In Electra, I study the deep structure of the Electra myth and apply it to plays as early as those of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, through Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, to as late as Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class. The reader is invited to examine the historical/political climates which provoked the writing and rewriting of the Electra theme, the same play appearing over and over, each time in a different guise and for a different purpose.
The ritual of theater constitutes a raising of issues, a giving of physical form to the intangible realities of our lives which we would otherwise ignore. Theater thus "makes the invisible visible" in such a way as to force us to examine our values, our nature and our judgment. it is the constant return of the spectators to the sacred center of performance that necessitates the confrontation of ourselves with our Eumenides, our conscience or our "Shadow."
What about the voiceless nature of women throughout our western history? If our culture would have recorded equally the emotional needs, the social development, the struggle and the dreams of women and of men, and not regarded men as the personification of all peoplekind, if the male had allowed the feminine a place both within his personal, psychological structure - and within his political outlook, or, to press the point, if men had not wrenched themselves so ruthlessly from the female, would Western history not have been a totally different Story?
Excerpt
Euripides: Electra (ca. 400B.C.)
Euripedes
Euripides was a younger contemporary of Sophocles. There is a radical difference between the elder poet's treatment of the Electra myth and that of Euripides. Here, the sense of royalty, of ritual and of the avenging dead are removed. Here we have neither palace, altar, nor tomb anywhere on stage, only the humble shack of a peasant, for the subject of this play is not the aristocracy but the poverty of both society and spirit.
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Reviews for "Electra: A Gender Sensitive Study of the Plays Based on the Myth, 2nd ed"
The introduction of the book, "Electra - A Gender Sensitive Study of the Plays Based on the Myth," provides the reader with an excellent review of the beginning of myths from oral tradition until now and gives an exemplary description of the myth in question featuring the "Electra Myth" as visioned by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripide, three great tragedians of classical Athens (Greek mythology). A brief explanation is that Electra is one of the most popular mythological characters in tragedies. She is the daughter of Agamemnon and Clyemnestra and she saves her brother (Orestes) by sending him away when their father is murdered. Later she helps him kill their mother and her lover, Aegisthus to obtain revenge for the father's death. "Electra is one of the most recurring myths of Western civilization" and the book seeks to compare this play to other plays from that time and forward, even throughn the 1980's, but a myth "exists in two simultaneous time spaces: at the moment of presentation and for all time." We are told that "tragedies were not presented merely for entertainment; they were also the playwrite's opportunity to stage issues of vital social importance" and it is help to remember this as one reads "Electra" as it "attempts to define the nature of its mythical complex and illustrate how all the plays under examination are comprised of the same mythical deep-structure."
"Electra - A Gender Sensitive Study of the Plays Based of the Myths" main focus is on the feminine principle versus the masculine with reflections on the familial bond a boy child has with his mother from breastfeeding throughout the time frame when the child begins to separate himself to enter into manhood (patriarchal takeover of earlier female goddessess). It is also a study of male/female , spiritual/material, and rational/emotional from a time when Electra, instead of being described as a "strong and willful woman" is labeled "a woman with the will of a man" reflecting the strong use of the masculine/heroic characterizations of the time and the "slaying of the maternal dragon." The author, Batya Casper, declares that "her foundation of our two themes: chaos vs law and order or male vs female can be applied throughout humanity. "The masculine and the feminine have been represented as dramatic metaphors for contradictory impulses" and, as "Electra" shows can be applied and interpreted throughout the centuries of literary writings focusing on the need to redefine the perspective roles of the male and female.
The author, Batya Casper has a very strong command of the material and provides the reader with a thought-provoking study in the case of the Electra Myth. The work is thorough and interesting, even comparing the "Electra Myth" in the "ending with a couple playwrites which deliberately deviate from the deep structure of the myth." This is a well-written study that finishes with the statement that "perhaps it is time to relinquish the myth, and liberate Electra." I highly recommend this work.
In this erudite work titled Electra: Myth of Eternal Return, the author delivers a scholarly work analyzing three famous versions of the 5th Century B.C. play by Euridepes, Sophocles, and Aeschylus. The synopsis of the play is as follows: Agamemnon is murdered by Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus after he returns from the Trojan War. Electra and her brother Orestes plot to execute vengeance on the pair for the crime. Sophocles focuses on Orestes and Euripedes focuses on Electra. In this version, Electra's marriage to a peasant is highlighted. Aeschylus portrays Clytemnestra as a woman who is wronged, not one who is in the wrong.
Casper exposes the reader to lines from each of the original plays. The reader will receive a review of Western academia as the author synchronizes the disciplines of psychology, history, religion, and English literature. The comparisons and contrasts to such great minds as Freud and Shakespeare are illustrated with excerpts from their works. Freud's theory on the relationship between paternal and maternal caregivers and their offspring is referenced. Shakespeare's Hamlet is alluded to. So is the Biblical character Cain and his brother Abel The author discusses the attempts of different cultures including Egypt as making sense of the world as man grapples with the dilemmas of evil actions and their retribution and consequences. A reader will take note of the cohesiveness of Western education, as the allusions show a breadth and depth of knowledge that is admirable. The reader will be enticed to read the plays for himself.
