The Chorus breaks out into chaos, unsure of how to respond. Soon, Agamemnon, with Cassandra, a captive soothsayer, beside him, enter in a chariot. Course Hero. If there-fore our poet has so managed the transition from the introductory The Chorus begins to speak about the inevitability of fate, but screams from the palace interrupt them. By Clytemnestra, Agamemnon had a son, Orestes, and three daughters, Iphigeneia (Iphianassa), Electra (Laodice), and Chrysothemis. 5 Zeus forbids the other gods to interfere in the war. Through his actions and words in The Iliad , we can see that Agamemnon is not a great king at all. In terms of marital infidelity, Clytemnestra cannot claim moral superiority over Agamemnon. The Chorus members grieve for the slain Agamemnon, but Clytaemnestra says he brought his death on himself. As Aegisthus’ soldiers surround the Chorus, the Chorus prays that Agamemnon’s son Orestes will return to Argos to set things right. Clytaemnestra determines to give her husband, Agamemnon, a hero's welcome home. 1 It details the homecoming of Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, from the Trojan War.After ten years of warfare, Troy had fallen and all of Greece could lay claim to victory. After Atreus was murdered by his nephew Aegisthus (son of Thyestes), Agamemnon and Menelaus took refuge with Tyndareus, king of Sparta, whose daughters, Clytemnestra and Helen, they respectively married. The Chorus tells the story of Helen's arrival in Troy, laments Troy's grief, and warns of doom for the violent. Upon his return, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus murdered Agamemnon… But his wife Clytemnestra, enraged at Agamemnon because he had sacrificed her daughter Iphigenia at Aulis to appease the winds, and full of jealousy because he brings Cassandra as her rival home, estranged also by the long-continued absence of her husband, but most estranged by her own guilty affair with Aegisthus, is now plotting to slay her husband on his return, gaining both revenge and … Agamemnon, leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War, has returned after 10 years. The palace doors open, revealing Clytaemnestra with blood on her hands. A blood-soaked Clytemnestra appears, and the palace doors open to reveal the dead bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra. After his victory in Troy, Agamemnon is reluctant to do anything that may be seen as an act of defiance to the gods (as this might be), but Clytemnestra convinces him to walk on the tapestries, and he does so. Cassandra predicts Agamemnon's death and her own. As part of their power struggle, Atreus tricked Thyestes into eating his own young children, then banished him from the city. Cassandra predicts Agamemnon's death and her own. In this exercise you will plot 2 kernel densities. 97 beacon-message, the subsequently shipwrecked Greeks were sacking Troy. The Chorus reflects on the destruction caused by Paris and Helen, whose kidnapping started the war, and laments the damage and sorrow war causes. Paris stole Menelaus’ wife Helen, and as a result Menelaus and Agamemnon led a fleet to Troy to avenge the insult. Cassandra cries out in horror and claims she sees murder and tragedy in the palace. We know nothing about this person. A herald arrives to confirm Troy is captured. Once in a tidy format, both books will retain words and corresponding scores for … (2016, November 28). T he Iliad is an epic poem by Homer that tells the story of several weeks in the last year of the decade-long Trojan War.. The herald confirms news of Argive victory and shipwreck. Course Hero, "Agamemnon Study Guide," November 28, 2016, accessed December 12, 2020, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Agamemnon/. (including. Themes and Colors Key LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme. All of a sudden, we hear Agamemnon from within the palace screaming that he is being attacked. 6 With Zeus's help, Hector breaks through to Achaean ships. Aeschylus, Agamemnon GUARD The gods relieve my watch: that's all I ask. Agamemnon is a king of the Achaeans, but that does not make him worthy of the title. Select any of the themes in the key below to highlight it in the Theme Wheel. Cassandra, possessed by the god Apollo, begins to cry out, and her thoughts eventually form a prophecy in which she predicts Agamemnon’s murder in detail, as well as her own death. 