The Electra of Euripides: Translated into English Rhyming Verse
The Electra of Euripides: Translated into English Rhyming Verse
Translated by Gilbert Murray
The most psychologically acute of the Greek tragedies. Euripides strips the legend of its heroic distance, placing us inside the mind of a princess stripped of everything: her crown, her dignity, her very identity. Electra waits in rags for her exiled brother Orestes to return and avenge their father Agamemnon's murder at the hands of their mother Clytemnestra. When he finally arrives, disguised as a stranger, the recognition scene crackles with suppressed emotion. But this is not a tale of clean vengeance. Euripides, with his unflinching eye for human contradiction, shows us what happens after: the murder of Aegisthus, the murder of Clytemnestra, and the dawning horror of those who committed acts they believed were justice. This rhyming verse translation captures the original's musicality while preserving its raw emotional power. For readers who want Greek tragedy that feels alive, immediate, and unsettlingly modern.
