AESCHYLUS, THE ORESTEIA
STUDY QUESTIONS
It will useful to you, although not necessary, to read the
introduction, pages 13-97.
A. Agamemnon (pp. 99-172)
1. Write a one page summary of the plot of this play
2. Compare these two translations of the following passage (lines
177-184). What significance, if any, do you find in the differences between them?
In your own words, write a paragraph explaining what Aeschylus means.
Zeus has led us on to know,
The Helmsman lays it down as law
That we must suffer, suffer into truth.
We cannot sleep, and drop by drop at the heart
the pain of pain remembered comes again,
and we resist, but ripeness comes as well.
From the gods enthroned on the awesome
rowing-bench
there comes a violent love.
(Robert Fagles, Penguin Books, 1977)
Zeus, who guided men to think,
who has laid it down that wisdom
comes alone through suffering.
Still there drips in sleep against the heart
grief of memory; against
our pleasure we are temperate.
From the gods who sit in grandeur
grace comes somehow violent.
(Richmond Lattimore, U. Chicago, 1983))
3. What do you think is going on in lines 908-957? Why?
4. Lines 1032-1331. What is happening to Cassandra in this
passage? What does she reveal prophetically?
5. Lines 1410-1451. What crimes does Clytemnestra charge Agamemnon
with?
6. What do you think Aegisthus could mean in line 1623, considering the
context?
B. The Libation Bearers (pp. 173-226)
1. Write a one page summary of the plot of this play.
2. How does Electra know that Orestes has returned?
3. What reasons are driving Orestes to kill Clytaemestra?
4. What was her dream and what is Orestes' interpretation?
5. Lines 1020-1077. What is developing in these last lines? What
is troubling Orestes?
C. The Eumenides (pp. 227-277)
1. Write a one page summary of the plot of this play.
2. Why are the Furies after Orestes?
3. In this play, what is their complaint against Apollo and Athene?
4. In the trial, how is Orestes defended?
5. What happens between Athene and the Furies in the end?