Good Old Aeschylus

oBorn at Eleusis 525 B.C.

o Dionysus, god of wine and revelry, supposedly appeared to him in his father’s vineyard while Aeschylus was napping and told him to be a dramatist of tragedy

o Fought at Artemisium, Salamis, Platæa, and Marathon.

o His last play of the Orestia was poorly received (showed him to be aristocratic) and he moved to Sicily in self-imposed exile.

o According to tradition, he died at the age of 70 when an eagle believed his bald head to be a stone and dropped a tortoise upon it to break the shell. (In actuality, he died of natural causes.)

The StoryAgamemnon has returned

home victorious from the Trojan war, where he went to lead the army and help his brother, King

Menelaus, take Helen back from Paris. Clytemnestra is

waiting for his return with her lover, his cousin Aegisthus.

Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon in retribution for his sacrificing of their daughter Iphigenia to

Artemis. She also kills his slave and concubine, the seer

Cassandra. These two murders perpetuate the curse on the

House of Atreus.

The Production

Produced in 458 B.C.

Performed during the festival of Dionysus

Very popular

WWAD (What Would Aristotle Do)

PlotProbableConsistentBeginning, Middle, and EndSuffering

CharacterGoodness (Agamemnon)Likeness (Agamemnon)Consistency (All)Neither Perfect nor Depraved (All)Upper-class Citizen (Agamemnon)Tragic Error

Hamartia

W W A D

PlotReversal Recognition

CharacterGoodness

(Clytaemnestra)

Appropriateness

(Clytaemnestra)

not

The ChorusNot Omniscient

Gives Backstory

Foreshadows

Comments on Themes

Led by a Koryphaios

Comprised of Elders

Important SpeechesA curse burns bright on crimefull-blown, the father’s crimes will blossom, bust into the son’s… (117)

No slave’s death, I think –no stealthier than the death he dealtour house and the offspring of our loins, Iphigeneia, girl of tears. Act for act, wound for wound! Never exult in Hades, swordsman,here you are repaid. By the sword you did your work and by the sword you die. (1551-1558)

There is the seaand who will bleed it dry? Precious as silver, inexhaustible, ever-new, it breeds the more we reap it -- tides on tides of crimson dye our robes blood red. Our lives are based on wealth, my king, The gods have seen to that. (957-962)

What Do YOU Think? According to ancient Grecian values, is Clytaemnestra justified in her actions?

Is there reversal and/or recognition in Agamemnon?

How would Aristotle have felt about The Orestia

as a trilogy as opposed to The Oedipus Cycle

as a trilogy?

Can you think of any other literature that

echoes elements of Agamemnon in plot,

character, etc.?

The Sacrifice of Iphigenia

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, 1735

Clytemnestra Killing Cassandra (Red Figure, c. 430 BCE)