ELEKTRA

After the murder of Agamemnon, King of Mycene, by his own Queen, Clytemnestra, and her paramour, ?gisthos, dark days fell to the lot of the Princesses of the land; for their unnatural mother, after marrying her guilty lover, was determined not to endure the just reproaches of her children, and, therefore, degraded them to the rank of slaves, so that they might be kept out of her sight.

Her son, the young Prince Orestes, she had tried to slay at the time of the King's murder; but he had been saved from sharing the same terrible fate by the timely help of his sister, Elektra. He had, however, been forced to leave the country, and had taken refuge in Phocis, where he remained for seven years, awaiting a favourable opportunity to return to Mycene and take vengeance upon his mother and her lover by slaying them both.

Meanwhile, his sisters, Elektra and Chrysosthemis, were enduring great hardships in the palace at Mycene, where, after being degraded to the level of the slaves, they were subjected to many indignities. But worse than their own personal sufferings was the grief in their hearts, not only for the untimely death of their beloved father, but for the banishment of their brother, for whose return they longed passionately.

In the heart of Chrysosthemis, grief and the longing for freedom only reigned; but in the heart of Elektra the desire for vengeance against her mother had obsessed every other natural feeling, and she only lived for the consummation of the vengeance she believed the gods would surely grant her.

She longed even more than did her sister for the return of their brother, Orestes, whom she intended to use as her instrument of justice; but when seven years had gone by she began to lose hope of his assistance. Her thirst for revenge, however, had not diminished one iota, but had increased with the years, having grown to be so completely a part of her being that she lived only to see it accomplished; and when, at the end of seven years, Orestes was still absent, she determined to carry out her fell design without him.

Though for the purposes of her intended crime, she endeavoured to hide her savage passion from the curious eyes around her, she could not altogether conceal it; and the light of burning hate which shone in her eyes when she gazed upon the guilty King and Queen was seen and marked by many. She was carefully shunned by her slave companions—all save one, who still kept to her allegiance and suffered the blows of her fellows for so doing—who despised her for the degraded position she had been forced into, and spoke against her haughty behaviour and denunciatory words; and Clytemnestra herself went in secret fear of her wrathful daughter, and avoided her presence as much as possible.

One day, when seven years had gone by and still there came no signs of Orestes, Elektra's passionate feelings so far overcame her that she at last resolved to carry out vengeance upon the murderers of her royal father ere another sun should rise; and to this end she sought the assistance of her sister, who was physically stronger than herself and could, therefore, use a weapon with surer effect.

Chrysosthemis, however, was of a far gentler nature, and instead of having nursed feelings of vengeance in her heart during the seven dark years that had passed, she only desired freedom from her enforced servitude and the protecting care which a husband's love would give to her; and, full of horror at Elektra's bloodthirsty designs, she entreated her to put away such terrible thoughts from her mind, declaring that their guilty mother already suspected her designs and would presently cause her to be cast into prison.

Hearing the Queen even now approaching, Chrysosthemis departed, entreating her sister to accompany her; but Elektra was not afraid, and she determined to disarm suspicion from her mother's mind by holding flattering talk with her.

When Clytemnestra presently appeared, therefore, she addressed her in respectful tones, as though speaking to a goddess; and the Queen, completely deceived, desired her attendants to withdraw that she might talk alone with her seemingly humbled daughter, heedless of their whispered words of warning to her against the latter.

When the slaves had retired, Clytemnestra, who had a hunted frightened look in her eyes, told the ragged Princess that she had been troubled with terrible dreams, and asked advice for recovering her peace of mind; and Elektra, in a tone of deep mystery, declared that this could only be attained by the sacrifice of a woman—the deed to be done by a man who must be of noble nature and not base as was ?gisthos.

Immediately Clytemnestra guessed who was in the mind of Elektra—her own son, Orestes, of whom she went in constant fear, believing him to be still alive; and Elektra, realising from her mother's sudden look of fear that she had never received definite news of the death of Orestes, though she had caused false reports of the same to be given to her daughters, now flung off her pretended mood of mildness, and once more furiously denounced the Queen as a murderess and declared that vengeance would surely fall upon her.

