Electra Lost in Transit

Abstract

Like all the tragedies about the House of Atreus, Euripides’ Electra dramatizes the political stakes of familial disorder. In the background lies the legendary story of Agamemnon who sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia and, after returning from Troy, was killed by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. Electra takes place sometime after that murder and political usurpation, with the couple scrambling to secure their rule against the potential threat of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra's children. When the play opens, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus have already exiled Orestes from Argos and relocated Electra to its border where she lives in a forced countryside marriage to a poor farmer. Over the course of the play, the siblings reunite and plot the murders of their mother and her new husband. By its end, Orestes and Electra are prepared to say goodbye to each other for good and, under the stain of matricide, to embark on their respective forms of movement, wandering for him and a new marriage for her.

On Displacement and the Humanities—An Introduction

“…5 Viktor Frankl, based on his experience in concentration camps during World War II, explained the importance of having meaning in life even if one is in a very difficult situation, which is recorded in his book: (Frankl 2006). Works that address the 'Female voice' and experience include: (Kennedy 2014;Kasimis 2020Kasimis , 2021Hillner 2019;Rubinstein 2018). 8 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-ii/ (accessed on 29 June 2023).…”