What defines a hero?

When discussing tragedies, the question is usually more

specific: what is a tragic hero? According to notes from my high school World Literature

class, a tragic hero is defined as one of noble descent who possesses a tragic flaw which

brings about his downfall. In Euripides'' play Electra we find that our protagonist, the Electra

of the title, exhibits well the characteristics of a tragic hero: she is descended from

Agamemnon, king of the Greek, and possesses a hamartia, or tragic flaw, which eventually

leads her to face a punishment nearly worse than death. The hamartia that caused Electra’s

fall from grace was that she was blinded to justice by the need for revenge. While fitting

these characteristics, the role of a tragic hero is specific only to tragedies. The term "tragic

hero" applies more to a character who is the protagonist in a tragedy than to one who is

actually heroic. The simple definition of "hero," according to Webster’s Dictionary, is "a

man admired for his achievements or noble characteristics and considered a model or ideal."

Putting aside the gender difference, this definition still seems ill suited to our protagonist. I

believe that the idea in this play is to see Electra not as a hero worth admiring, but as a

person who is, in fact, tragically flawed.

Electra starts out with good intentions. Her family history has not been a pleasant

one. After her father was brutally murdered by her mother’s lover, her brother was spirited

away so that he would not be killed, and she was married off to a farmer so that she could not

bear sons who would be a threat to her mother’s lover. To Electra, this turn of events was not

only frustrating, but insulting. As a child, Electra had dearly loved her father, so it is not hard

to imagine her anger and distress at his murder, especially when it was committed at the

behest of her mother. To add insult to injury, she is forced to leave the lifestyle she has

always known one of royalty, no less for a life of simple poverty. I believe that any red-

blooded human being could justly desire some kind of retribution in such a situation.
 The problems start arising after her brother Orestes returns. He has just heard from

the gods that it is his duty to seek justice on his mother and her lover. Electra is less than

disappointed with this news, and begins to help him plan for it right away. With the help of

the old man who used to be a servant in the palace, Orestes is able to locate his mother’s

lover, Aegisthus, where he is praying, and take his revenge. At this point, Orestes feels

vindicated. Electra, however, has more on her mind. It is not enough that the man who

actually committed the deed of murder be killed, but also the woman who was indirectly

responsible must be punished. Orestes, who agreed to this plan earlier, begins to have doubts

as he sees his mother approach. . "Oh god," he laments. "How can I kill her when she

brought me up and bore me?" Although his inspiration for revenge is divine, he begins to

have doubts that the gods really knew what they were talking about. Electra, however, now

sees only her revenge. "Where Apollo is ignorant, shall man be wise?" she asks him in

frustration. By saying so, she has placed the blame (should there be any) on the gods. That

way, if it turns out this really is wrong, there should be no fault on her or Orestes'' hands. The

fact that she says so seems to hint to me that she is becoming aware that killing her mother

may not be completely morally justifiable. Orestes, however, allows himself to be persuaded

and proceeds to follow through with his original resolution, until his mother lies dead by his

hands.

The action which may have been heroic avenging their father’s untimely death is

rendered not only null, but shameful when they realize it has come at the expense of their

mother’s life. The Dioscuri Castor and Polydeuces are alerted to events which have taken

place, and appear to the grieving party. Looking down on Electra, they point out the error she

has made. "Justice has claimed (your mother) but you have not worked in justice," they

pronounced. In acting to kill her mother, Electra’s crime was not in the deed itself, but in the

motive. The question of motive and where to place the blame goes back a bit further into the
story. Electra was not from your average, run of the mill family. She was a princess, daughter

of Agamemnon, king of the Mycen. He was married to Clytemnestra, half-sister of Helen,

who was married to Menelaus, who was in turn, Agamemnon’s brother. Back when the

Trojan War was about to begin, Clytemnestra had had another daughter named Iphigenia.

There was a problem in Aulis, where the ships had become stuck. Agamemnon lured

Iphigenia down to Aulis, hinting that a marriage may be in the works for her and Achilles.

Instead, she was offered as a human sacrifice to Poseidon that the ships could get free, and

continue on their warpath. Angry with Agamemnon, and left at home while he was away at

war, Clytemnestra got back at him the only way she was able, by engaging in an affair with

one of Agamemnon’s cousins, Aegisthus. When Agamemnon returned from the war with a

consort of his own in tow, Clytemnestra tipped. Using Aegisthus as her puppet, she had

Agamemnon killed while he sat in the bath.

It was for this crime that Electra was so angry with her mother. In order to get

Clytemnestra in a place where she would be at the mercy of herself and Orestes, Electra

sends a messenger to tell her mother that she had just given birth. When Clytemnestra

arrives, Electra confronts her with the misery she has been dealing with. "Dark and lovely

were your father’s plots against those he should most have loved and least conspired to kill,"

she said in excuse. I also get the feeling from that statement that Clytemnestra was aware of

Electra’s intentions. The statement seems to serve a double purpose as both an excuse, and a

warning. In effect, she was saying "you have no right to plot against me, I am your mother".

Through all her mother’s excuses, Electra pays no heed whatsoever. She showed no

pity for her mother, telling her " when your sister Helen did the things she did, that was your

time to capture glory, for black evil is outlined clearest to our sight by the blaze of virtue."

She expected her mother to stay pure as snow, using only that purity as retribution, while at

the same time, she was planning to do exactly what her mother had done.
 The similarities between the two are remarkable. Both women are angry because one

of their family members killed the family member they loved the most. As a result, both

women decide the best way to deal with their loss is to get another person to kill the one who

is responsible for the murder. They aren’t' even able to kill the offender themselves. By

manipulating weaker men, they are able to accomplish the deed without being directly

responsible.

Perhaps it is the fact that Electra was aware of what she was doing, yet saw no fault

in her own crime that made the justness of her deed unjust by her actions. Rather than acting

to avenge her father, her drive became personal need for revenge, as a result of which she

lost sight of her own deeds and accountability for them. It is very difficult to admire a person

as a hero when the very deeds that are supposed to be heroic are an exact imitation of the

deeds they are supposed to be justifying.

Bibliography

Greene, David ed. The Complete Greek Tragedies. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press,

1958.