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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. According to Clytemnestra's message to the herald, how has she kept her husband's house?
(a) She has been overwhelmed by the responsibilities of it.
(b) She has given it over to someone else for safekeeping.
(c) As well as she could.
(d) Safe and welcoming upon his return.

3. What does the herald believe about Agamemnon's brother?
(a) His soul is restless.
(b) He is still alive.
(c) He is wandering the earth for all eternity.
(d) He perished at sea.

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

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

6. Towards the end of the first play, what does the chorus tell Clytemnestra they refuse to do?
(a) Allow Aegisthus to rule Mycenae.
(b) Allow Agamemnon to be buried without any offerings made to the gods.
(c) Allow her to retire.
(d) Allow her son to return.

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

8. How does part of the chorus react to the death of Agamemnon?
(a) They believe he got what he deserved.
(b) They are indifferent.
(c) They grieve for their king.
(d) They are joyous.

9. What does the herald ask of the gods?
(a) He asks that they bless Clytemnestra and her family.
(b) He asks that they send a sign for whether he should leave the city.
(c) He asks that they send Agamemmon good winds for his journey.
(d) He asks that they continue to bless Agamemnon on his return home.

10. In the first part of the first play, what does the chorus say of Agamemnon's fate?
(a) The chorus says nothing about his fate.
(b) His is preordained.
(c) His fate is open.
(d) His fate will be to live a long life.

11. What does Cassandra remove from her person in the fourth part of the first play?
(a) Her long hair.
(b) The chains Agamemnon put around her.
(c) Her royal jewelry.
(d) The crest of her family.

12. Why does Cassandra walk into the palace?
(a) She hears Agamemnon calling for her.
(b) She has nothing else to do.
(c) She hears Clytemnestra calling for help.
(d) She refuses to run from her fate.

13. What advice does Electra ask of the chorus while at her father's tomb?
(a) She is unsure of whether to mourn her father.
(b) She is unsure of where to go when she runs away.
(c) She is unsure of how to pray.
(d) She is unsure if she is truly her father's daughter.

14. For what does the herald thank the gods?
(a) He thanks them for speaking to him.
(b) He thanks them for blessing him and the army.
(c) He thanks them for sending him his wife.
(d) He thanks them for having such a benevolent queen.

15. Who accompanies Orestes to Agamemnon's tomb in the beginning of the second play?
(a) Menelaus.
(b) Pylades.
(c) Odysseus.
(d) An oracle.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who is the first character to speak in "The Oresteia"?

2. What news does Clytemnestra initially bring the chorus?

3. What is Aegisthus's relationship to Clytemnestra as demonstrated at the end of "The Agamemnon"?

4. For what does Clytemnestra triumphantly reproach the chorus in the fifth part of "The Agamemnon"?

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

(see the answer keys)

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