This article investigates the characterization of Electra by examining aspects of her ‘mind style’ — a notion taken from Stylistics, based on the idea that distinctive patterns in a character’s use of language reflect the workings of his or her mind. Three aspects of Electra’s mind style are discussed, each connected to a particular linguistic pattern: (1) her sense of displacement from the royal palace, evident from the way in which she linguistically configures Argive space; (2) her sense of being deprived of an alternative life, evident from her use of negation and related expressions; and (3) her metaphorical conception of her existence as a kind of social death. Various concepts from cognitive linguistics, specifically construal and conceptual integration (blending), are applied in the analysis. Each of the investigated aspects points at a world view which focuses on the life which Electra is unable to live, because of the influence of her mother and Aegisthus.