Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T08:04:05.751Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

SHIFTING SISTERHOOD: ELECTRA AND CHRYSOTHEMIS IN SOPHOCLES’ ELECTRA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2021

Lyndsay Coo
Lyndsay Coo*
Affiliation:
University of Bristoll.coo@bristol.ac.uk
Get access

Extract

When Sophocles wrote Electra's story, he gave her a sister, Chrysothemis. In their two scenes together, the sisters warn, entreat, cajole, insult, spar with, and proclaim affection for each other. While Electra maintains her public mourning for their father Agamemnon, Chrysothemis chooses not to openly defy his murderers, Aegisthus and their mother Clytemnestra, believing that resistance that accomplishes nothing is futile. Time has not been kind to this more pragmatic sister. In English-language criticism, she has acquired her own epithet, ‘timid’; her femininity has been dismissed as vacuous and her morality as driven by material self-interest. For many critics, she is a shallow and conventional figure whose main purpose is to act as a foil to the exceptional Electra. Since the pairing of a ‘stronger’ and a ‘weaker’ sister recurs in the depiction of Antigone and Ismene in Sophocles’ Antigone, this portrait of two contrasting sisters has been recognised since antiquity as distinctively Sophoclean, and the corresponding reduction of the sister–sister bond to a template has frequently precluded deeper examination of this relationship in both plays.

Type
III. Sisterhood
Information
Ramus , Volume 50 , Special Issue 1-2: In Terms of Athens , December 2021 , pp. 89 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © Ramus 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I am very grateful to Ben Folit-Weinberg, Lucy Jackson, William Kynan-Wilson, Anna Uhlig, the anonymous referees, and the editors of this volume, Johanna Hanink and Demetra Kasimis, for their insightful comments that have deeply enriched my thinking on this material. In particular, I thank Valentina Moro for a stimulating and constructive collaboration that made the writing of these companion(/sister!) pieces so enjoyable.

