bite, because of an inherent, venomous audacity.
This robe, what am I to call it? Could I find the proper words? A trap for a
wild beast, a snare for a corpse, or a covering for after the bath. One might call
it a net to catch fish or one for animals or fabric to entangle the feet. The sort of
thing a thief might own in order to make his living by ensnaring wayfarers and
robbing them. With such a treacherous device, he could kill many, steal much,
and warm his heart in comfort.
May I never get this kind of woman for a wife. By the will of the gods, may
I die first, childless.
In the finale of the play Orestes is driven out by the Furies, frightening, with
faces like Gorgons and serpents entwined in their hair. He will find salvation in
the third play, the Ewnenides (as we have seen) through the agency of Apollo
and Athena and a civil court of law. The righteous will of Zeus is eventually
accomplished.
SOPHOCLES' ELECTRA
In Aeschylus' Libation Bearers, Orestes maintains center stage, determining the
course of the action. True, a stirring and compelling portrait of Electra emerges,
delineating characteristics with great potential for further development. Yet she
exits from the play before Orestes and Pylades enter the palace, and her pres-
ence, therefore, does not dilute the power of a vengeance delivered by Orestes
himself at the dictates of Apollo. All is as it should be for the central play of a
trilogy entitled Oresteia.
How different are the two Electras that follow! We do not know for sure
whether Sophocles wrote his version before or after that of Euripides; the date
for Sophocles' play is unknown, and 416 B.C. for Euripides' is only a conjecture.
Because of the nature of the development in motives and characterizations and
the drastic shift in religious and philosophical sentiment, Euripides' play is best
considered last.
Sophocles' Electra begins with the return of Orestes to Mycenae, accompa-
nied by both his tutor and his friend Pylades, ready to set in motion his plans
to exact vengeance from Aegisthus and Clytemnestra for their murder of his fa-
ther Agamemnon. In Sophocles, both are the murderers, not as in Aeschylus,
where Clytemnestra did the actual deed herself. Orestes clearly and succinctly
emphasizes the justice of his mission, ordained by god (32-37):
f
ORESTES: When I went to the Pythian oracle to find out how I should win jus-
tice from the murderers of my father, Phoebus Apollo uttered this response,
which I will tell you now: I alone, without men in arms, am to steal by treach-
ery their righteous slaughter by my own hand.