Electra

“Now, I was born of Mycenaean

family, on this ground I have nothing to be ashamed of,

in breeding I shine bright enough. But in my fortune

I rank as a pauper, which blots out all decent blood.”

The Farmer identifies himself as a Mycenaean from a good but impoverished family. Though the play is somewhat inconsistent on the class and social standing of the Farmer—sometimes, as here, he comes from a good family, while other times he seems to be addressed as somebody of low or even servile status—the gist seems to be that he is not a noble (a detail highlighted by the fact that his name is never even mentioned in the play—the man is a nobody). Nevertheless, the Farmer takes pride in his breeding and is very conscientious about his behavior, introducing the theme of The Relationship Between Social Status and Honor.

“Whoever says that I am a born fool to keep

a young girl in my house and never touch her body,

I say he measures wisdom by a crooked line

of morals. He should know he’s as great a fool as I.”

Despite his relatively low social standing, the Farmer holds himself to a very high moral standard that is manifested externally in the Farmer’s humility: The farmer knows his place in the social hierarchy, showing respect to those who, like his wife Electra, are of higher birth. Indeed, the Farmer takes great pride in the fact that he has never slept with Electra, an act that wins Electra’s respect (even if this respect is tinged with undertones of sexual frustration).