ality, in his version. She and Aegisthus married Electra off to the farmer, to lessen the quality of their offspring. Orestes is surprised to discover this, Because -- indeed! -- such children will not seek vengeance (Euripides, 31)? In Socrates version, although one could still consider her evil, Clytamnestra is at least more honest. She showed a more honest reaction when she believed Orestes was dead, especially compared to the reaction illustrated into the same scenario in the Libation Bearers. There, she hypocritically pretended to be hurt by Orestes death. In the Sophocles play, Her heartless reaction, caused Orestes and Electra to become more motivated. Clytamnestras evil was her downfall in each version. In the play by Euripides, Orestes and Electra used her wicked desire for Electra to have poor, powerless children against her. By pretending that Electra had a baby, it served as bait to lure her right in to her own death trap. Then in the Sophocles play, they presented her Aegisthus body and told her it was Orestes. Because she was so eager to see Orestes dead, she unveiled the face with a smile, which to her surprise would only bring her sorrow. The last character that could be considered important is Aegisthus. As a first impression I found it odd that he is the murderer of Agamemnon and is not given more importance. In neither of the stories I have discussed, is he given much character. In the Euripides version he is not even considered a character, because he does not speak or appear on stage. When Orestes murdered him, the action was relayed by a messenger, not actually performed. His corpse and head were what later appeared on stage. Although as a character Aegisthus is not developed much, I believe he is still important. We are reminded by the characters every time they have conversations that contain background information. Aegisthus was a main contributor to the death of Agamemnon, therefore an im...
