The Flies
Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1943 play reworks the Greek myth of Orestes as a drama about freedom, guilt, and resistance under occupation.
Orestes: In Greek mythology, Orestes is the son of Agamemnon who avenges his father by killing Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. Sartre makes his return to Argos the test case for choosing action without accepting imposed remorse.
Oresteia: The Oresteia is Aeschylus’s trilogy about Agamemnon’s murder, Orestes’s revenge, and the founding of civic justice. Sartre inherits its revenge plot while rejecting its movement toward reconciliation and civic order.
Jean-Paul Sartre: Jean-Paul Sartre was a French philosopher, novelist, playwright, and leading existentialist thinker. He wrote the play to dramatize freedom and responsibility through a retold Greek myth.
Aeschylus: Aeschylus was an ancient Greek tragedian whose surviving works include the Oresteia. Sartre’s version contests the tragic resolution Aeschylus gives to Orestes’s story.
Electra: In Greek mythology, Electra is the daughter of Agamemnon who helps Orestes avenge their father. Her rebellion begins in anger, then falters when she accepts the guilt Jupiter offers.
Greek mythology: Greek mythology is the body of stories about Greek gods, heroes, and the origins of the world and human customs. The play transforms familiar mythic characters into figures in a modern political and philosophical drama.
German occupation of France: The German occupation of France lasted from 1940 to 1944 during World War II. The play’s depiction of a city controlled through fear resonated with occupied France.
Euripides’ Electra: Euripides’ Electra is a Greek tragedy that recounts Electra and Orestes’s revenge for Agamemnon’s murder. Its treatment of the revenge myth offers a classical comparison to Sartre’s philosophical retelling.
Aegisthus: In Greek mythology, Aegisthus is Clytemnestra’s lover and a participant in Agamemnon’s murder. As Argos’s ruler, he sustains control by making its people feel guilty for the dead.
Existentialism: Existentialism is a philosophical movement emphasizing human existence, freedom, and responsibility amid an uncertain world. Orestes’s actions dramatize Sartre’s claim that people make themselves through choices.