Electra

Orestes is the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon and the brother of Electra. He would have been played by the Deuteragonist, or “Second Actor.” Like Electra, Orestes is an ambivalent and rather anti-heroic character. He prides himself on his breeding and education and is prone to magniloquent speeches that recall the sophists, teachers of rhetoric who had acquired a certain infamy in the Greece of the fifth century BCE.

Certain aspects of Orestes’s character seem to be modelled on the Odysseus of Homer’s Odyssey. Like Odysseus, Orestes comes home in disguise, is recognized by a scar he received in his childhood, and must kill the enemies who have taken over his inheritance. However, the similarities end there: Orestes is far from the Homeric hero Odysseus was, unsure of his identity or his goals, and using treachery and deceit to kill Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. In fact, it is only through the help of the more resolute Electra that Orestes manages to carry out the killings at all.

Brought up in a life of privilege, Euripides’s Orestes is a character who is entering the world of adulthood for the first time. He needs much help and guidance from others, coming to Argos without a plan and relying heavily on his sister, the Old Man, and even the mute Pylades. He feels pangs of conscience before killing his mother and even questions Apollo’s oracle, but is cowed into obeying Electra. He is deeply remorseful at the end of the play, mourning that he must say goodbye to his sister so soon after being reunited with her but accepting that he should be punished for what he has done.

The Farmer is an unnamed man of relatively humble social status to whom Electra is given in marriage to prevent her from producing any noble heirs to the throne usurped by Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. His part would have been played by the Tritagonist (the “Third Actor”).

The Farmer is represented as a man of honor who displays impeccable virtue despite his insignificant birth. He abstains from touching Electra out of respect for her superior birth, even though this effectively sentences him to a life of childless celibacy. He is hardworking and does his best to provide for his royal wife, even though she is often rude to him. The Farmer’s behavior serves as a meditation on a question very much in vogue in Euripides’s day—namely, the question of whether nobility comes from birth or whether it is something that can be learned and demonstrated even by those of lower social status.

Clytemnestra is the mother of Electra and Orestes, formerly the wife of Agamemnon (whom she murdered) and now the wife of Aegisthus. Though characterized as a murderous, cruel, and lascivious woman by Electra throughout the play, the Clytemnestra who appears on stage in the third episode is not without positive traits. Clytemnestra shows what seems to be sincere concern for her daughter, and even expresses remorse for her earlier actions.

This remorse may not even be so new: As the Farmer says in the Prologue, it was Clytemnestra who stopped Aegisthus from killing Electra. Clytemnestra justifies her murder of Agamemnon, but admits that she may have gone too far. She is sorry about how she has treated Electra and Orestes, but tells Electra frankly that she fears them: Questioned as to why she keeps Orestes in exile, she explains, “I have to watch my life, not his” (1114). Clytemnestra’s attempt to make amends is rejected by the resolute Electra, who sends her inside to be killed by Orestes.

The Dioscuri are Castor and Polydeuces, the brothers of Clytemnestra and Helen, said to have become gods after their death. They appear in the deus ex machina of the Exodos to send Orestes into exile and marry Electra to Pylades. They sympathize with their niece and nephew, realizing that Orestes has been driven to his ugly actions by an oracle of Apollo and by his own fate. They tell Orestes of what he can expect—pursuit by the Furies followed by expiation and purification in Athens—and tell him that he will find happiness once he has “drained the fullness of this murder’s doom” (1290).

The Old Man, played by the Tritagonist, is a former servant of Agamemnon who spirited Orestes away from Argos to prevent him from being killed by Aegisthus. He is the one who recognizes Orestes by his scar, and he eagerly helps Electra and Orestes form their plot to kill Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. He comes across as a loyal if credulous figure, more than willing to support the children of his murdered master despite his old age.