# Electra — The Libation Bearers character guide

> Electra in The Libation Bearers by Aeschylus.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Electra Antistrophe, Electra Children, Electra Strophe, Electra Belike, Electra Methinks

**First appearance:** 0001-the-libation-bearers

## Snapshot

Agamemnon's grieving daughter, sent with hateful offerings to her father's grave, turns the ritual into a summons for vengeance.

## Who they are

Electra moves alone among the black-robed libation bearers, her cheek ploughed red and her tresses torn, the visible wound of a house broken in two. When she finds a shorn tress on the tomb, she half-dares to believe her brother has come, yet refuses to look too closely for fear of being mocked by hope. Urged by the Chorus not to hesitate, she nerves herself to use her mother's peace-offerings as an appeal to the dead—deliberately telling her father the things that will sting him awake. She is the play's raw nerve, the sister whose refusal to be comforted keeps the vengeance honest.

## Relationships

### [Orestes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se/characters/orestes)

_family_

Siblings reunited in shared grief and a plot for revenge against their mother.

### [Clytemnestra](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se/characters/clytemnestra)

_family_

Mother and daughter estranged by Clytemnestra's murder of Agamemnon.

### [Zeus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se/characters/zeus)

_psychological_

Electra prays to Zeus for strength and justice in her family's tragedy.

### [Agamemnon](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se/characters/agamemnon)

_family_

Father and daughter; Electra mourns Agamemnon and seeks his vengeance.

## In the story

### [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se/chapters/endnotes)

Describes the shameful secret burial of Agamemnon, rousing Orestes to fury.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se/characters/electra
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_libation_bearers_se/characters