by Sophocles
ORESTES
Nowhere. The living don’t inhabit tombs.
ELEKTRA
Young man, what are you saying?
ORESTES
Nothing . . . that isn’t true.
ELEKTRA
He’s alive?
ORESTES
If I am. Alive.
ELEKTRA
He . . . is you?
ORESTES
(removes and hands ELEKTRA his signet ring)
Look at this signet. Our father’s.
Tell me if I speak true.
ELEKTRA
O day . . . of light! 1490
ORESTES
Mine too.
ELEKTRA
Your voice! It’s you. You’re here!
ORESTES
I’ll never be anywhere else.
ELEKTRA throws her arms around ORESTES, embracing him for a while, then stands close to him, looking into his eyes until he turns away at line 1538.
ELEKTRA
It’s you I’m clinging to.
ORESTES
Don’t ever not . . . hold me.
ELEKTRA
(turning to address CHORUS)
Dearest friends, dear citizens,
look! It’s Orestes! Who deceived us
into thinking him dead, yet by that
deception, he lives again!
LEADER
We see him, daughter. 1500
After so much has happened to you both
your happiness has us crying with joy.
ELEKTRA
Son of the father I loved,
you’re here at last! Come
to find those you love!
ORESTES
I’m here. But say nothing. Yet.
ELEKTRA
Why not?
ORESTES
We’d better keep it quiet.
Someone inside might hear us.
ELEKTRA
Artemis knows, eternal virgin that she is,
those housebound women don’t scare me. 1510
They’re worthless—dead weight on the Earth.
ORESTES
Women are warlike too.
I believe you’ve experienced that.
ELEKTRA
Yes I have. And you bring me back
to a bitterness nothing can hide.
One I can’t outlive or forget.
ORESTES
That I know just as well as you.
So when the trouble starts
remember all they did.
ELEKTRA
Every moment of the future, 1520
as we live it, will be the right
moment for my fury—only
now are my lips free to speak.
ORESTES
So they are. Keep them free.
ELEKTRA
How? What should I do now?
ORESTES
Don’t talk too much. It’s not the time.
ELEKTRA
But how could I by silence—show
how glad I am you’re back?
I never hoped, never believed
I’d see your face again. 1530
ORESTES
You see my face . . . because . . .
the gods inspired me to come.
ELEKTRA
Then it’s a greater miracle
than if you’d come on your own—
a god sent you! It had to be:
the gods are in on this.
ORESTES
I’m reluctant to curb your joy,
but it’s so intense it scares me.
ORESTES, agitated, turns away from ELEKTRA, who loses her grip on him.
ELEKTRA
After all these years, after
coming here, meaning 1540
everything to me . . .
Oh don’t, not now, seeing me
in all my misery . . .
ORESTES
(turning back toward ELEKTRA)
Don’t what?
ELEKTRA
(reaching to take his face in her hands)
Don’t take away the joy I feel
just looking at your face.
ORESTES
I would be angry . . . if
someone else tried to stop you.
ELEKTRA
Then you agree?
ORESTES
How could I not? 1550
ELEKTRA
Brother, your voice was one
I never thought I’d hear again.
I suppressed what I felt,
kept quiet, didn’t shout
when I first heard its sound.
Now that I’m holding you,
I see your face light up, the face
that in the depths of my grief
I could never forget.
ORESTES
(abruptly, refocused on his task)
Let go of it. No excess words. 1560
Don’t explain how evil
our mother is, or how Aegisthus
siphons off Father’s wealth,
wasting it on pointless
opulence—don’t, because
you won’t know when to stop.
Just tell me what I need to know now—
when the coast will be clear
or where we can ambush
our enemies—so our 1570
arrival freezes their laughter.
Make sure your mother doesn’t
guess your intentions.
Don’t let your face glow
when you enter the palace.
Stick to your grief,
pretend my false death
really happened.
When we’re victorious,
then we can laugh, breathe 1580
easy, and celebrate freely.
ELEKTRA
Brother, what pleases you pleases me.
You brought me joy when I had none
And I’ll accept nothing for myself,
no matter how much it might mean,
if it would inconvenience you.
Doing so would put me in the way
of the god who’s befriending us.
You know how things stand here.
Aegisthus is somewhere outside. 1590
Mother’s inside. But don’t worry.
She’ll never see my face light up.
My hatred for her runs too deep.
