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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 heard from inside the palace after Aegisthus enters it?
(a) Orestes screaming as he is murdered by Aegisthus.
(b) Pylades is screaming as Aegisthus murders him.
(c) Electra screaming as Aegisthus murders her.
(d) Aegisthus screaming as he is being murdered.

2. What does Athena decide about the case presented to her by Orestes and the Furies?
(a) She sides with the Furies.
(b) She sides with Orestes, but refuses to grant him sanctuary.
(c) It is not part of her divine right to judge this case.
(d) She sides with Orestes.

3. What will be the first action taken when Orestes and Pylades infiltrate the palace?
(a) Aegisthus will be killed.
(b) Electra will be guided to safety.
(c) Cilissa will be alerted.
(d) Clytemnestra will be killed.

4. In what state is Orestes' old nurse, Cilissa, upon hearing that Orestes was murdered?
(a) She is happy.
(b) She is confused.
(c) She is relieved.
(d) She is distraught.

5. What does Orestes wonder about Aegisthus after he has murdered his mother?
(a) He wonders if Aegisthus suffered during his death.
(b) He wonders if Aegisthus is receiving an adulterer's punishment.
(c) He wonders if Aegisthus was truly guilty.
(d) He wonders if Aegisthus was repenting his sins in the last moments of his life.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do the Furies turn into at Athena's behest at the very end of The Oresteia?

2. Where does the beginning of "The Eumenides" take place?

3. What does Apollo claim about mothers and fathers in the last part of "The Eumenides"?

4. What do the Furies celebrate in poem and dance in the second part of "The Eumenides"?

5. Why does Orestes wish to return to the oracle at the end of "The Libation Bearers"?

Short Essay Questions

1. After receiving false news in the third part of the second play, what is Clytemnestra's reaction to news of Orestes' supposed death?

2. What ends up being the fate of the Furies at the end of the play?

3. Why does Apollo appear to Orestes while at Delphi?

4. After he is freed at the end of "The Oresteia", what does Orestes claim to want for the future?

5. What does Orestes mean when he cries out to Zeus in the second part of "The Libation Bearers"?

6. How does Orestes defend himself in his trial?

7. What does Apollo say about the rights of parents during Orestes' trial?

8. What are the Furies and why are they tormenting Orestes at the end of "The Libation Bearers"?

9. Why is it important that Orestes tell Athena who his father was when the goddess comes to him?

10. In the beginning of "The Eumenides", what is the oracle's vision and what does it mean?

(see the answer keys)

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