ELECTRA

"Electra" is one of the leading works of ancient Greek tragedy. It tells the tragic tale of a
family. The play has deep characters and strong drama. The play “Electra” shows the role of
women and the consequences of revenge in a family. It presents a fine example of how a woman
betrayed by her mother can developed new feelings within herself.

The emergence of these feelings has a significance. The Electra complex is a theory that
girls develop feelings of desire towards their fathers and competitive feelings towards their
mothers, especially between the ages of 3-6. While the Electra complex is often associated with
Sigmund Freud, it was first coined by Carl Gustav Jung. Although Freud developed the
underlying ideas of this complex, he did not name it as such. The "Oedipus complex" proposed
by Freud includes the feelings and thoughts children have towards the opposite-sex parent,
characterized by possessiveness, and negative attitudes towards the same-sex parent. In the play
Electra, the character's emotions occur from her mother mistreating her father and killing him.

The play is mainly built upon several themes. One of them is family revenge. Electra's
anger and desire for revenge due to her father's death guide the entire play. Electra's revenge
affects both her life and the lives of those around her, and this results tragic consequences. This
theme, as seen throughout the play, prompts people to question their religious and moral beliefs.

In Euripides' plays, women hold significant importance, unlike the norm. In Euripides'
"Medea" the titular character is an extremely cunning woman. She captures and persuades her
husband at his most vulnerable point to carry out her devised plan. Similarly, in Euripides'
"Electra" the main character devises her own plan to kill her mother and seek revenge.

Electra's tragic life begins with her mother betraying her father. Nothing good happens
for Electra and her brother Orestes thereafter. Orestes is sentenced to death for not avenging
their father, but he is rescued from execution and taken out of the city by an old man.
Meanwhile, Electra, though targeted for death by her mother's new lover, is saved when her
mother objects and arranges for her to marry a poor farmer. The reason behind this is to prevent
her from bearing a noble child and seeking revenge for her father.

The play "Electra" reflects the characters inner conflicts and emotional complexities. The
meaning of the bright name Electra contrasts sharply with her dark and complex personality.
With Agamemnon's death, Electra suffers a deep wound in her soul, and puhes her towards
seeking revenge. This event shapes Electra's character, fostering in her feelings of ambition,
vengeance, and determination. Electra is focused on avenging her father, but she lacks the
strength to do it herself. Therefore, she prays for her brother Orestes, who burns with the same
desire for revenge like her, to return to their father's land. Despite her pursuit of vengeance,
Electra's actions reveal that she lacks the courage to exact her revenge herself, for if she were
truly brave, she would strive to seek revenge from her mother regardless of the consequences,
even if it meant death in the end.

The play begins in the remote town of Mycenae, where Electra has been married off to a
farmer. Though Electra finds it tragic to be in such a remote and poor farming place, as she was
once the daughter of one of Greece's finest commanders and a princess of the palace, now
reduced to being a farmer's wife, she acknowledges that the farmer has never laid a hand on
her. However, this is not out of concern for Electra, but for his own interest, because he treats
her well to avoid her brother Orestes' wrath when he returns. Despite initially seeing Orestes as
a stranger, the farmer takes them in and willingly sacrifices their last supplies out of fear of
Orestes' vengeance. Electra appreciates the farmer's gesture, and although she was once a
princess of Argos, she now sees him as a "god-like friend" and helps with the village chores.

Orestes grows up with a desire for revenge against his father's killer for years, but like
his sister, he also harbors a distrust towards outsiders. Because when he comes to his father's
land, if a scout recognizes him, he wants to immediately flee to another country. Orestes has
two goals: to find his sister and to seek revenge. Seeing Pylades as a close friend, he sets out
with the hope of finding his sister. He secretly visits his father's grave in the lands. There, he
cuts his hair and offers a sacrifice. The sacrifice blood is a gesture against those who shed his
father's blood, and cutting his hair symbolizes the misery his sister Electra must endure.
Fortunately, he finds his sister Electra, but he tells her that he is not her brother but a friend of
her brother, bringing news from him, knowing that he could be killed if the wrong people find
out. Electra recounts her suffering to Orestes, whom she considers a stranger. When things
become desperate, an old man appears. The old man, who save Orestes, is also hopeful of
finding Electra, and when he finds her, Orestes is with him. He carefully examines her and gives
Electra the good news. Recognizing a wound from which he also suffers, Orestes exposes
himself. Since Orestes has no plan, he asks the old man for help. The old man is like a force
that emerges when things get tough because when Orestes comes for his revenge plan, he has
no idea about the lands or how to take his revenge. The old man helps him by suggesting ideas
on how to kill both his mother and her lover.

When the body of Aegisthus arrives, Electra vents all her hatred and anger onto the dead
man. Here, the real message is not Electra's feelings but a lesson in humanity. "You thought you
were taking a woman who wasn't bad at all, but she betrayed my father's bed," is the line in the
play that illustrates how you can't be happy with someone obtained through bloodshed and
injustice; you're only fooling yourself. "You became famous for relying on the power of money,
yet money has no real value; it's short-lived because nature is what truly endures," portrays in
this part of the play how those who rely solely on money and think they can buy everything are
actually mistaken, and that these things are temporary.

After the death of their mother's lover, it's time to confront their mother. She has a plan,
but Orestes is unsure about killing his mother, and he begins to question his decisions and the
prophecy conveyed to him by the gods. Despite seeking help from the gods since the beginning
of the play, the siblings question the gods when they contemplate the consequences of their
actions. However, Electra's obsession with revenge and her complex blinds her to the point
where she convinces Orestes not to accuse him of cowardice and to act bravely. Even if it's a
command from the gods, Orestes doesn't want to kill his mother. Here, it's emphasized that it's
necessary to question people's belief in gods. How can a god ask a child to kill their mother?
When her mother arrives at the door, ready to face her own death, she confronts Electra. Here,
we see events from the perspective of the character we've viewed negatively from the beginning
of the play. She explains that she was angry because she killed her own daughter and because
Agamemnon slept with another woman in their bed. Electra doesn't believe her mother's words
and doesn't give up her purpose, interpreting events from her own perspective. In the play, the
mother also expresses that Electra has a complex. After tricking her mother and letting her into
the house, Electra persuades Orestes to kill her mother. This is Electra's tragic mistake because
she feels remorse for what she has done. She commits this mistake with her ambitious and
Electra-complex-ridden identity.

After all that has happened, both of them instantly feel remorse because they have become
killers. The siblings' reaction shows that they both love and hate their mother. Here, Orestes is
deeply remorseful for what he has done, and in the chorus, he expresses that his actions were
coerced. Electra's remorse is different from Orestes' because although she believes that killing
Clytemnestra and Aegisthus will bring justice and satisfaction, it's not true, and she feels deep
guilt for urging her brother to become a matricide. When things become desperate and they
don't know what to do, we see a theatrical technique called deus ex machina. The heavenly gods
Castor and Polydeuces, Clytemnestra's brothers, appear. They tell the siblings what they should
do next. After a long time, the siblings, who have barely come together, once again separate
their destinies as a result of their own actions. The play ends with the chorus knowing how to
rejoice in life and saying that those who do not experience disasters will live a beautiful life.

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