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Orestes

For enquiries about using this text, see Hermione, their cousin, daughter of Helen and Menelaus A Phrygian slave, brought back from Troy by Helen [Orestes is on stage huddled under a blanket. Electra kneels behind him] Electra: Imagine all horror, all god-sent suffering. There is no pain that words can tell That has not fallen on the human race, Buckling shoulders with its weight. Our ancestor, Tantalus, the blest - no sarcasm intended - Was Zeus' son, they say: though mortal, the gods considered him Their equal, inviting him to share their feast. But he did not display due deference. For speaking out of turn - embarrassing affliction - The penalty he pays is an eternity of fear, Dreading the impending rock for ever poised above his head To crush him. His son was Pelops, who was Atreus' father. His thread of fate had a special twist, courtesy of the goddess: A quarrel, then all-out war With his own brother, Thyestes; I won't repeat the tale in full: Enough to say that Atreus killed his brothers' sons And dished them up for him to dine on. Atreus had two sons by Aerope, his Cretan wife: Glorious Agamemnon - If "glorious" is the word to use - and Menelaus. Menelaus married Helen Whom the gods justly hate. Agamemnon's lovely bride Was Helen's sister Clytemnestra, Whose name all Greeks have learned to loath. He had three daughters Chrysothemis, Iphigeneia, and me, Electra, And one son Orestes. Our mother, that vicious monster, Enmeshed her husband in a knotted net And murdered him, as helplessly He flailed his prisoned limbs. Her motive was not something you should ask An unmarried girl to describe. Please draw your own conclusions. Can a god be charged as accessory to murder? Apollo told Orestes to kill the mother who gave him birth - hardly a heroic act, most would agree. But he could not disobey the god; he killed her. And I helped. I too played my part in the killing, Although I am only a woman. Orestes collapsed, and lies where he fell, Shattered by savage madness, Sprawle

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