Page:Tragedies of Euripides (Way 1896) v2.djvu/294

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238
EURIPIDES.

Klytemnestra.

Nay, tis his mood: stiff-necked thou also art,


Electra.

For grief am I; yet will I cease from wrath.[1]


Klytemnestra.

Yea?—then he too shall cease from troubling thee.


Electra.

He is haughty, seeing he dwelleth in mine home. 1120


Klytemnestra.

Lo there!—thou kindlest fires of strife anew.


Electra.

I am dumb: I fear him—even as I fear.[2]


Klytemnestra.

Cease from this talk. Why didst thou summon me?


Electra.

Touching my travailing thou hast heard, I wot.

  1. Lines 1118, 1119, 1120, 1122 are examples of Tragic Irony, Electra using expressions to which the audience, from their knowledge of what has happened, attach a meaning unsuspected by Klytemnestra; while Klytemnestra uses words which bear a construction unsuspected by herself. Perhaps "a son's time accomplished" (1133), may be another instance, since her own son's time of waiting was fulfilled.
  2. i.e. Not at all, since he is dead: but Klytemnestra would understand this in the usual sense, "more than I can express."