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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. In the first part of the first play, according to Clytemnestra, what does Agamemnon have yet to endure?

2. Why does Cassandra walk into the palace?

3. What future events does Cassandra foresee after she sees the past?

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

5. Whom does Orestes wonder might be leading the crowd of women coming to Agamemnon's tomb?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. How does the chorus compare life to a ship at sea during "The Agamemnon"?

3. What are Agamemnon's feelings about Troy?

4. What are the herald's thoughts on the effects of the war?

5. What does Aegisthus claim about himself and about the murders?

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

7. Why does Cassandra finally walk into the palace?

8. For what is Agamemnon praised and what is his response when he returns to Mycenae?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Compare and contrast the reactions of Clytemnestra and Cilissa when they receive false news of Orestes' "death." Consider, then, the words of Apollo in the third play about the roles of the mother and the father in a child's life. What is the play saying about the nature of maternal love? Create a strong thesis and use specific examples from the text to support your arguments.

Essay Topic 2

Consider the reactions the chorus and Orestes have to Clytemnestra's relationship with Aegisthus. Conversely, look at how the chorus and Clytemnestra treat Agamemnon when he reveals that he has brought Cassandra back with him as a concubine. What do these differing reactions signify about the roles of men and women in this play? Are these a reflection of the time? Bear in mind that in the first play the chorus is comprised of old men. Cite specific examples from the text to support your argument.

Essay Topic 3

Choose one of the following to write about:

1) Agamemnon and Clytemnestra's conflict about how he is welcomed home from war.

2) The role of the Furies in this tragedy.

3) Athena's decision that a council of mortals needs to decide Orestes' fate.

(see the answer keys)

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