Since you’ve come home, I feel
so much joy it makes me cry.
How could I not? One moment
you’re dead, the next, you’re not!
You’ve made me believe anything
can happen. If Father reappeared
alive I wouldn’t think I’d gone 1600
crazy, I’d believe what I saw.
Now you’ve come so amazingly back
home, tell me what you’d have me do.
If you’d never come, one of two
things would have happened. I’d have
killed my way to freedom, or died trying.
ORESTES
Quiet! I hear someone coming out.
ELEKTRA
Go inside, friends. No one will stand
in your way—considering what you carry—
though there’s no joy in it for them. 1610
Enter the ELDER, furious, through the great doors.
ELDER
Fools! Are you children bored with life?
Born with no sense in your head?
Can’t you see? You’re not near danger,
you’re in it. If I hadn’t watched
at the door, word of your plans would
have wafted in ahead of your bodies.
I’ve taken care to spare you that.
But now stop jabbering, stop
your giddy racket. Get in there!
Hanging back now means disaster. 1620
Come on, get on with it.
ORESTES
What are my chances in there?
ELDER
Excellent. No one will know you.
ORESTES
You have reported my death, right?
ELDER
To them, you’re a shade among shadows.
ORESTES
Are they in high spirits? What are they saying?
ELDER
Save that for later. When we’re done.
As things now stand, everything’s fine.
Even things that might not seem fine at all.
ELEKTRA
Who is this person? For gods’ sake, tell me! 1630
ORESTES
You don’t see?
ELEKTRA
See? What.
ORESTES
You don’t recognize the man
whose hands you gave me to?
ELEKTRA
Man? What man?
ORESTES
The man who took me to Phokis,
thanks to your own quick thinking.
ELEKTRA
One of the few we could trust,
after Father was murdered?
ORESTES
Yes! Stop questioning me! 1640
ELEKTRA
(kneeling at the ELDER’s feet)
Dear light! You, you alone
saved Agamemnon’s house.
How did you get here? Are you really
the one who saved my brother and me
from unending sorrow?
ELEKTRA seizes the ELDER’s hands.
Dear hands! Dear faithful servant
whose feet so kindly walked you here,
how could you be near me so long—
unrecognized? You gave no hint
who you were. I didn’t know you! 1650
You misled me with fictions—yet
they held a sweet reality.
O blessings, Father—for in you
I see my father! Know that in one day
I’ve hated and loved you more
than any man in the world.
ELDER
(abruptly, yet kindly)
That’s enough! As for the story
of what went on while I was gone,
our days and nights to come
will make all of it clear. 1660
(turning to ORESTES and Pylades)
But I’m telling you two, still
standing here, you must act. Now.
Klytemnestra’s alone. No men
are inside. But, if you hang back,
think how many you’ll have to fight—
not just servants, but trained killers.
ORESTES
He’s right, Pylades, no more talk.
Let’s go—once we’ve paid our respects
to my father’s gods on our porch.
ORESTES, Pylades, and the ELDER pause to pray briefly to Apollo’s statue, then enter the palace. ELEKTRA addresses the statue and kneels.
ELEKTRA
Apollo, lord, please honor their prayers 1670
and mine, too. Often I have come
to offer you what little I possessed.
But now, Wolfkiller Apollo, I come
with all I have, on my knees. Help us.
I beg you. Take an active part
in our plans. Show how gods
break those who break your laws.
ELEKTRA enters the palace.
CHORUS
(singing)
See how Ares comes on:
his breath . . . breathing . . . bloody
vengeance no one outruns.
Already into the rooms, his 1680
relentless hounds tracking evil—
what my soul dreamed
soon will be done.
He who stands up for the dead
moves soundless through
the power and wealth
of his father’s ancient home—
the edge of his vengeance
newly honed ahead of him,
while Hermes, Maia’s son, keeps 1690
his guile dark, till the finish line’s
crossed, and all delay dies.
ELEKTRA comes out of the palace but pauses in the doorway to look back at what’s happening inside.
ELEKTRA
Dear women, the men are
about to finish it.
Yet wait. Be quiet.
LEADER
Finish it? What do you mean?
ELEKTRA
She’s getting the urn ready
for burial. They stand next to her.
LEADER
Then why are you out here?
ELEKTRA
I’m watching for Aegisthus. 1700
KLYTEMNESTRA sends a bloodcurdling shriek from deep in the house.
