final exam assignment

LITR 4533 TRAGEDY  Final Exam Samples 2008 Essays & Excerpts for Part B: Special Topics

B3. Families in Tragedy + The Oedipal / Electra Conflict

Melissa King

All in the Family

           When discussing family in Greek tragedies, the Oedipal and Electra Conflicts seem to be the most alarming, yet popular among topics. These conflicts are particularly interesting because of their common but subtle occurrences throughout literature. This topic is so controversial and is seen as a taboo in this day and age, which makes its presence in many pieces of Greek literature very interesting and shocking. However, when looking close at the two conflicts, one will notice that they are each very unique and while they are uncomfortable to deal with, they are not as disgusting and uncommon as they may have seemed during their time.

Upon examining Agamemnon by Aeschylus the relationship that exists between Electra and her father Agamemnon is unique in Electra’s powerful love for her father. She appears to be completely devoted to her father, so much that she persuades her brother to avenge Agamemnon’s death. It is apparent why Electra’s actions and feelings could be looked upon as not normal and a little discomforting because it is unnatural for a daughter to feel for or be this close to her father. However, Electra had circumstances in her family that drove her to this obscure bond with her father.  From the beginning, we see that Clytemnestra is not the mother she should be, which perhaps fuels Electra’s feelings for her father.  Clytemnestra is cheating on her husband, and does not mention nor seem to think of her children at all. It seems only natural that Electra would develop a strong love and closeness to her father to compensate the parental love that she is deprived of from her mother. It seems as if she feels a sense of being needed by her father because she can take care of him and wants to protect him from her mother’s actions. I do not think that she wishes for anything beyond a father-daughter relationship with Agamemnon, but I do feel that she would like to be the sole woman in his life. She appears to be overwhelmed with the strong desire to be wanted and needed and Agamemnon pays the attention to Electra that she so longs for. Electra does choose to feel the way she does, knowing that it is her father that is the object of so much of her affection, but is the direct result of the difficulties she is facing within the family.

In Eugene O’Neill’s Morning Becomes Electra we are able to see more clearly a need for being loved and wanted in the character Lavinia, which mirrors the Electra complex. In Lavinia’s case, her mother Christine is not only neglectful but tries to outshine Lavinia in the presence of every man. We see a glimmer of a chance for Lavinia to be happy with Adam Brant; however, Christine steps in and takes Brant as her own lover. I do not think it would have mattered, however, because Lavinia makes it very clear to her father that he is “the only man [she’ll] ever love” 305). Lavinia follows Ezra around upon his return home like a little lost puppy dog, wanting all of his attention on her because she has been deprived of any attention from anyone else by her mother.  She becomes increasingly jealous of the affection and attention he shows Christine and begins acting very childish. Lavinia definitely portrays the quintessential Electra complex in this play. In both Lavinia and Electra’s cases, they cling to their father for comfort and companionship because they have no one else.

In the Oedipal Complex, we see a different case altogether from the Electra conflict. First of all, Oedipus does not know that it is his mother that he has wed and reproduced with. He was abandoned as a child and ended up in an entirely different kingdom from his paternal parents and believed the King and Queen in this new kingdom to be his mother and father. He believed with his whole heart that he had escaped the curse of the prophesy by leaving his mother and father and saw no way that he could now wed his mother and kill his father. He has not made the choice to love his mother knowingly; however, he falls in love with a Queen of a land he has just freed from the great tragedies of a sphinx.  Also, his relationship with Jocasta is much more than mother-son. They are romantically and physically involved. They are actually married to each other and have reproduced together. When Oedipus discovers his mistakes and realizes what he has done with his mother, he is ashamed to the point of disgust. He cannot live in Thebes knowing that all will look on him and remember the dreadful acts he has taken part in. He himself cannot bear to see the world that he lives in and know what he has done in that world. He gouges his own eyes out so that they cannot betray him any longer. His guilt shows that had he known that Jocasta was in fact his mother, he would not have acted on any feelings or had any feelings to begin with. Although we look on the Oedipal complex with disgust, it is not the intentions of the characters involved. Their actions were in fact pure and innocent, not knowing the truth behind what they were doing. They were so innocent that when confronted with their wrong doings, they see no other option than to end their lives or banish themselves from the city they love.

Perhaps a more drastic form of the Oedipal complex is seen in Euripides’s Hippolytus. As Jarrod Goergen ascertains in his 2008 final exam entitled “Family Matters” “In some tragic plays, the stepmother is the most important figure in creating the Electra conflict that fuels the main character’s downfall.” This is certainly the case in Hippolytus. Although Phaedra is Hippolytus’s stepmother, it is still within the family and is seen as quite disturbing. The two characters do not become romantically involved; however, the love of one for the other is enough to destroy an entire family. Phaedra knows that Hippolytus is the son of her husband but this does not stop the way she feels. She continues to love him and is consumed with jealousy at the thought that Hippolytus might love another woman. Phaedra is driven to suicide because her love is not returned. In punishment for the false accusations placed on Hippolytus that he is the one that loved Phaedra, Hippolytus is killed by the Gods. Theseus, who was innocent for the most part in all of this, is left with nothing but his kingdom. In this case we see that love is not something that affects just one individual. It typically affects an entire family and can destroy everyone involved.

In today’s literature and film, I believe the Oedipal/ Electra Conflicts are portrayed in much more serious ways. Many films deal with rape and abuse from a parent to a child. In a recent film entitled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo we see the story unfold of a girl who is repeatedly raped and sexually abused by her own father and brother. This ends up being the underlying mystery to why this girl is missing. The film Precious dabbles into this idea as Precious’ mother tells of how her lover would fondle Precious as a baby. This idea pops up throughout the ages in film and literature despite the fact that the idea is seen as a taboo in society. Perhaps this is because the twisted and seemingly disgusting dynamics in this familial relationship make for a very effective tragedy. When setting the tragedy in such a close family setting, the viewer is able to reflect on their own family and realize that this is a very real problem. Although it may not happen to us in our lives, it is a problem that is real and could in fact happen to us all.  The extreme portrayal of these conflicts in today’s media  makes Oedipus and Electra’s situations seem much more harmless than they would be if viewed during their times. However, even Oedipal and Electra’s stories instill a sense of discomfort in us all as we are reading.