Electra Study Guide

This play opens at dusk in an inner courtyard formed by the low buildings of servants' houses and the rear wall of the palace of Clytemnestra and her husband Aegisthus. Gathered around a well are female servants of the palace, with a Matron who oversees them at their tasks. As they fill their pitchers with water, several of the women remark on the absence of Clytemnestra's daughter, Electra, noting that it is the time of day when she generally appears there, howling in mourning for her dead father, Agamemnon. (read more)