Electra

The locks of hair left by each royal sibling at Agamemnon’s tomb are a collective symbol of their bloodline. Orestes is told by the oracle of Delphi to pay libations to his father by cutting off a piece of his hair. As expected of Electra and Orestes’s intimate bond, the former gives their sister Chrysothemis similar advice. Electra encounters her sister as she is leaving to pay libations to Agamemnon on their mother’s behalf. The headstrong princess states that it is “unholy / to bring that woman’s libations / to our father: she is the enemy” (593-595). She cuts a lock of her hair and tells her sister to do the same. The placement of each lock of hair at Agamemnon’s tomb represents the strength of his bloodline, the unbreakable bonds between siblings (despite Chrysothemis’s caution). This collective show of respect also symbolizes the sisters’ eventual reunion with Orestes. Upon returning from the tomb, Chrysothemis tells Electra that she saw Orestes: “And there it was. / Right there on the edge. / A lock of hair, fresh cut. / As soon as I saw it, a bolt went through me— / almost as if I saw his face, / I suddenly knew!” (1197-1202).