"Ellen Schoeters is a member of Actorama + where actors can upload a monologue or scene performance for peer review. What do you think of Ellen Schoeters's performance?"
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| Character | Electra | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Female | |
| Age Range(s) | Young Adult (20-35) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Persuasive, Gives orders, Lamenting, Frustrated, Reminiscing life story/Telling a story | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Period | Ancient Greek | |
| Genre | Tragedy, Drama | |
| Description | Electra urges her sister Chrysothermis to help her kill Aegisthus | |
Summary
The play has the same setting and theme as Aeschylus' "The Libation Bearers". The background of the story is that Agamemnon, king of Argos, has been killed along with his mistress Cassandra, by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus. By doing so Clytemnestra avenges the death of her daughter by Agamemnon, who had sacrificed her to the gods during the Trojan war.
Electra is Clytemnestra's daughter. She, along with her brother Orestes, carry out a plot to kill their mother and her lover to avenge their father's death.
In this monologue Electra urges her sister Chrysothermis to help her kill Aegisthus, to avenge their father's death.
Electra is Clytemnestra's daughter. She, along with her brother Orestes, carry out a plot to kill their mother and her lover to avenge their father's death.
In this monologue Electra urges her sister Chrysothermis to help her kill Aegisthus, to avenge their father's death.
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
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| ELECTRA: Hear, then, the course I am resolved upon. Friends to stand by us even you must know That none are left but us; but the Grave has taken And reft them; and we two remain alone. I, while I heard my brother was alive And well, had hopes that he would come, one day, To the requiting of his father's death; But since he is no more, to you I look Not to refuse, with me, your sister here, To slay the author of that father's murder, Ægisthus; (we need have no secrets, now.) For wither--to what still surviving hope Do you yet look, and suffer patiently? Who for the loss of your ancestral wealth Have cause for grieving, and have cause for pain At all the time that passes over you, Growing so old, a maiden and unwed. And these delights no longer hope to gain At any time; Ægisthus is too prudent To suffer that your progeny or mine Should see the light, to his own clear undoing! While, if you will be guided by my counsels, First, you shall have the praise of piety From your dead sire and brother in the grave, Next, shall be called hereafter, as at first, Free, and obtain a marriage worthy of you For all men pay regard to honesty. And as for glory--see you not what glory You will confer upon yourself and me, If you should heed me? For what citizen Or stranger who beholds us, will not greet Our passing steps with praises such as these: "Friends, look at those two sisters, who redeemed Their father's house; who, prodigal of life, Were ministers of slaughter to their foes Who prospered well before; to them be worship, To them the love of all men; at high feasts, In general concourse, for their fortitude, That pair let all men honour." Of us two Such are the things that every man will say, So that our glory shall not cease from us, Living or dead. O, be persuaded, dear! Succour your father's, aid your brother's cause, Liberate me from evils, and yourself, Remembering this, that a dishonoured life Is shame to those who have been born in honour. |
