The Character of Orestes in Sophocles’ Electra
IV Conclusion
Page 4
Orestes is a problem in the play because we want him to be more than he is. The moral action in the play is centered on him. Like his other education play, the Philoctetes, Sophocles begins the Electra with a conversation between a pupil and his teacher, who it turns out is a corrupting influence. The difference is that there is no redemption at the end of Electra, and no lessons learned. Orestes does not possess a dramatic depth in an obvious way, but he does have tremendous social meaning which extends beyond the theater. If it is true that Sophocles drew the character of Orestes from the war-hardened youth which were assuming an increasingly influential role in the formulation of Athenian war policy, then what has been mainly perceived to be the central problem of the play — Orestes’ indifference to the matricide — becomes the key operative element in the play. It drives home Sophocles’ point. He is saying
“Here is a dramatization of what this war is doing to the mentality of our city. What was a mere war policy in one generation has become the entire moral world of the next. There are no more Oresteses in the Aeschylean sense, in our city anymore, young men who find themselves thrust into a violent world, but who struggle to find a balance between the need for violence and the desire for peace. Our generation has instead raised an army of soldiers, who have never acquired the moral foundation that we took for granted, and who can kill without remorse or reflection for no other reason than a vague promise of glory and power. Here is my Orestes. Here are our sons.”
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