The Complexity of the Concept of Justice in Sophocles’ Electra

Abstract

This paper examines the complexity of the concept of justice in Sophocles’ tragedy Electra. While the main characters claim to be righteous and just, Sophocles subtly presents them as murderers and morally bankrupt. Electra persuades her brother, Orestes, to avenge the death of their father, Agamemnon, who gets murdered at the hands of their mother, Clytemnestra, not because she seeks justice, but to achieve praise from the public through protecting the paternal bloodline of her family. Sophocles does not present Electra as a heroine who deserves admiration, but rather as a murderer and deceptive who forfeited joy and stability of her family. He also does not trivialize or justify the crime of matricide and suggests that justice cannot be attained through violence and deception.