# Electra — Character guide

> Key figures in Electra by Sophocles.

- [Electra](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/electra.md): Electra lingers in the house of her father's killers, unwed and degraded, while her mother rules beside Aegisthus. She clings to grief with a fierceness the Chorus calls fruitless, insisting that forgetting would be a se
- [Orestes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/orestes.md): Orestes arrives at Mycenae with his old tutor and Pylades, a stranger in his own city, standing before the palace that was stained by his father's blood. He must move between disguise and recognition, letting a false rep
- [Clytemnestra](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/clytemnestra.md): Clytemnestra holds the palace with Aegisthus, dispensing orders and reproaches while Electra accuses her openly in the streets. She justifies Agamemnon's death with cold logic, yet an evil dream sends her to pour libatio
- [Aegisthus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/aegisthus.md): Aegisthus shares the throne and the guilt, ruling Mycenae as if the murder were already settled history. He is kept offstage for much of the action, a looming presence whose return is awaited with dread by Electra and sa
- [Chrysothemis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/chrysothemis.md): Chrysothemis moves through the same humiliated household but bends where Electra refuses, accepting the queen's orders and hoping for a quieter life. She loves her sister and fears her, caught between loyalty to their de
- [Aged Servant](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/aged_servant.md): This aged servant stands at Orestes' side at the play's opening, naming the landmarks of Argos and the grim palace of Pelops' line for the young man who barely remembers home. He has kept the boy alive through years of e
- [Pylades](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/pylades.md): Orestes's faithful friend and companion, silent but present throughout the revenge plot.
- [Agamemnon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/agamemnon.md): Murdered king of Argos, father of Electra and Orestes, whose death drives the plot.
- [Apollo](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/apollo.md): God who commands Orestes to avenge his father, guiding the action from afar.
- [Zeus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/zeus.md): Supreme god invoked by Electra and others for justice and vengeance.
- [Artemis](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/artemis.md): Goddess of the hunt, referenced in the context of sacrifice and divine will.
- [Menelaus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/menelaus.md): Brother of Agamemnon, king of Sparta, mentioned in passing as part of the royal family.
- [The Greeks](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters/the_greeks.md): Collective Greek army or people, referenced as a background force.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/electra_se/characters