Euripides’ Electra
Teacher’s Guide | Classical Reference Library
Richer Resources Editorial Team
Purpose of This Guide
Euripides’ Electra reworks the story of a daughter and son who avenge the murder of their father, Agamemnon. The play invites students to question whether revenge restores justice, how poverty and social position shape identity, and what happens when people carry out an act they believe is required but find it morally unbearable.
Historical and Literary Context
Probably first performed in the late fifth century BCE, Electra belongs to the myths of the House of Atreus. Agamemnon was murdered after returning from Troy by his wife Clytaemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Aeschylus dramatized the children’s revenge in The Libation Bearers; Sophocles also wrote an Electra. Euripides gives the familiar events a distinctive setting and psychological emphasis. The precise performance date remains uncertain.
Plot at a Glance
To prevent Electra from bearing a son who might avenge Agamemnon, Aegisthus has married her to a poor farmer. The farmer treats her respectfully and has not consummated the marriage. Orestes returns secretly to Argos with Pylades and encounters Electra. An elderly servant recognizes Orestes, and the siblings plan revenge.
Orestes kills Aegisthus while he is performing a sacrifice. Electra helps lure Clytaemnestra to the farmhouse with a false report that she has given birth. Together the siblings kill their mother. Instead of finding peace, they are overwhelmed by remorse. The Dioscuri appear and prescribe their separate futures, including Orestes’ trial and Electra’s marriage to Pylades.
Principal Figures
Electra — Agamemnon’s daughter, living in poverty and consumed by grief and anger.
Orestes — Her exiled brother, returned to avenge their father.
The Farmer — Electra’s husband, whose restraint and decency complicate assumptions about noble birth.
Pylades — Orestes’ loyal companion.
Clytaemnestra — Their mother, who killed Agamemnon and attempts to explain her actions.
Aegisthus — Clytaemnestra’s partner and the target of Orestes’ revenge.
Old Man — Former servant who recognizes Orestes and assists the siblings.
Chorus — Women who sympathize with Electra and respond to the unfolding violence.
Dioscuri — Divine brothers Castor and Polydeuces, who pronounce the outcome.
Major Themes
Revenge and justice — Does killing a murderer correct a wrong or create another?
Family loyalty and moral conflict — The siblings’ duty to their father clashes with the prohibition against killing their mother.
Class and character — The farmer’s decency contrasts with the behavior of aristocratic characters.
Recognition and evidence — Euripides questions familiar devices for identifying a long-lost relative.
Gender and agency — Electra is both constrained by others and an active participant in the plot.
Remorse and responsibility — The siblings’ reaction to matricide complicates the language of righteous revenge.
Divine judgment — The gods provide an outcome without erasing the human suffering.
Dramatic Techniques
The rural farmhouse replaces the expected palace setting, placing the royal family’s conflict in an unfamiliar social world. The recognition scene revises traditional storytelling conventions, while the contrast between the honorable farmer and violent aristocrats challenges inherited ideas of nobility.
Messenger reports convey the killing of Aegisthus; the siblings’ response to their mother’s death makes the emotional consequences central. The appearance of the Dioscuri provides a divine resolution that can itself be debated.
Teaching Objectives
Students should be able to:
- Summarize the siblings’ plan and its outcome.
- Compare the farmer’s conduct with that of the royal family.
- Explain how the recognition scene challenges conventional signs of identity.
- Analyze Clytaemnestra’s defense of her actions.
- Trace the change from determination to remorse.
- Evaluate the final divine pronouncement.
A Flexible Teaching Sequence
- Introduce Agamemnon’s murder and the House of Atreus without assuming students know other plays.
- Read the farmer’s opening account and discuss why Electra lives in poverty.
- Examine the recognition scene and its treatment of evidence.
- Compare the planning and reporting of Aegisthus’ death with the preparation for Clytaemnestra’s arrival.
- Read the confrontation with Clytaemnestra, attending to both women’s arguments.
- Discuss the siblings’ remorse and the Dioscuri’s final instructions.
Passages Worth Close Reading
The farmer’s opening speech — Social standing, restraint, and moral worth.
The recognition scene — How can identity be established, and what conventions are being questioned?
Electra’s speech over Aegisthus’ body — The language of triumph and humiliation.
Clytaemnestra’s defense — Competing explanations of Agamemnon’s murder.
The aftermath of matricide — Emotional consequences and the collapse of certainty.
The Dioscuri’s appearance — Divine authority and unresolved moral tension.
Core Discussion Questions
- Why is Electra married to the farmer, and how does he treat her?
- What does the play suggest about the relationship between wealth, birth, and virtue?
- Why does Euripides make recognition difficult or surprising?
- How does Clytaemnestra justify her killing of Agamemnon?
- Are Electra and Orestes equally responsible for their mother’s death?
- Why does their revenge fail to bring relief?
- Does the divine ending resolve the play’s moral questions?
Classroom Approach
Hold a hearing on the siblings’ actions. Assign students to present arguments for Electra, Orestes, Clytaemnestra, and the farmer, using details from the play. Ask a separate group to distinguish explanations from justifications.
Conclude with a written response: can a person have a compelling grievance and still act wrongly?
Interpretive Cautions
Keep Euripides’ version distinct from those of Aeschylus and Sophocles. Avoid treating Electra’s poverty as merely decorative: it shapes the play’s examination of character and status.
Do not reduce Clytaemnestra to a single motive or describe the divine ending as an uncomplicated endorsement of matricide. When comparing plays, ask students to cite the particular version under discussion.
Note to the Educator
This guide accompanies the Richer Resources Publications edition of Euripides’ Electra, translated by Ian Johnston. Encourage students to ground interpretations in the play’s contrasting voices and in the siblings’ response to the killings.
A printable PDF version of this resource is available by email.
