ABSTRACT
Electra, whom Orestes has not yet recognized in the guise of a slave, has succeeded in taking in her hands the urn which is said to contain Orestes' ashes. She proceeds to mourn for her brother. The sending away of the child Orestes, to save him from the massacre, which Electra recalls, reminds one of the Flight into Egypt. Before Orestes begins to speak, when Electra believes that nothing exists of all that she holds dear, that in the world are only her enemies, who are at the same time her masters, she never for instant dreams of trying to pacify or conciliate them. Belief in the apparently certain evidence that he whom she loves is absolutely non-existent never diminishes her love, but on the contrary increases it. This is the sort of fidelity raised to the point of madness which compels Orestes to reveal himself. He can no longer restrain himself from it; he is over-powered by compassion.
