The Theme of Revenge and Justice in the Play Electra Essay Example

In the Sophocles play Electra, the ancient Greek master of poetry, Sophocles seemed to premiere the issue of justice and revenge to his audience depicting on the perception of injustices that happen in the society and the forms of attitudes used to justify revenge action. Sophocles is one of the master novelists, poet, and an actor who ever existed in the world whose works are still fresh in the literature since the themes that the author airs exist in the society. The play Electra is set in Mycenae a place in Ancient Greek where a daughter of the dead King Agamemnon, Electra smuggles her brother out of Mycenae. Electra purposed that her brother Orestes grows and develop outside the town, in the foreign land and return to avenge for the death of their late father, King Agamemnon who was brutally assassinated his wife, Clytemnestra. As asserted by Sophocles, revenge, and pursuit of justice existing in the society depends on the perpetrators and victims understanding of revenge and justice which varies as per their perceptions.

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In the play, the protagonist Electra has a different understanding of justice and revenge from her mother's who plotted the assassination of King Agamemnon after he sacrificed the life their daughter Iphigenia at the expense of the obtaining a ship captured in Trojan War. The action infuriates Queen Clytemnestra who justifies the killing of her husband, but the reason does not move the implacable attitude of hatred that Electra has for her. Electra visualizes her mother as a murder and a lunatic who is supposed to be killed as an act of justice. Electra is more obsessed with seeking justice as seen when we compare her with her sister Chrysothemis who feels that she is not meant to seek justice and lives a free woman. In her words in the play Chrysothemis denotes that "...it is true, justice is not on my side. Your choice is the right one. On the other hand, if I want to live a free woman", (Sophocles, Carson and Shaw 12). The differences in perception of revenge between the two sisters Electra and Chrysothemis implies that people differ within the heart and minds how they a supposed to seek for justice. The obsession with truths causes Electra to lack most of the material benefits that her sister obtained from the palace a situation that simulates the real world happening. Chrysothemis reveals that Electra is held in the bondage of bitterness that makes her not to be a free woman.

Equally, as asserted from the source, the pursuit for justice and vengeance as seen in the play relate to the concepts equity from the Drakon laws. The series of killings that Orestes and his Sister Electra conduct against their mother Clytemnestra and King Aegisthus is the fulfillment of the rules of justice that every crime is punishable through death penalty and the characters accomplished primitive truth (Sophocles, Carson and Shaw 39). The authors assert that Orestes and Electra well acted their parts in the play though they don't understand the course of their action in the attainment of status in martyrdom right to conduct. The authors, who understand the divine of martyrdom conduct code, see that the characters only acted in accordance to the nature of justice and processes whereby King Aegisthus had to chose his form of death but under the guidance of Orestes, his assassinator. Also, the source claims that Orestes had to kill Aegisthus to exclude himself from mental torture and memory of the existence of people who killed his father when standing trial in Athens. Indeed, people have different notions of vengeance and justice, wherein the play the cruelty of Electra and Orestes are perceived right under the ancient laws.

The determination of justice in the play relies much on human conscience rather than gods, wherein most scenes of revenge, people acted according to their understanding. For the case of Queen, Clytemnestra was assassinating the husband, who she convicted for denying her the rights of motherhood and acted contrary to parenthood expectations of protecting their children; the society sees it unjust. However when Electra and Orestes avenge for the death of their father King Agamemnon, by killing their mother, Clytemnestra and King Aegisthus, the Chorus judge the revenge act as an elimination of the villains in the society and relieve of pain the protagonist has endured, eventually the drama ends in a celebration of a win against injustices. The chorus sings; "O seed of Atreus: you suffered and broke free . . . You have won your way through the finish" (Sophocles, Carson, and Shaw 39). The chorus assertion could imply that Orestes is the Atreus seeds and killing of the murderers of his father has freed him and given him a proper social status quo to legitimately inherit the kingdom. Seemingly, becoming an Atreus seed was the ultimate destiny for Orestes whereby Electra only prepared a way for him to become one.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the Sophocles Electra drama asserts to the audience that the community will ever have distinct perceptions of revenge, the just and unjust action according to their understanding of the context causing the scenario. In the play, King Agamemnon, Orestes, and Electra killings are perceived right whereas Queen Clytemnestra and King Aegisthus participation in the assassination of late King Agamemnon raises a series of murders to avenge his death, particularly from his children while the society perceives it right. However, the source exhibits another character, Chrysothemis as a person who has not held bitterness and judging others as she freely relates with other characters and exhibits the freedom that one has when it forgives other from wrongs they do. Indeed, the play denotes that judging of right and wrong depends on personal attitudes and understanding.

Works cited

Sophocles., Anne Carson, and Michael Shaw. Electra. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.