The Flies
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Key Facts
full title · The Flies (Les Mouches)
author · Jean-Paul Sartre
type of work · Drama
genre · Philosophical fiction
language · French
time and place written · 1943; Paris, France
date of first performance · 1943
location of first performance · Paris
date of first publication · 1943
publisher · Librairie Gallimard
protagonist · Orestes
antagonists · Jupiter; Aegistheus
setting (time) · Probably 12th or 13th century BC when the events of the Greek myth of Orestes took place
setting (place) · Argos, Greece
climax · Jupiter speaks in an awe inspiring booming voice and attempts to convince Orestes to return to his law. Orestes rejects him, saying that he is free
falling action · Electra leaves with Jupiter; Orestes tells the Argives that he has freed them and leaves Argos with The Furies in pursuit
foreshadowing · Electra's youth, her obsession with eyes and thus the judgment of others, the element of fantasy in her hatred, and the fact that she acts out of revenge rather than her freedom are all mentioned, foreshadowing her eventual surrender to remorse
tone · Varying largely between impassioned, farcical, melodramatic, and despondent
symbols · Flies, stones, eyes, weapons
themes · Freedom, responsibility and guilt, relation of humanity to nature, resistance to authority, past and future
motifs · Power and farce, lightness and heaviness, youth and age, beauty and ugliness
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