Plays & Drama Codexery

Electra (Sophocles play)

Sophoclean tragedy of a daughter's grief and revenge.

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Electra (Sophocles play)

Blau-Barcelona · CC BY-SA 4.0

Its exact date is unknown, but scholars believe it was written late in Sophocles' career.[1] Sophocles authored the Greek tragedy titled Electra.[2]

Key facts and history

Richard Claverhouse Jebb dates the play between 420 BC and 414 BC.[1] Stylistic similarities with Philoctetes (409 BC) and Oedipus at Colonus (406 BC) support a late date.[1] Roman writer Cicero considered Electra a masterpiece.[3] Modern scholars and critics also view the work favorably.[3]

John Gassner and Edward Quinn argued the delayed recognition between brother and sister creates brilliant scenes.[4] L.A. Post noted the play is unique among Greek tragedies for its emphasis on action.[4] This technique of pairing contrasting characters to highlight their differences is frequently employed in Sophocles' works.[5] Edith Hall observed that Electra has a more commanding stage presence than any other figure in Sophocles' surviving plays.[4]

What the cited sources add

John Woodard argued the parallel to dramatize reactions is drawn between many characters, not just Electra and Orestes.[4] L.A. Post's 1953 paper in The Classical World stated the play was "unique among Greek tragedies for its emphasis on action."[4][6] Edith Hall's 2008 Oxford University Press introduction described Electra as driven into "near-psychotic extremes of behavior."[4][7] John Gassner and Edward Quinn, in a 2002 reference work, commended the "simple device of delaying the recognition" between Electra and Orestes.[4][8]

Electra and Orestes - Project Gutenberg eText
Electra and Orestes - Project Gutenberg eText. Image: Alfred Church · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Electra (Sophocles play)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jebb 1894 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Electra (Sophocles play)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jebb, "Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments", London and Glasgow: C. J. Clay and Sons; Cambridge: Deighton, Bell, & Company; Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus; New York: Macmillan and Co., 1894; Jebb 1894 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Electra (Sophocles play)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Greek Theater in the Fourth Century BC", Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2014, p. 178 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Electra (Sophocles play)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama", Courier Corporation, 2002, p. 200; Sophocles, "Antigone; Oedipus the King; Electra", Oxford University Press, 2008, p. xvii–xviii; Post, "Sophocles, Strategy, and the Electra", The Classical Weekly, March 2, 1953, p. 150–153; Woodard, "Electra by Sophocles: The Dialectical Design", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 1964, p. 163-205 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Electra (Sophocles play)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Woodard, "Electra by Sophocles: The Dialectical Design", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 1964, p. 163-205 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Levi Arnold Post, "Sophocles, Strategy, and the Electra", The Classical World (1953), doi:10.2307/4343363. OpenAlex metadata CC0; paper not read. doi.org
  7. Sophocles, "Antigone; Oedipus the King; Electra", Oxford University Press, 2008, p. xvii–xviii. facts only, no text reused. archive.org
  8. Open Library record, ISBN 0486420647 ("The Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Electra (Sophocles play) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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