KLYTEMNESTRA
(screaming within)
NOOOOO! No guards!
Assassins in the house!
ELEKTRA
Someone’s screaming in there! Hear it?
LEADER
I can’t bear to! I’m still shaking.
KLYTEMNESTRA
(from within)
Aaaagggh! Aegisthus!! Where are you Where are you?
ELEKTRA
Again! Someone screaming.
KLYTEMNESTRA
(from within)
My child, my own son, pity your mother!
ELEKTRA
(shouting back)
You had none for him! Or his father!
LEADER
Doomed kingdom. Doomed family.
The destiny that shadowed you 1710
day after day is done now.
KLYTEMNESTRA
(from within)
My god I’m stabbed!
ELEKTRA
(shouting)
Stab her again—
if you have the strength.
KLYTEMNESTRA
(from within)
Aaaaahgain!
ELEKTRA
I wish it struck Aegisthus too.
CHORUS
(singing)
The Curses work!
The buried live!
Blood for blood flows
from veins opened 1720
by those murdered
so long ago.
And here they are!—
—enter ORESTES and Pylades, bloody—
hands smeared with blood
sacrificed to the war god.
I can find nothing to blame
in what they’ve done.
ELEKTRA
Orestes . . . how did it go?
ORESTES
It went well. If
Apollo oracled well.
ELEKTRA
Is that wretch dead?
ORESTES
Nothing to fear. 1730
She’ll never demean you again.
LEADER
(looking offstage right)
Quiet! Here’s Aegisthus.
ELEKTRA
Boys, back inside!
ORESTES
Which way is he coming?
ELEKTRA
From the fields. Smiling. He’s ours.
LEADER
(to Pylades and ORESTES)
Go in! Quick! Wait in the entryway.
You’ve done the first job well,
but there’s one more to do.
ORESTES
Don’t worry, we’ll do it.
ELEKTRA
Hurry! Get going. 1740
ORESTES
We’re gone.
ELEKTRA
I’ll see to things here.
ORESTES and Pylades go inside.
LEADER
(to ELEKTRA)
Speak gently to him. So he’ll walk
blind into combat with Justice.
Enter AEGISTHUS.
AEGISTHUS
Who can tell me where those Phokaians are—
I hear they’re telling us Orestes
was killed in a chariot wreck.
(addressing ELEKTRA)
You! Yes you! You’re always outspoken.
I think you’ve a lot at stake here. 1750
You must know what’s happened. Tell me.
> ELEKTRA
Of course I know. If I didn’t,
I’d be ignorant of what’s
befallen my nearest kinfolk.
AEGISTHUS
Then tell me where the strangers are.
ELEKTRA
Inside. They’ve found a way
into the heart of their hostess.
AEGISTHUS
Did they really report him dead?
ELEKTRA
Even better. They’ve shown us a body.
AEGISTHUS
I’d like to see this corpse with my own eyes.
ELEKTRA
You can, but it won’t be an agreeable sight.
AEGISTHUS
But you’ve just given me agreeable 1760
news. And that’s not like you at all.
ELEKTRA
If you can take pleasure in it,
go ahead, celebrate.
AEGISTHUS
(shouting as if to servants inside the palace)
Enough. Open the doors, let all
Mycenaeans—and all Argives—
observe. Whoever put hopes in this man,
seeing his body, will now take my bit
in his mouth, quite willingly—without
waiting for my lash to break his spirit.
ELEKTRA
(starts swinging the heavy doors open; ORESTES and Pylades help from inside)
Oh I’ve learned my lesson. Time has taught 1770
me to join forces with those stronger than me.
The doors open fully, revealing a covered bier with ORESTES and Pylades standing beside it.
AEGISTHUS
O Zeus. Only avenging gods
could permit this unpleasant sight.
But if I have offended Nemesis,
whose reprisals are always just,
I’ll take back what I’ve just said.
Uncover his face. Since he was
blood kin, I should mourn him.
ORESTES
Lift it yourself. It’s not for me
to do, it’s for you—to look at 1780
these remains, and speak well of them.
AEGISTHUS
You’re right. Of course. Good advice, well taken.
(to ELEKTRA)
Will you call Klytemnestra? If she’s near?
ORESTES
She’s close by. No need to look far.
AEGISTHUS lifts the cloth.
AEGISTHUS
My god. What is this?
AEGISTHUS flinches as he reveals KLYTEMNESTRA’s body.