Argos
In the lines spoken by Orestes - "those blood-smeared walls, these swarms of flies, this reek of shambles and the stifling heat, these empty streets and yonder god with his gashed face, and those creeping, half-human creatures beating their breast in darkened rooms" (55) - Sartre provides an astonishingly horrific, grotesque tableau of man held sway under the tyranny of belief systems. Argos is a hot, miserable, and fly-ridden city where people cannot crawl out from under the weight of their guilt and remorse. The monstrousness of the city contrasts with Orestes' past travels, inner freedom, and vision for the Argives' future.
Black
All of the citizens in Argos wear black to commemorate their sins and remind themselves of how they must bear the burden of Agamemnon's death. The color black is associated with death, evil, and darkness, and is thus appropriate. It is also associated with cloaking/masking/obfuscation, which indicates how the citizens cannot see beyond the heavy cloak of their remorse. They are in the dark and they wear the dark.
White
In relation to the above entry, Electra's choice to wear a simple white dress to the rite is a striking image. This young, beautiful, carefree woman wearing a white dress and dancing among a grim crowd of black-clad worshippers of the dead is unforgettable. Even though Electra will actually prove to be an icon of bad faith, this image remains a testament to the possibility of freedom she once explored.
The End
Orestes tells the people of Argos a spellbinding tale of a flutist leading a plague of rats away from a city, all the while walking through the people towards the city gates. He proclaims that he is taking their sins and their remorse, all embodied by the flies that swarmed their city for years. The image of him walking away and the flies following (and the screaming Furies) is a remarkable one, for it emphasizes Orestes's authenticity and independence as well as his loneliness. He is not accompanied by Electra and he has the weight of the Argives' sins; thus, Sartre leaves readers/the audience with a profound sense of the burden of true freedom.
