History 5 -- Study Sheet for Aeschylus, The Oresteia
Main characters Agamemnon -- Clytemnestra
-- Agamemnon
-- Cassandra
The Libation Bearers -- Orestes
-- Elektra
The Eumenides -- Apollo
-- Athena
-- The Furies!
What events important to the action occurred previous to the beginning of Agamemnon?
Does Agamemnon suffer from hubris? Who is more evil, Agamemnon or Clytemnestra?
Why is Clytmenestra one of the most memorable characters in Greek tragedy?
Do you think Orestes in the Libation Bearers is a noble character who deserves our
admiration and allegiance?
Contrast Clytemnestra and Elektra.
Contrast the attitude of the chorus in Agamemnon and the Libation Bearers.
What role do the gods play in the action? How do they influence the action? How do the
divine characters in the Eumenides differ from humans, if at all?
Describe the behavior and the image of the Furies? Do they represent evil? Are they
consistently treated as evildoers?
How is the conflict in the Eumenides resolved? What are the values of the resolution?
Show how the Oresteia represents the Greek view of the transition from barbarism to
civilization? What is the role of Athena and the Athenians?
Essay Questions -- Write on one of the following.
1. How sympathetic a character is Clytemnestra in the Oresteia? Why should we
applaud or condemn her husband's murder? Do you see her as "a wronged
woman exacting revenge" or "a murdering adulteress?"
2. The Oresteian trilogy carries the reader from darkness to light, from the
dispensation of the Furies to the "holy persuasion" of Athena, from savagery and
violence to true civilization and civic peace. Contrast these two worlds in the
imagery and the action of the plays. Devise an interpretation of how the conflict
is resolved. Does it end in the victory of one side over the other? What are the
values set forth by the playwright in the second part of the Eumenides?