Justice or Revenge: Literary Analysis of Sophocles’Electra
Electrais considered as Sophocles’ best character drama. In his version of this play, Sophocles displays thorough analysis of Electra’s morals and motives. Unlike Euripides’ Electra, Sophocles’Electra emerges triumphantly from her endeavors. She successfully avenged her father’s death without being fully consumed by her wrath. One of the most evident themes in the play is the question of revenge or justice. In the play, Sophocles emphasizes the social and religious problem of justice. Some argue that Sophocles affirms violence and killings as a way to seek justice while others argue that he questions it (Ormand, 101). In this analysis, we concur that Sophocles puts more weight on justice through three factors: Electra’s motives, portrayal of Clytemnestra, and Orestes’s motives.
First, Electra’s motives, moral principles and beliefs are the focal points of the play. This is what makes the play primarily, a character drama. At the beginning of the play, it would seem that justice is given more emphasis compared to revenge. Sophocles draws pity from his audience by emphasizing Electra’s sufferings. However, we can also see that Electra holds the sufferings by her own choice, thus forging an identity of false victimhood. Electra unnecessarily holds her grief and develops distorted satisfaction in self-torture. In this regard, Electra becomes vulnerable in making the perceived injustice into revenge. In the Chorus, there appears a warning for Electra that this hatred can burn her soul. Indeed, there are points in the story that Electra becomes irrational and too emotional because of hatred and grief (Jantzen, 118). Nevertheless, Electra remains loyal to his father’s tomb. To the end, she still remembers her father. While she regrets that Clytemnestra and Aegisthus cannot be killed twice, she still believes of righteous revenge—as how it is done by his brother (Hogan, 271).
Moreover, Sophocles justifies the killing of Clytaemnestra by portraying her as outrageously cruel. It also seems that Sophocles favors justice because he downplays matricide as a crime. Clytaemnestra celebrates the death anniversary of his husband in grand festivals. She isolates her daughter and inflicts pain towards her. She does not mourn to the supposed death of his own son, and even wishes that he never returns. Through these characteristics, the audience can sympathize with Electra and Orestes for desiring to kill their mother (Luschnig and Woodruff, xxvii). She is portrayed to be undeserving of her children’s love and sympathy. In the same way, she appears to be deserving of the punishment inflicted to her. This also makes a stronger point for killing her as a form of justice for the death of Agamemnon.
Lastly, the choice between justice and revenge becomes clearer if we are to put another character in the analysis: Orestes. Electra wants for his brother to return because she believes that his brother could extract revenge for her. Likewise, Clytaemnestra is afraid that Orestes would return and avenge his father’s death too (Jantzen, 118). True enough, Orestes symbolizes revenge more than Electra does. Orestes’ plot for revenge against his mother and her lover serves as the main goal for his return, and this is marginal to Electra’s actions (Ormand, 103). Unlike Electra, Orestes does not mention his father’s death as the motivation for his actions. It is clear that his primary interests are fame and glory. He believes that lying is simply an instrument for successful actions (Beer, 120). Meanwhile, Orestes is only a secondary character. Electra is the central character of the play. Hence, revenge could not be considered as the primary emphasis of the play.
Sophocles’ version of Electra is greatly focused on Electra’s own moral views and actions. Throughout the play, while she can be vulnerable to direct her emotions towards revenge, she remains loyal to finding justice for her father. This is supported by Clytaemnestra’s characterization in the play. Orestes’ motive also sets differently from that of Electra’s. Hence, Sophocles supports justice, and not revenge, in his version of the play, Electra.
Works Cited:
Beer, Josh. Sophocles and the Tragedy of Athenian Democracy. Connecticut, Greenwood Publishing, 2004.
Hogan, James. A Commentary on the Plays of Sophocles. Illinois: Illinois University Press, 1991.
Jantzen G. Foundations of Violence. New York, Routledge, 2004.
Luschnig, Cecelia and Woodruff, Paul. The Electra Plays. Indiana: Hackett Publishing, 2009.
Ormand, Kirk. A Companion to Sophocles. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
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