Euripides: Life, Works, and Themes in His Tragedies

Euripides: Life and Influence

Euripides was born in Salamis on September 23, 480 BC. He died in Macedonia in 406 BC. His work takes up the themes of Sophocles' tragedies, especially concerning the genealogy of the sons of Atreus. Euripides' work was influential in Latino theater and later in the French Renaissance drama theater. Only seventeen of his tragedies have been retained.

Major Works

• Electra
• Helen
• The Trojan Women
• Alcestis
• Hippolytus
• Medea
• Orestes
• Iphigenia in Aulis
• The Bacchae
• The Cyclops

Main Theme: Electra

Electra was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. She was absent from Mycenae when her father returned from the war and was killed (along with his concubine) by Aegisthus, Clytemnestra's lover, and Clytemnestra herself. Eight years later, Electra returned from Athens with her brother, Orestes. An old man who raised Orestes took Agamemnon and gave him to Strophius to raise. Electra was left with her mother and Aegisthus. Fearing that Electra would marry and have children who would avenge Agamemnon, Aegisthus did not allow her to marry and wanted to kill her. Clytemnestra saved her, despite being very cruel, for fear of being hated if she killed her own daughter. Aegisthus promised gold to anyone who killed Orestes, and Electra was given to a good but very poor farmer to wed. In honoring the late king, the farmer had no relations with her, and Electra remained a virgin. She helped the farmer in his hard work out of appreciation. When Orestes was twenty, the oracle at Delphi commanded him to return to his homeland and avenge the death of his father. He met Electra, and thanks to the old man who recognized Orestes, they were reunited as siblings. Both agreed that Orestes would avenge his father. Aegisthus was nearby, preparing a feast for the nymphs. Orestes and his friends managed to kill him. Electra sent for her mother, claiming she had given birth. Electra accused her of the death of his father, and Clytemnestra defended herself, saying that Agamemnon killed his own daughter and that she had other lovers. Electra replied that she owed obedience and Clytemnestra had no right to kill him. Orestes killed her, and then they both felt a sense of guilt. The Dioscuri, twin brothers of Clytemnestra, condemned Orestes for the death of his mother, and he was told to be tried but not sentenced to death. He was to dwell in the land of the Arcadians, far from home. After paying for his guilt, he could be happy again. Electra was given as a wife to Pylades. Again, the brothers were separated. Later, Electra married Pylades, a close friend of Orestes, the one who had cared for Orestes while he hid from his mother and Aegisthus.

The Desire for Revenge

The main theme is the desire for revenge. Orestes and Electra want to avenge the murder of their father by their own mother and her lover.

Secondary Themes

As secondary ideas, we can find the pain and suffering of Electra and Orestes. We also find solitude in the character of Electra, who suffers while waiting to see her brother.

Literary Devices

The simile compares two dissimilar things using the words "like" or "as". For example, "his feet were as big as boats," or "love that oak vine." In these cases, we compare the feet with a boat and love to the union of the two plants, the tall and sturdy oak vine.

The metaphor compares two things without using words of comparison. "The mother is the anchor of the family." "La vida es sueño".

Antithesis, or contrast consists of opposing words or phrases of contrary meaning to highlight one of them.

"When I want, I do not cry,
and sometimes I cry without wanting to."
(Rubén Darío)

Anaphora consists of one or more words repeated throughout a poem or a paragraph. It reinforces the meaning of the word that is repeated.

"And she has traveled and traveled,
Dazed by the noise of conversation, the rattle of the wheels and the smoke, the smell of stale nicotine."
(Damaso Alonso)

Hyperbaton consists of an alteration of the normal order of the elements that form a sentence.

"The trees present,
between the hard rocks,
for as I have witnessed in disguise."
(Garcilaso de la Vega)

Metonymy gives a term used to refer to another which bears some relationship, but not close resemblance, in some sense. Sign for the thing signified.

"Silences of pillows. Near the silence of the night."
"I read almost all of Shakespeare," meaning I read almost all the works of Shakespeare.