Clytemnestra shrank back in terror before her daughter's torrent of passionate words; but at that moment one of her attendants returned and informed her that a messenger had just arrived and had brought with him a report that Orestes was indeed dead.

Relieved by this, to her, welcome news, Clytemnestra retired to her own chamber with a laugh of triumphant scorn; and soon afterwards Chrysosthemis ran weeping to Elektra, telling her of the report of their brother's death which had been given to her by the slave who had been sent by the Queen to inform ?gisthos of the fact.

Though stricken with woe at this confirmation of her own fear, Elektra once more earnestly entreated the help of her sister in carrying out her scheme of vengeance against the murderers of their father, telling her that she had already in hiding the great axe with which the guilty pair had done the fell deed; but though she promised her great honours and many gifts afterwards, and even offered to become her slave, Chrysosthemis only trembled with horror at the idea of slaying her own mother, and, utterly refusing to take part in so terrible a crime, she rushed away, followed by the curses of Elektra, who, obsessed by her one desire for vengeance to the exclusion of every other natural emotion, now resolved to carry out her purpose alone and unaided.

As she moved away stealthily to unearth the hidden axe with which she intended to deal the fatal blow, she was accosted by a stranger, who, noting her ragged and humble attire, mistook her for one of the slaves, and addressed her as such; and when the Princess haughtily demanded his business, he informed her that he was the messenger who had come to announce the death of the young Prince, Orestes, declaring that he had been servant to the latter and had witnessed his end.

Full of grief and anger, Elektra passionately reproached the travel-worn messenger for being so poor-spirited as to be yet alive himself to bring news of the death of the Prince, for whom he should have been ready to give his own life; and the stranger, realising from her noble bearing and poignant grief that she could be no slave but must be of some kin to the person of whom they spoke, now asked her name.

On learning that it was the Princess Elektra who stood before him, the stranger seemed deeply moved; and he drew closer and whispered into her ears the words: "Orestes lives!"

At this moment, a party of the late King's own body-servants appeared, and, kneeling before the stranger, greeted him as their prince and master.

Thus realising that it was her own long-absent and dearly-loved brother, Orestes, who stood before her, Elektra greeted him joyfully; and the young Prince's brow darkened with deep anger when he learned from her of the degradation to which she and her sister had been subjected during his enforced absence.

Orestes also desired above all things to avenge the death of his father—having, in fact, spread the false reports of his own death in order to deceive Clytemnestra and ?gisthos into a mistaken sense of security from him, their most dreaded enemy; and he gladly agreed to Elektra's eager request for him to assist her by slaying the guilty pair.

Producing the great axe which her own weak arms would have failed to wield, the Princess quickly led Orestes to their mother's chamber; and as, next moment, Clytemnestra's screams brought forth her attendants and the Princess Chrysosthemis upon the scene, Elektra stood aside with a triumphant air upon her face, gloating over the fact that the vengeance for which she had lived was at last accomplished.

?gisthos, rushing into the chamber as the Queen's dying groans pierced the air, was himself met by the avenging Orestes, who instantly dealt him his death-blow; and thus were the murderers of Agamemnon brought to justice by his own son.

The people of Mycene all rejoiced greatly at the deaths of the guilty King and Queen, who had ruled them with much tyranny; and they hailed Orestes at once as their new King with the wildest enthusiasm, greeting him lustily as he presently appeared in their midst.

Chrysosthemis at once joined her brother as he received the acclamations of the people; but Elektra, in her passionate exultation at the consummation of her long-desired vengeance, sang first a hymn of thanksgiving to the gods, and then began to execute a marvellous dance of triumph.

All the people ceased their greetings to Orestes and watched the exultant Princess with bated breath, held spellbound as they followed her wild and fantastic movements; but, heedless of them all, Elektra worked herself up into a mad frenzy of triumph, her dance growing ever wilder and wilder, until, at last, utterly exhausted and spent, she fell lifeless at the feet of the new King.