Important questions about Electra and their answers

زائر

Important questions about Electra and their answers

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Electra is an especially complex play because
of the moral ambiguity of the ultimate revenge. How does Sophocles's
presentation of his characters enhance this complexity?

By the end of the play, the audience might not be completely convinced that
the revenge is entirely justified or necessary. This is largely due to the way
in which Sophocles presents his characters. The villains are not entirely
villainous, and the heroine is not exclusively heroic. Over the course of the
play, Electra seems to lose her grip on rationality as she is increasingly consumed
by her desire for revenge. The Electra we see in the final scene is
disturbingly violent and unjust, relishing the sounds of her mother's death,
refusing to let Aegisthus speak before he is killed, and demanding that his
corpse by left out for scavengers. Sophocles forces us to ask, how can we
unreservedly admire this heroine?

Likewise, how can we fully hate either Clytemnestra or Aegisthus? Sophocles
allows them both to display a certain element of human decency. Clytemnestra's
relief upon hearing the news of Orestes' death is hardly unqualified; indeed,
she is unable to deny her maternal sentiments of grief, however brief. Likewise
Aegisthus, upon making an irreverent statement and offering to retract it if it
was offensive, displays a level of humility one might not expect in a villain.

Discuss the role of the
chorus in Electra and its shifting attitude toward Electra and the
revenge?

In the beginning of the play,
the chorus beseeches Electra to cease her constant mourning, and they attempt
to console her in her suffering. this traditionally conservative stance is
slowly eroded over the course of the play; at the moment of revenge, the chorus
is an active and enthusiastic participant, giving urgent warning when it sees
Aegisthus returning.

The chorus initially softens
its stance upon hearing Chrysothemis relate Clytemnestra's dream. They regard
the dream as an omen that the retribution for which Electra so longs is nigh,
perhaps legitimizing their support of the heroine. The urge Chrysothemis, then,
to do as Electra bids and throw Clytemnestra's offering for Agamemnon away, replacing
it with one of their (the sisters's) own. Afterwards, the chorus is far more
sympathetic to Electra than to Clytemnestra in their angry exchange, and the
chorus is as distraught at the false news of Orestes's death as is Electra
herself. The chorus's support of Electra and the revenge grows thus stronger
throughout the play. One effect of this is to lend sanctity to the revenge,
which itself seems increasingly questionable as Sophocles reveals news things
about his characters.

How does Chrysothemis
function within the play? Do we know Electra better because we have a sister
with which to compare her?

As they watch her approach
for the first time, the chorus refers to Chrysothemis as being very similar to
Electra, but as soon as Electra and Chrysothemis begin to interact, their
differences become glaringly evident. Chrysothemis pragmatically does only that
which will benefit her. She emphasizes this again and again throughout the
play, first when she tries to persuade Electra to cease her mourning, and then
again when she rejects Electra's plan to take the revenge into their own hands.
She might be like Electra in certain ways, as the chorus maintains she is, but
her attitude regarding revenge is starkly different. While her expedient
pragmatism is perhaps not as heroically admirable as Electra's passion for
justice, it serves to highlight the impractical and irrational nature of
Electra's obsession with vengeance

زائر

Great effort Mai

Thanks

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god bless u

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