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The opera gives us a reading of Sophokles which through alterations intensifies the core of the drama. It is a genuine new creation, which also sheds light on the ancient work. The modern reworking creates and reflects new trends: this Elektra is Freud's wildest dream come true, the perfect model for the Elektra complex. She has a single-minded loyalty to her father. |
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Evidence from Sophokles for Strauss/Hofmannsthal's Heroic Interpretation:
A Classic's Dynamic Nachleben |
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I shall now recapitulate the evidence from Sophokles' play itself for this reading of Elektra as a noble heroine, devoted to her father and the genos. even to the point of incestuous suggestions. Although the ancient text rarely confronts the modern version in most Nachleben studies, in this case it is interesting to see how fundamentally Strauss/Hofmannsthal's version is faithful to the theme of the genos in their new, psychologically expanded, and interpretively rich, version. |
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In Sophokles we find reference after reference to the father: "All night I mourn my father and lie alone on my bed" (El. 925). She claims she is the only one of the house to mourn (100). She prays to various gods to watch over those who die unjustly and also punish those who violate the marriage bed. She cries out, "Revenge my father's murder." Marriage and murder are linked as they will be later (110116). Elektra, the unwed ( ), weeps all the years and longs for Orestes (164172). She blames the murderers for despising the dead (23435). She speaks of avenging justice, the blood justice owed one's kin ( : 248). |
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Elektra calls herself a noble woman ( ) who looks over her violated father's home (25758). She says she hates her mother because her mother forces her to live with her father's murderers (26164). She sees Aigisthos sitting on her father's throne, wearing her father's robes, and lying with her father's wife.32 |
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Instance after instance can be listed to show Elektra's devotion to her father. Klytemnestra scolds her for her devotion to her father (El. 28990). |
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32 Gilliam has written an invaluable book, but occasionally seems wrong about Greek tragedy. E.g., he says Sophokles "makes it clear that Clytemnestra's greatest transgression in Electra's eyes, was the fact that she now shared Agamemnon's bed with the accomplice," (1991) 29. This was Euripides' emphasis and Hofmannsthal took it over into his play. Gilliam was misled by Hofmannsthal in this case. Sophokles' Elektra is quite clear that the murder of her father by her mother is the greatest reason for her hating her mother: she begins her agon (verbal debate) by saying "If you say 'I murdered your father,' who could say anything more vile." So also Gilliam claims, "Sophocles' Clytemnestra is a character not tormented by dreams of Orestes . . ." (1991) 30. This ignores the unsettling dream that Klytemnestra had and urgently seeks to propitiate. Elektra immediately realizes that Orestes was behind this dream (El. 45960). |
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