Details: The play begins with a peasant's brief recap of some of the background story: how the vengeful Clytemnestra killed Agamemnon on his return from the seige of Troy, and now rules over Argos with her lover, Aegisthus; how Electra's brother Orestes was sent away by the insecure Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, and put under the care of the king of Phocis, where he became friends with the king's son, Pylades; and how Electra herself was also cast out of the royal house and married off to a farmer, a kind man who has never taken advantage of her or her family, and who Electra helps with household chores in return. Despite her genuine appreciation for her peasant husband, Electra clearly still strongly resents both being cast out of her house and her mother's loyalty to the usurping Aegisthus.
