Electra

The Trojan war is over.  The Greek general, Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, has returned home and been murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus.  His son Orestes has escaped to Delphi,  Electra awaits the return of her brother to avenge their father's death.

Sophocles' play, starting at this point, is a marvellous study of Electra's emotions as she is torn between thoughts of bloody retribution and realisation of its consequences.  The gods have put a curse upon her family, and with the chorus posing the unresolved question 'What is Good and what is Evil?', the dramatic suspense is gripping.