References

Apfel, L.J. (2011), The Advent of Pluralism: Diversity and Conflict in the Age of Sophocles (Oxford).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bakogianni, A. (2009), ‘Electra in Sylvia Plath's Poetry: A Case of Identification’, in Harrison, S. (ed.), Living Classics: Greece and Rome in Contemporary Poetry in English (New York), 194–217.Google Scholar
Blaydes, F.H.M. (ed.) (1873), The Electra of Sophocles (London/Edinburgh).Google Scholar
Blundell, M.W. (1989), Helping Friends and Harming Enemies: A Study in Sophocles and Greek Ethics (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coo, L. (2013), ‘A Sophoclean Slip: Mistaken Identity and Tragic Allusion on the Exeter Pelike’, BICS 56, 67–88.Google Scholar
Coo, L. (2020), ‘Greek Tragedy and the Theatre of Sisterhood’, in Finglass, P.J. and Coo, L. (eds), Female Characters in Fragmentary Greek Tragedy (Cambridge), 40–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dickey, E. (1996), Greek Forms of Address: From Herodotous to Lucian (Oxford).Google Scholar
Downing, C. (1988), Psyche's Sisters: ReImagining the Meaning of Sisterhood (San Francisco, CA).Google Scholar
Engelstein, S. (2011), ‘Sibling Logic; or, Antigone Again’, PMLA 126, 38–54.Google Scholar
Engelstein, S. (2015), ‘Ismene on Horseback and Other Subjects’, Philosophy Today 59, 562–5.Google Scholar
Engelstein, S. (2017), Sibling Action. The Genealogical Structure of Modernity (New York).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, J. (1972), A Companion to Greek Tragedy (Austin, TX).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Finglass, P.J. (ed.) (2007), Sophocles: Electra (Cambridge).Google Scholar
Foley, H.P. (2001), Female Acts in Greek Tragedy (Princeton, NJ).Google Scholar
Fornaro, S. (2019), ‘Le ragioni di Crisotemi’, in Farnetti, M. and Ortu, G. (eds), L'eredità di Antigone. Sorelle e sorellanza nelle letterature, nel teatro, nelle arti e nella politica (Florence), 37–74.Google Scholar
Frank, J. (2006), ‘The Antigone's Law’, Law, Culture and the Humanities 2, 336–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friis Johansen, H. (1964), ‘Die Elektra des Sophokles, Versuch einer neuen Deutung’, C&M 25, 8–32.Google Scholar
Goldhill, S. (2006), ‘Antigone and the Politics of Sisterhood’, in Zajko, V. and Leonard, M. (eds), Laughing with Medusa: Classical Myth and Feminist Thought (Oxford), 141–61.Google Scholar
Goldhill, S. (2012), Sophocles and the Language of Tragedy (Oxford).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hahnemann, C. (2019), ‘Broken Sisterhood: The Relationship between Antigone and Ismene in Sophocles’ Antigone’, SCI 38, 1–16.Google Scholar
Harry, J.E. (1911), ‘Studies in Sophocles’, University of Cincinnati Studies 27, 20–5.Google Scholar
Honig, B. (2011), ‘Ismene's Forced Choice: Sacrifice and Sorority in Sophocles’ Antigone’, Arethusa 44, 29–68.Google Scholar
Honig, B. (2013), Antigone, Interrupted (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ierulli, M. (1993), ‘A Community of Women? The Protagonist and the Chorus in Sophocles’ Electra’, Mètis 8, 217–29.Google Scholar
Ierulli, M. (1999), ‘The Politics of Pathos: Electra and Antigone in the Polis’, The South Atlantic Quarterly 98, 477–500.Google Scholar
Iriarte, A. (2000), ‘Ismène, Chrysothémis et leurs sœurs’, in Pirenne-Delforge, V. and Suárez de la Torre, E. (eds), Héros et héroïnes dans les mythes et les cultes grecs: actes du Colloque organisé à l'Université de Valladolid du 26 au 29 mai 1999 (Liège), 57–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jebb, R.C. (ed.) (1894), Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments. Part VI. The Electra (Cambridge).Google Scholar
Jouan, F. (1993), ‘Trois contre-héros chez Sophocle: Chrysothémis, Teucer, Créon’, in Machin and Pernée (1993), 269–84.Google Scholar
Juffras, D.M. (1991), ‘Sophocles’ Electra 973–985 and Tyrannicide’, TAPhA 121, 99–108.Google Scholar
Kamerbeek, J.C. (ed.) (1974), The Plays of Sophocles: The Electra (Leiden).Google Scholar
Kells, J.H. (ed.) (1973), Sophocles: Electra (Cambridge).Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, J. (2011), ‘The Prudent Dissident: Unheroic Resistance in Sophocles’ Antigone’, The Review of Politics 73, 401–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirkwood, G.M. (1958), A Study of Sophoclean Drama (Ithaca, NY).Google Scholar
Kitzinger, R. (1991), ‘Why Mourning Becomes Electra’, ClAnt 10, 298–327.Google Scholar
Knox, B.M.W. (1964), The Heroic Temper: Studies in Sophoclean Tragedy (Berkeley/Los Angeles, CA).Google Scholar
Kyriakou, P. (2011), The Past in Aeschylus and Sophocles (Berlin/Boston, NJ).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lesky, A. (1966), A History of Greek Literature (London).Google Scholar
Lewis, V.M. (2015), ‘Gendered Speech in Sophocles’ Electra’, Phoenix 69, 217–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Machin, A., and Pernée, L. (eds) (1993), Sophocle: Le texte, les personnages (Aix-en-Provence).Google Scholar
MacLeod, L. (2001), Dolos and Dikê in Sophokles’ Elektra (Leiden).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macnaghten, H. (1926), The Antigone of Sophocles (Cambridge).Google Scholar
March, J. (ed.) (2001), Sophocles: Electra (Warminster).Google Scholar
Marshall, C.W. (2017), Aeschylus: Libation Bearers (London/Oxford).Google Scholar
Mauthner, M. (2002), Sistering: Power and Change in Female Relationships (Basingstoke).Google Scholar
Michie, H. (1992), Sororophobia: Differences among Women in Literature and Culture (New York).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mossman, J. (2012), ‘Women's Voices in Sophocles’, in Markantonatos, A. (ed.), Brill's Companion to Sophocles (Leiden), 491–506.Google Scholar
Rawlinson, M.C. (2014), ‘Beyond Antigone: Ismene, Gender, and the Right to Life’, in Chanter, T. and Kirkland, S. (eds), The Returns of Antigone: Interdisciplinary Essays (Albany, NY), 101–21.Google Scholar
Rawlinson, M.C. (2016), Just Life: Bioethics and the Future of Sexual Difference (New York/Chichester).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ringer, M. (1998), Electra and the Empty Urn: Metatheater and Role Playing in Sophocles (Chapel Hill, NC).Google Scholar
Roisman, H.M. (2018), ‘The Two Sisters’, in Stuttard, D. (ed.), Looking at Antigone (London), 63–77.Google Scholar
Roisman, H.M. (2020), Sophocles’ Electra (New York).Google Scholar
Rouse, W.H.D. (1911), ‘The Two Burials in Antigone’, CR 25 2, 40–2.Google Scholar
Saïd, S. (1993), ‘Couples fraternels chez Sophocle’, in Machin and Pernée (1993), 299–328.Google Scholar
Segal, C. (1981), Tragedy and Civilization: An Interpretation of Sophocles (Cambridge, MA).Google Scholar
Sheppard, J.T. (1927), ‘Electra: A Defence of Sophocles’, CR 41, 2–9.Google Scholar
Shillington, D.F. (1968), ‘Sisters of Classical Legend’, AClass 11, 139–44.Google Scholar
Sommerstein, A.H. (1997), ‘Alternative Scenarios in Sophocles’ Electra’, Prometheus 23, 193–214 [repr. in A.H. Sommerstein (2010), The Tangled Ways of Zeus and Other Studies in and Around Greek Tragedy (Oxford), 224–49].Google Scholar
Van Nortwick, T. (2015), Late Sophocles: The Hero's Evolution in Electra, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus (Ann Arbor, MI).Google Scholar
Whitman, C.H. (1951), Sophocles: A Study of Heroic Humanism (Cambridge, MA).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wingrove, E. (2016), ‘Political Displacement at the Point of Reception’, Classical Receptions Journal 8, 114–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winnington-Ingram, R.P. (1982), ‘Sophocles and Women’, in de Romilly, J. (ed.), Sophocle. Entretiens sur l'antiquité classique 29 (Vandœuvres/Geneva), 233–49.Google Scholar
Worman, N. (2012), ‘Cutting to the Bone: Recalcitrant Bodies in Sophocles’, in Ormand, K. (ed.), A Companion to Sophocles (Malden, MA/Oxford/Chichester), 351–66.Google Scholar
Wright, M. (2005), ‘The Joy of Sophocles’ Electra’, G&R 52, 172–94.Google Scholar