This is the story of how Electra and her brother Orestes get revenge on their mother and Aegisthus for the murder of their father. After many years of waiting, Orestes has finally returned and Electra believes that now her torment will be over. Unfortunately, she does not know the cost that Orestes will have to pay for the vengeance they seek.
Erynnien by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751-1829)
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"Allow us in return to suck the red blood from your living limbs. May we feed on you -a gruesome drink! We will wither you alive and drag you down, so that you pay atonement for your murdered mother's agony. "
[The ERINYES. Aeschylus, Eumenides 265]
Dear brother, I rejoice with your return
And I feel happiness once more.
Finally we can end this tragedy
With the plan I have in store.
No longer will our mother live
With her lover by her side.
And no longer will her lover live
For my tortured soul has subside.
Death will be their fate
For it is what the gods have had in store.
And their death will be at your hands,
I beg of you and implore.
Dear brother, I have awaited
Your return for this very day,
So that vengence will be carried out
And our mother and her lover will dearly pay.
Do not let me down.
Bring death upon these two!
Murder them as they have done
When they killed our father and my soul too.
It is now the time,
Disguise yourself and the deed will be done.
Kill Aegisthus first,
And then kill our mother as your father's loyal son.
Vengeance has been taken,
At last the deed is done!
Their lives have been ended;
My brother, we have won!
Dear brother, what is it that ails you?
Why do you suffer so?
Can it be that you are not happy,
That to hell their souls now go?
All these years I have suffered,
With this pain and saddness inside.
And now my dear brother,
What tortures you? Please do confide.
In bed you lie each day
With fits of madness and a fierce disease.
What can I do for you, my brother?
What will it take to put this pain at ease?
Dear brother, I never knew,
That this would be your fate.
To be tortured by the Erinyes,
And to save you is now too late.
Your mind and heart now pay the cost
For the Erinyes are now in control.
They have taken over your mind,
Your heart, your body, and soul.
So in the end we didn't win
Because I thought they had paid the cost,
I turn around and I now you know
Our battle we have lost.
Dear brother, please forgive me!
If only I had known,
That all this time I waited for vengeance,
Once you were ready and grown.
And I have only doomed you
To the life I have led.
Dear brother,please forgive me
For the torture in your head.
I changed this story in that I made it from the point of view of Electra and her emotions about killing her mother. There were several different stories about what happened in the end with Orestes but I think that this one goes best with the stories that have been told and proves to be more interesting. There are other accounts where Orestes simply leaves for awhile can comes back later to rule as his father did. Including the idea of the Erinyes, who are spirits who avenge crime such as bloodshed, I think is the best ending it that it more exciting than Orestes leaving and then comning back.
Title: Orestes (Author: Carlos Padra 1997)
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Title: Erinyes (Author: Carlos Padra 1997)
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Στορψβοοκ Ιντροδυχτιον
(Storybook Introduction)
Οιδιπους
(Oedipus)
Τηε Σπηινξ
(The Sphinx)
Ηλεχτρα
(Electra)
