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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 is the lineage of the woman with Agamemnon in the third part of the first play?
(a) She is Helen's half sister.
(b) She is a Trojan princess.
(c) She is the daughter of the queen of the Amazons.
(d) She is a priestess of Athena.

2. What is Clytemnestra's plan for ruling Mycenae at the end of the Agamemnon?
(a) Orestes will return and rule it with her.
(b) She will rule it alone.
(c) Aegisthus will rule it.
(d) She and Aegisthus will rule it together.

3. What was Paris's actual deed that set off the Trojan War?
(a) He murdered Menelaus.
(b) He dishonored Aphrodite.
(c) He kidnapped Helen.
(d) He rejected Apollo.

4. 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.

5. What does Clytemnestra's entrance reveal in the fifth part of "The Agamemnon"?
(a) Agamemnon and Cassandra are murdered.
(b) Aegisthus is preparing to murder her.
(c) Orestes has returned.
(d) The ghost of her daughter is following her.

Short Answer Questions

1. About whom does the chorus ask the herald for news?

2. What past events does Cassandra see in a vision?

3. Whom does Agamemnon tell Clytemnestra to greet and treat well?

4. What gift did Apollo give Cassandra before the events of The Oresteia?

5. After Cassandra enters the castle and their monologue is interrupted, what dispute rises amongst the chorus?

Short Essay Questions

1. What are Agamemnon's feelings about Troy?

2. What happened to Menelaus, according to the herald?

3. Why does Cassandra finally walk into the palace?

4. How does Cassandra describe Apollo and why?

5. What feelings does the Watchman have while on the roof in the beginning of the play?

6. To what does the chorus compare Troy and why?

7. How did Agamemnon make the winds blow so that they might sail to Troy before the events of the play?

8. Why does Clytemnestra lose patience with Cassandra in the fourth part of "The Agamemnon"?

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

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

(see the answer keys)

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