My character and interpretation for Electra

Clytemnestra 

"Electra tells us that Clytemnestra is a cruel, pitiless, woman and a killer of her own husband who deserves to be punished for her actions. According to Electra, Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon so that she could be with Aegisthus. Clytemnestra paints a different picture of the murder where she says that she was seeking revenge for Agamemnon's unnecessary sacrifice of their daughter. If this is the case, the problem of revenge takes on a new shape. The unsettling ambiguity of Clytemnestra's motivation in killing Agamemnon calls into question the very need for revenge."  (http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/electra/canalysis.html)


This quote has helped me look into the development of the character to portray her in a very cruel manor towards Electra and have no pity towards her. My character although she is the murderer of her husband has a very different view to her actions than Electra does. Electra believes that Clytemnestra should have revenge taken upon her because she killed her husband to be with another man, however Clytemnestra paints a different picture and in her view her actions of killing her husband was an act of revenge because he sacrificed their daughter onto the Gods and it was then her act of revenge to kill him.

When reading the script I get this sense of overpowering hierarchy over everyone and Electra and this high status queen presence about her. Clytemnestra blames a lot of her anger and hate and takes it out on Electra and although we do see at times she tries to show this side to her where she is scared that Orestes will come back and that she will be murdered in revenge for the killing of Electra's father. Cly portrays it differently that she killed her husband because he sacrificed her daughter, so she killed him in an act of fury over the husband killing the daughter. Electra believes that it is because she was having an affair with Aegisthus and that is why she kills the father so Electra has this burning hate for her mother. The best way to describe Clytemnestra is that she is a psycho as one minute she is shouting and screaming at Electra saying she is a disgrace and then the next minute she puts on a front to the old man showing some maternal instinct that she cares that Orestes has died but then later in that speach she goes on to be a bit too happy for the fact that he is dead meaning that she no longer needs to be worried that he is going to come along and seek revenge.

When it comes to my performance I need to make sure that I interpret all of these different feelings that she has and the anger that she bears and also the fear that she has. I need to make sure that I have this powerful presence about me that shows my high status compared to all of the other characters when I am on stage.

I feel when I am more confident with my lines and have a better understanding of what I am saying then I will be able to include these emotions correctly and perform the character with the correct emotion.