Agamemnon Study Guide

Next to each question, cite the line numbers from the play where you found the answer!

The questions are in chronological order.

1. Where is the play set? What other location is mentioned in this play that is vitally important to understanding this drama, and how is it important?

2. How does the Watchman describe Clytemnestra? How does this foreshadow her later actions?

3. Why does the Chorus describe Agamemnon and Menelaus as 'vultures'? Why do they invoke Zeus as the 'god of guests'?

4. What is the omen which Calchas interprets as angering Artemis? Why is Artemis disturbed?

5. What is the gist of the chorus' invocation of Zeus? What kind of god do they conceive him to be?

6. How did Agamemnon's daughter Iphigeneia attempt to sway her father and the other Greeks away from sacrificing her? What was the result of her attempts?

7. How did Clytemnestra get the news of Troy's downfall overnight?

8. What does Clytemnestra say about the Greeks at Troy in regard to the gods and temples of Troy? Why is her dread ironic?

9. Why does the Chorus invoke 'Zeus god of guests' in this song, and what does this have to do with Justice, and with Paris?

10. What attitude do the Chorus members have towards Helen? What was her husband's emotional reaction to losing her

11. How did the Chorus relate “War, War” with “All for another’s woman”? Who are these characters?

12. Why do the Chorus say "...Furies stalk the man gone rich beyond all rights...."?

13. Why is the Chorus skeptical about the joy over the fire signal's message? What does this tell us about their attitude towards women? How does Clytemnestra react to this attitude?

14. Which five things/gods does the Herald first greet when he arrives? What does each of these five mean to him?

15. What does the Herald say about the altars and gods of Troy, and how does this hearken back to Clytemnestra's words? What would have been the effect on the Greek audience?

16. What does Clytemnestra say about her own loyalty to Agamemnon? How much is true, and how much is false?

17. Why did the Herald have no news of Menelaus? When and where had he last seen him?

18. With what concept do the Chorus link Helen? Why do they do so?

19. Why do the Chorus mention “to the tables shamed”, and “Zeus who guards the hearth”?

20. Why is Helen compared with a domesticated lion cub?

21. According to the Chorus, what is the relationship between Justice, wealth, and poverty?

22. The Chorus admit what their true feelings were when Agamemnon went off to the Trojan War. What were their feelings then, and how do they compare to their feelings now?

23. How does Agamemnon's initial invocation recall that of the Herald at the beginning of the second episode?

24. What does Agamemnon say about Odysseus, and his friendship? What myth does Agamemnon recall when he says that “I dragged that man to the wars but once in harness...”?

25. How does Clytemnestra explain to Agamemnon the absence of their son Orestes? Why is it convenient to have him out of town?

26. Why is Agamemnon reluctant to step on the carpet? Why do you think that Clytemnestra urges him to do so?

27. What can be ambiguous about Clytemnestra's evocation of “Justice” at the end of her speech of welcome to Agamemnon? What could be ambiguous about her saying ‘Let the red stream flow”?

28. How does Agamemnon respond to Clytemnestra's speech? What three criticisms of her does he make?

29. What is ambiguous about Clytemnestra's prayer to Zeus?

30. This song is full of dread and foreboding. What do the Chorus sing about blood? What do they say about fate? What myth involving Zeus do they mention?

31. Why does Clytemnestra mention Zeus to Cassandra? Why does she mention Heracles?

32. What does Cassandra tell the Chorus at 1095 that they do not understand at first? Who are the small children wailing? What does the Chorus finally understand about it?

33. Why does Cassandra repeatedly mention a bath?

34. What does Cassandra tell the Chorus about her relationship with Apollo?

35. What does the Chorus say about the Pythian oracles? Why does the Chorus say this in this context?

36. What issue does the Chorus debate with itself in this song, and what is the result of their debate?

37. How does Clytemnestra pervert the ritual of the third libation in her actions?

38. How does Clytemnestra justify her murder of Agamemnon, and what reference does she make to the inactivity of the Chorus when Agamemnon committed his outrage at Aulis?

39. How does the Chorus speak of Helen, and how does Clytemnestra attempt to correct them?

40. What is the ‘the three gods’ to which Clytemnestra and the Chorus refer to? How is Zeus involved?

41. Clytemnestra says that she was only an agent, but the real killer was something else. What does she claim that it was? And what is the Chorus' response to her claim?

42. What kind of burial will the murdered Agamemnon have? Who will fling her arms around him after he dies, according to Clytemnestra?

43. What arguments does Aegisthus use to prove that the gods were in favor of Agamemnon's being murdered, and that he was justly killed?

44. How does Aegisthus respond to the Chorus when they call him coward? What kind of personality does he have?

45. What is the Chorus' hope about Orestes? How will this hope be fulfilled?