Familial Pity in Greek Tragedy

In this article we analyze explicit expressions of pity among family members within Euripides' Iphigenia at Aulis and Sophocles' Electra with particular attention to the closeness of individuals involved and the merit for misfortune, two categories informed by Aristotle's definition of pity in the Rhetoric. Instances within these plays suggest that a type of estrangement exists between pitier and pitied while the question of whether one's misfortune is merited can be ignored in favor of assumed obligations to kin. This interpretation sheds light on the instance of pity found between father and son in Aeschylus' Persians.