2 5 In Book One, this person gets in an argument with Agamemnon over Chryseis. The play also shows the disrespect the men had for women in that time period. One for Agamemnon and another for The Wizard of Oz. He expects a glorious homecoming, and the people--especially his wife Clytemnestra--are relieved that he is home. 6 Course Hero. For both you will perform an inner_join() with the "afinn" lexicon. Agamemnon returns with Cassandra, a prophetess from Troy and captured member of the royal family, now his war prize. In front of the palace there are statues of the gods, and altars prepared for sacrifice. In the Greek city of Argos on the roof of the royal palace, a watchman long and impatiently awaits news of the outcome of the Trojan War, hoping the Argives (Greek forces) have captured Troy. Have study documents to share about Agamemnon? The play opens with a watchman standing on the roof of the palace of Agamemnon at Argos. 4 Mortals and gods fight and are wounded in battle. 7 However, Clytemnestra is holding murderous vengeance in her heart. Agamemnon seemingly does his best to irritate the gods and his most valuable warrior, Achilles. It surely is not possible to understand Agamemnon’s life without having knowledge of his tumultuous past. When he sees the signal fire indicating victory, the Watchman rejoices and enters the palace to spread the news. The Chorus, a group of elderly men too old to have fought in the war, come out and explain that the Trojan War began out of a feud between Paris, the Trojan prince, and Menelaus, the Greek king. A Watchman, stationed on top of the palace, waits for a signal fire indicating that the ten-year Trojan War (between the Greeks and the Trojans) has come to an end. Clytaemnestra murders Agamemnon and Cassandra. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Agamemnon is a domestic tragedy, telling the story of the murder of Agamemnon, King of He and Clytaemnestra disagree about this, but finally he walks across the carpet into his palace. Upload them to earn free Course Hero access! Teachers and parents! Course Hero. 8 Achilles and the gods return to the fighting. link Link Agamemnon and Achilles Argue (Book 1): The Achaean commander Agamemnon is forced to give up his war prize, the woman Chryseis, for the sake of the Achaean army. Our, “Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Agamemnon (Ἀγαμέμνων, Agamémnōn) is the first of the three plays within the Oresteia trilogy. The herald confirms news of Argive victory and shipwreck. The Chorus suggests an impending sense of dread for what’s to come. He doesn't think that Clytemnestra, Agamemnon's wife, is managing things very well. When Clytaemnestra lays out a purple carpet for Agamemnon to walk on, he protests, saying the honor is fit only for a god, not a human. Iliad Summary. Copyright © 2016. Agamemnon Study Guide. Accessed December 12, 2020. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Agamemnon/. She has killed Agamemnon and Cassandra. The Chorus details how Helen incited the fall of Troy. Agamemnon Summary The first words of the play are spoken by the Watchman sitting on the roof of the palace of Agamemnon in Argos, Greece. Aegisthus, Clytemnestra’s lover and Agamemnon’s cousin, joins Clytemnestra and explains that the revenge is twofold—long ago, Agamemnon’s father Atreus had killed and cooked Aegisthus’ brothers and fed them to their father, Thyestes. The first play in Aeschylus' trilogy, Orestia, and arguably the most famous of the three. The Chorus tells the story of Helen's arrival in Troy, laments Troy's grief, and warns of doom for the violent. The leader of the Chorus admits to the king that, although he had despised of his decision to pursue Helen … Clytaemnestra justifies her deeds to the Chorus. Agamemnon returns with Cassandra, a prophetess from Troy and captured … 8 The play is set sometime in the 12th or 13th centuries BCE, and begins in Argos, Greece. Revenge. Aegisthus, Agamemnon's cousin, appears—he is Clytaemnestra's lover and assisted in her plot. Conflict Agamemnon's coming home! Menelaus is the brother of Agamemnon, who is Clytemnestra’s husband and the king of Argos. . He then ignores the questions of why it was Klytemestra that killed Agamemnon instead of Aigisthos (the man), and finally answers it by passively plotting his own plans. 