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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What has Clytemnestra placed at all the shrines in Mycenae?
(a) Maidens to pray.
(b) Blasphemous offerings.
(c) Guards.
(d) Offerings to the gods.

2. What interrupts the chorus's meditations on life at the end of the fourth part of "The Agamemnon"?
(a) Cassandra is screaming.
(b) Orestes returns to the city.
(c) Agamemnon is screaming.
(d) Clytemnestra is laughing.

3. How does Clytemnestra defend her actions against Agamemnon to the chorus?
(a) She argues that there never was a curse.
(b) She argues that she ended the curse.
(c) She argues that the Furies will not hurt her.
(d) She argues that she cannot be cursed again.

4. In the first part of the first play, what signal is the man on the roof looking for?
(a) An arrow.
(b) A moonbeam.
(c) A ship.
(d) A bonfire.

5. According to the chorus, what is the only thing Electra can pray for while at Agamemnon's grave?
(a) The return of her family.
(b) Her mother's salvation.
(c) The death of her father's murderers.
(d) Her own freedom.

6. To whom does Cassandra initially cry out?
(a) Athena.
(b) Hermes.
(c) Apollo.
(d) Zeus.

7. What goddess demanded Iphigenia in sacrifice?
(a) Artemis.
(b) Hera.
(c) Demeter.
(d) Athena.

8. What is Cassandra's final prayer?
(a) She will be remembered.
(b) Her death will be avenged.
(c) Apollo will forgive her.
(d) Athena will protect her.

9. Why is the herald so joyful?
(a) Clytemnestra favors him.
(b) The gods have spoken to him.
(c) He is home in Mycenae.
(d) He is gotten married.

10. What reasoning did Clytemnestra give for exiling a certain person before the events of "The Agamemnon"?
(a) She wanted him out of the way of her lover's ascension.
(b) She was afraid that gods would smite her son.
(c) She wanted to keep her son safe from Trojan assassins.
(d) She was afraid her daughter might tempt her lover.

11. What gift did Apollo give Cassandra before the events of The Oresteia?
(a) The ability of persuasion.
(b) Immortality.
(c) The ability to speak in tongues.
(d) Prophecy.

12. What does Clytemnestra try to get Cassandra to do in the fourth part of "The Agamemnon"?
(a) Enter the palace.
(b) Greet her properly.
(c) Drink some wine.
(d) Leave the city.

13. For what does Cassandra pray in the fourth part of the first play?
(a) Agamemnon to survive.
(b) An easy death.
(c) Redemption.
(d) An afterlife.

14. Why does Agamemnon walk inside his palace the way he does?
(a) He believes it is more touching to walk in together.
(b) He believes it is grander.
(c) He does not care about Clytemnestra's feelings on the matter.
(d) He believes it is more humbling.

15. According to the chorus, what was Paris's crime?
(a) Breaking the laws of nature.
(b) Kidnapping Helen to break the peace.
(c) Following the will of the gods.
(d) Following his heart.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Clytemnestra remind the chorus to do after Aegisthus's outburst?

2. What was Paris's actual deed that set off the Trojan War?

3. To whom does Orestes pray while at his father's tomb?

4. What kept Agamemnon from leaving for Troy right away?

5. What does Cassandra remove from her person in the fourth part of the first play?

(see the answer keys)

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