Euripides’ Electra is a very close following to a very well-known and over-performed story in Greek tragedy. At the same time, it also has that unique Euripidesian flair that makes all of his plays so unique. Electra follows the young daughter of King Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, after Clytemnestra (for good reasons) murders her husband and remarries a man named Aegisthus. Electra has been forced to marry a peasant farmer and Orestes has been banished, but in the play, the two reconnect and decide to murder their mother and step-father (for good reasons) based on the divine will of Apollo. 

     As one might expect, these murderers killing each other for good reasons leads to strong moral dilemmas and heightened tensions. However, Electra is a retelling of a myth that was told years ago by Sophocles, and which was told years before him by Aeschylus. The story of the Oresteia has been played and replayed, and so the most interesting part of the story for me, is where Euripides places emphasis and changes things in the narrative. First, having the prologue be delivered by a peasant farmer who marries Electra is a trademark move of Euripides in giving people of all classes and social backgrounds a voice in his plays. Furthermore, his questioning of the divine authority of the gods is a very common overlap in a lot of his tragedies (albeit, this theme appears in both Aeschylus and Sophocles too). These themes made the play unique against other plays with the same narrative, and made me enjoy it a lot. And anyways, the story is still very good, even on re-read!