“Now I am weary and I can no longer tell good from Evil, and I need someone to show me the way.”
Orestes to Electra, Act 2
The Flies (1943)
Quotes from workThe Flies
Jean Paul SartreOriginal title Les Mouches (French, 1947)
The Flies is a play by Jean-Paul Sartre, written in 1943. It is an adaptation of the Electra myth, previously used by the Greek playwrights Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides.
Orestes to Electra, Act 2
The Flies (1943)
Electra to her mother Clytemnestra, Act 1
The Flies (1943)
“I have no need for good souls: an accomplice is what I wanted.”
Electra to her brother Orestes, Act 2
The Flies (1943)
“Blood doubly unites us, for we share the same blood and we have spilled blood.”
Orestes to Electra, Act 2
The Flies (1943)
Orestes, Act 3
The Flies (1943)
King Aegistheus, Act 2
The Flies (1943)
Aegistheus, Act 2
The Flies (1943)
“All-powerful god, who am I but the fear that I inspire in others?”
King Aegistheus to Jupiter, Act 2
The Flies (1943)
Aegistheus, Act 2
The Flies (1943)
A soldier in Argos, speaking of the dead King Agamemnon, Act 2
The Flies (1943)
Jupiter to Electra, Act 3
The Flies (1943)
Context: You are a tiny little girl, Electra. Other little girls dreamed of being the richest or the most beautiful women of all. And you, fascinated by the horrid destiny of your people, you wished to become the most pained and the most criminal … At your age, children still play with dolls and they play hopscotch. You, poor child, without toys or playmates, you played murder, because it is a game that one can play alone.
