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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What news does Clytemnestra initially bring the chorus?
(a) Troy has been defeated.
(b) Agamemnon has died.
(c) Troy has defeated the Greeks.
(d) Menelaus will be taking over Mycenae.

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

4. What do the female attendants lay on the ground for Agamemnon to walk upon?
(a) A gold cloth.
(b) A red cloth.
(c) A white cloth.
(d) A purple cloth.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Clytemnestra claim about her life since Agamemnon left for war?

2. What, according to the herald, is worth the suffering of the soldiers?

3. What message does Clytemnestra send to Agamemnon through the herald?

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

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

Short Essay Questions

1. For what does Clytemnestra take particular offense with the chorus in the last part of "The Agamemnon"?

2. What message does Clytemnestra send with the herald to Agamemnon?

3. What do the chorus of women comment upon while bewailing their grief over Agamemnon?

4. What is the continuing theme among the chorus as to what happened to Troy and why?

5. What is Cassandra's curse and why was it placed on her?

6. According to the chorus, how must Electra pray?

7. What does Orestes find mysterious about the women approaching Agamemnon's tomb?

8. How does Clytemnestra describe her life to her husband during Agamemnon's absence?

9. Why does Aegisthus threaten the chorus?

10. How does Cassandra describe Apollo and why?

(see the answer keys)

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