Based on the classic myth of antiquity, Electra has a surprisingly tragic force, without losing the spirit and sparkling humor that made Jean Giraudoux one of the most important playwrights of the mid twentieth century.

Électre was translated into English as Electra in 1955 by Winifred Smith,[1] and again in 1964 by Phyllis La Farge and Peter H.

In revenge, his wife, Clytemnestra, assisted by her lover, Aegisthus, killed him on his return from the Trojan War.

Electra, with the assistance of her easily dominated brother Orestes, who has returned from banishment, relentlessly seeks the murderer of her father, while feeling an implacable hatred for her mother.

The last line, "It has a beautiful name, Narses, it is called the dawn" ends the play on a delicious note of ambiguity.