Dream Symbols in Greek Tragedy: The Case of Clytemnestra
Dream Symbols in Greek Tragedy: The Case of Clytemnestra

Summary/Abstract: The story about Electra and Orestes, children of Agamemnon has been preserved in three versions in the works of three great tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. These tragedies are Aeschylus’ Choephoroe (The Libation Beareres), Sophocles’ Electra and Euripides’ Electra. Here we find a unique opportunity to compare the use of similar motives and through it to understand better the nature of Greek tragedy. All three authors give their interpretation of the myth: the vengeance for killing Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra. The loyalty of the daughter and son towards their father and hatred towards their mother is the main theme in all three tragedies. Electra and Orestes are determined to take revenge on their mother Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus and they carry it through: at the end of the play both Clytemnestra and Aegisthus are killed. In the framework of these main events three tragedians find their different approaches to the commonly known mythic plot. Characters, motivation, attitude towards matricide, relations between mother, son and daughter — all this vary according to the interpretation of the myth by the tragedians. As for the motives and the development of the plot, there are many differences which have been widely discussed by scholars.[...]

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