4 The thing is, Agamemnon isn't there. Because Cassandra was Agamemnon's lover, Clytaemnestra killed her as well. The Chorus reveals the Argive prophet, Calchas, predicted the Argive victory and recalls how the goddess Artemis forced Agamemnon, leader of the Argive forces, to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia so his troops could set sail. Clytaemnestra convinces Agamemnon to walk the carpet. The Chorus also tells us that in order to persuade the goddess Artemis to allow his fleet to pass, Agamemnon sacrificed his and Clytemnestra’s daughter, Iphigenia. He praises the gods for saving him and says he will work with the Chorus to establish a democracy. A Herald enters and confirms that Troy has indeed fallen, and recounts some of the hardships of the war. "Agamemnon Study Guide." Aegisthus explains his revenge and threatens the Chorus. He is now content believing justice has been served for past crimes. Exiting from the palace, Clytaemnestra tells the Chorus the Argive armies have captured Troy. The Chorus then thanks the gods and muses on the gods’ tendency to punish mortals who are prideful. The Watchman reveals that Argos has been living without its king for ten years. Taking Aegisthus with him, Thyestes left Argos and called down a curse on the House of Atreus, ensuring its members would die violently. 7 Hector kills Patroclus in battle. But they come to a stop by Hector, Prince of Troy. In front of Agamemnon's palace, a watchman wishes his shift would end. Their leader, King Agamemnon, seeks to provide better food, but accidentally slays a sacred deer. Agamemnon demands that he be compensated for the loss of the girl, and Achilles, the greatest Achaean warrior, objects. They have been hoping for victory for 10 years and ask the Argive queen, Clytaemnestra, for news. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Web. So they set off with 1,000 ships holding 50,000 Greeks to Troy. The Chorus, a group of Argive elders, comes onstage to speak collectively. Finally the Chorus welcomes Agamemnon, who enters riding in a chariot with Cassandra, Paris’ sister—a prophet of the god Apollo, and Agamemnon’s new slave. The Chorus members panic and scatter, debating whether Agamemnon is dead and whether his killers will capture the city of Argos. 12 Dec. 2020. Even before he was born, his family members were fighting against one another. The Iliad Vocabulary, Characters, and Plot Points. It is night. Homer. STUDY. Summary and Analysis Agamemnon: Prologue (Lines 1-39) Summary. Clytemnestra enters and the Chorus asks why fires of sacrifice are being lit around the palace. Clytemnestra meets Agamemnon outside the palace and implores him to enter into the palace walking on a carpet of purple tapestries. Course Hero is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university. The Plot of the Agamemnon. Instant downloads of all 1379 LitChart PDFs Achilles. Agamemnon sees this as an opportunity for power. The situation is somewhat dubious. 9 Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. When he is gone, the Chorus, made up of the old men of Argos, enters and tells the story of how the Trojan Prince Paris stole Helen, the wife of the Greek king Menelaus, … Recall the "afinn" lexicon has terms scored from -5 to 5. PLAY. Before Agamemnon left for Troy, he sacrificed his daughter for favorable sailing winds. 28 Nov. 2016. Agamemnon has been gone for ten years. Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe explains the plot summary of Aeschylus's play Agamemnon. Book Review 3 out of 5 stars to Agamemnon, the first of the Orestia plays written in 458 BC by Aeschylus.Peter Arnott, a noted scholar and critic, has stated that, The Agamemnon is a bitter indictment of war, of the folly of bloodshed, of the hardships of fighting, of the misery at home. Course Hero. His punishment from the gods, the sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia. Year-long I've haunched here on this palace roof, year-long been the all-fours watch-dog of the Atreids, learning by rote the slow dance of the stars, spectator of the brilliance in black skies that brings to men their winters and their suns: The watchman sees the signal fire announcing victory. They worry something terrible will happen, and they know justice will be served. A signal fire announces that Agamemnon is … She claims Agamemnon's death was revenge for the sacrifice of their daughter Iphigenia. 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