Sophocles: Electra Contributor(s): Lloyd, Michael (Author) |
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ISBN: 0715632809 ISBN-13: 9780715632802 Publisher: Bristol Classical Press OUR PRICE: $34.60 Product Type: Paperback Published: June 2005 Annotation: Sophocles??? Electra deals with the famous story of Orestes??? vengeance on his mother Clytemnestra for her murder of his father Agamemnon. This book discusses whether the matricide is a just and final act of violence, or whether Sophocles ironically implies that it is more problematic than it seems. Electra is notable among Sophocles??? plays for the prominent part played by female characters, especially the heroic resistance and suffering of Orestes??? sister Electra. Michael Lloyd pays particular attention to the portrayal of Electra herself, but also discusses wider issues of dramatic characterisation and Greek ethics. |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | Ancient And Classical |
Dewey: 822.01 |
Series: Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy |
Physical Information: 0.5" H x 5.32" W x 8.48" (0.45 lbs) 144 pages |
Themes: - Chronological Period - Ancient (To 499 A.D.) |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Sophocles' Electra deals with the famous story of Orestes' vengeance on his mother Clytemnestra for her murder of his father Agamemnon. This book discusses whether the matricide is a just and final act of violence, or whether Sophocles ironically implies that it is more problematic than it seems. Electra is notable among Sophocles' plays for the prominent part played in it by female characters, and especially the heroic resistance and suffering of Orestes' sister Electra. The book pays particular attention to the portrayal of Electra herself, but also discusses wider issues of dramatic characterisation and Greek ethics. Sophocles is one of the greatest masters of the medium in the history of theatre, and the book explains the formal conventions of Greek tragedy and examines various aspects of his skill as a dramatist. The book concludes with an examination of later adaptations of the play, of which the most important is that by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1903), a study in extreme psychology which he adapted to form the libretto for Richard Strauss's opera Elektra. |
Contributor Bio(s): Lloyd, Michael: - Michael Lloyd is Senior Lecturer in Classics at University College Dublin. He is the author of The Agon in Euripides (1992) and of an edition of Euripides' Andromache (1994) |