The Redeeming Features of the Characters in Electra Essay -- Euripides

The Redeeming Features of the Characters in Electra In Euripides Electra, there atomic number 18 a number of parts, speaking and non-speaking, that reveal the redeeming features of the otherwise gloomy characters. This essay will consider the roles of Orestes, Electra, Clytemnestra, the Peasant and Aegisthus (whose actions are only account to us). It is arguable that the characters are non redeemable due simply to the biz of the play a son returns, kills his fathers unworthy successor, his mother (with the aid of his infant) and was move away at the end of the play by divine judgement. His sister assisted him in the matricide and is sent away also. However, it is unrealistic for all the characters of a tragedy not to have any good qualities. The nature of tragedy, fit in to Aristotle, is to invoke pity (kitharsis), cleansing the soul - this can not be invoked if the characters are bad people, since we will feel no pity. Aristotle described Euripides as the most tragic of the poets... so it is likely for the playwright to conform to Aristotles rules for tragedy. spoilt happenings (hamartia) are required to happen to good people, who may not be entirely noble but are still respectably good. For example, in Oedipus Rex, Oedipus scorns the prophecies of Apollo but he is a noble King, who feels compassion for his people and his destine blow was only the result of his uninformed actions. Orestes is the avenging son of Agamemnon, returned to his homeland. We would expect this valet to be the tragic hero of the play but he does not conform to the specifications. He is not a powerful character and is incessantly in need of guidance, acting simply as a soaked cannon (What do you suggest?). When ... ...er in the plays duration, with a history of executing that seems disconnected from this person as we see her. Finally, Aegisthus, though amiable to his guests, has an undisputable history of murder and the people are happy to see him go. If he does hav e redeemable qualities, they are few. Works Cited Euripides. Electra. Trans. Philip Vellacott. Medea and Other Plays. Baltimore Penguin Classics, 1963. 105-152, 201-204. Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Birth of Tragedy. Trans. Clifton Fadiman. natural York Dover Publications, 1995. Perseus Encyclopedia. Revised 1999. Tufts University. www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/encyclopedia?entry=Euripides>. Powell, Barry. Classical Myth. Upper saddle River, NJ Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2001. March, Jennifer. Euripides the Mysogynist? Euripides, Women, and Sexuality. Ed. Anton Powell. New York Routledge, 1990.