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

2. What does Aegisthus claim after his entrance in "The Libation Bearers"?
(a) He cannot be fooled.
(b) He is thrice blessed by the gods.
(c) He is the father of Orestes.
(d) He is the wisest man in Mycenae.

3. What ends up freeing Orestes from the Furies at the end of "The Eumenides"?
(a) The Areopagus votes for Orestes.
(b) Clytemnestra's spirit pleads for her son's freedom.
(c) Athena's vote for Orestes breaks the tie in the Areopagus.
(d) Agamemnon's spirit asks the Furies to pursue him in Orestes' place.

4. What does Clytemnestra call out for when she hears the noise from inside the palace in the third part of "The Libation Bearers"?
(a) An axe.
(b) The Furies.
(c) Zeus's intervention.
(d) A sword.

5. What do the Furies demand to know in court from Orestes?
(a) They demand to know whether he loved his mother or not.
(b) They demand to know why he was exiled for so many years.
(c) They demand to know how he keeps getting favored by the gods.
(d) They demand he explain what he did and why.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Clytemnestra plead for her life to Orestes?

2. For whom do the disguised Orestes and Pylades cry out while outside the palace?

3. What does the chorus instruct Cilissa to do instead of following Clytemnestra's orders?

4. What does Orestes promise Zeus if he succeeds in his revenge?

5. What does Orestes believe about the vision he is having at the end of "The Libation Bearers"?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why is Clytemnestra's dream significant to Orestes?

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

4. How do Orestes and Pylades get inside the palace?

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

6. What was Clytemnestra's dream?

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

8. Why does Orestes decide to go back to the oracle?

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

10. According to their words in the second part of the third play, what do the Furies believe about their rights?

(see the answer keys)

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