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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. What is Cassandra's final prayer?

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

3. What does the herald believe about Agamemnon's brother?

4. What is Clytemnestra's final reaction to Cassandra?

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

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. What visions does Cassandra see when she looks at the palace?

3. What are the disputes amongst the chorus when they hear Agamemnon screaming from inside the palace?

4. What news does Clytemnestra bring the chorus in the beginning of "The Agamemnon"?

5. Why is Orestes praying to Hermes and Zeus at beginning of "The Libation Bearers"?

6. Why does the chorus call out for Orestes to return home at the end of the first play?

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

8. For what is the herald giving thanks during his entrance?

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

10. What is Clytemnestra's vision for the future after the death of Agamemnon?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are the roles of justice and revenge in "The Oresteia"? What are the differences between the two? What characters seek justice and what characters seek revenge? How does this reflect upon the play cycle as a whole? Cite specific examples from the text to support your arguments.

Essay Topic 2

Clytemnestra and Orestes are two of the main characters upon which "The Oresteia" is centered. Discuss the following:

Part 1) Compare and contrast Clytemnestra and Orestes.

Part 2) How do their missions of vengeance differ and how do the gods (including the Furies) look upon them?

Part 3) Orestes' exile by Clytemnestra and how it affects the outcome of the play.

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the use of dramatic irony within "The Oresteia". What characters seem to be the victims of this? Why can these characters never truly fulfill their goals? City specific examples from the text to support your arguments.

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