2013 Required Summer Reading
11th Grade College Prep and Honors English
In addition to The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, all students entering 11th grade college
prep and honors English classes must read and complete the activities for the following play:
Agamemnon by Aeschylus
Aeschylus' Agamemnon, first produced in 458 BC, is the opening
play in his Oresteian trilogy, the only trilogy in Greek drama which
survives from antiquity. Aeschylus took as his subject the bloody
chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos.
Agamemnon returns home after the Trojan Wars with his concubine
Cassandra and is murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover,
Aegisthus. The ensuing blood feud continues until the third and final
play of the trilogy.
Excerpted from: ( http://www.amazon.com/The-Oresteia-Agamemnon-LibationEumenides/dp/0140443339/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1367597397&sr=82&keywords=agamemnon )
Additional Recommended Reading
Bullfinch's Mythology
The Iliad
Everyman
Thomas Bullfinch
Homer
Anonymous
Name
Date:
Grade:
Period:
August 19, 2013
Teacher:
Please print for submission to your English teacher on Monday, August 19, 2013.
You do not need to retype the questions. Simply number your responses to each.

Before
Read about the mythological basis for the play on these websites:
About Homer and The Iliad:
http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/Iliad.Outline.html
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/agamemnon.html

Watch the following YouTube videos regarding the Greek Theatre:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-nlnIRMPvk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVDeCsFn_9U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54-uYzoPhTI
During

As you are reading, answer the questions in this packet from the play.

Make sure you answer in complete sentences and provide specific details from the
play. If your answer incorporates words directly from the play, please cite
appropriately.

Type and print all responses on a separate sheet of paper.
Remember:
 Always read over your finished work!
 Type your responses.
 Send your work through spell and grammar check.
 Times New Roman or Arial – Font –Size 12
 Put heading on top left of your paper
 Label each section (Before, During, After).
 Do not “share” any work with your peers.
John Doe
Teacher Name (leave blank for
now)
English 11
19 August 2013
Study Questions: AGAMEMNON (Aeschylus)
1. Where is the play set? What other location mentioned in this play is vitally important to
understanding this drama? How is it important?
2. How does the Watchman describe Clytemnestra? How does this foreshadow her later
actions?
3. Why does the Chorus describe Agamemnon and Menelaus as 'vultures'? Why do they
invoke Zeus as the 'god of guests'?
4. What is the omen which Calchas interprets as angering Artemis? Why is Artemis
disturbed? (104ff)
5. What is the gist of the chorus' invocation of Zeus? (160-182) What kind of god do they
conceive him to be?
6. How did Agamemnon's daughter Iphigeneia attempt to sway her father and the other
Greeks away from sacrificing her? What was the result of her attempts?
7. How did Clytemnestra get the news of Troy's downfall overnight?
8. What does Clytemnestra say about the Greeks at Troy in regard to the gods and temples
of Troy? Why is her dread ironic?
9. Why does the Chorus invoke 'Zeus god of guests' in this song, and what does this have
to do with Justice, and with Paris?
10. What attitude do the Chorus members have towards Helen? What was her husband's
emotional reaction to losing her? (414-435).
11. Why is the Chorus skeptical about the joy over the fire signal's message? What does this
tell us about their attitude towards women (475-487) How does Clytemnestra react to
this attitude? (586-596)
12. What does the Herald say about the altars and gods of Troy (527 ff), and how does this
hearken back to Clytemnestra's words? (338ff) What is the effect on the audience?
13. What does Clytemnestra say about her own loyalty to Agamemnon? (605ff) How much
is true, and how much is false?
14. Why did the Herald have no news of Menelaus? When and where had he last seen him?
Where did Menelaus stop on his long voyage home? [ not in text, but the story is in
Odyssey, book 4, and Herodotus, book 2.]
15. With what concept does the Chorus link Helen? Why do they do so?
16. Why do the Chorus mention 'dishonor to the hospitable hearth', and Zeus 'god of guests'?
(699ff)
17. Why is Helen compared with a domesticated lion cub? (717)
18. The Chorus admit what their true feelings were when Agamemnon went off to the
Trojan War. What were their feelings then, and how do they compare to their feelings
now? (799ff)
19. How does Agamemnon's initial invocation recall that of the Herald at the beginning of
the second episode?
20. What does Agamemnon say about Odysseus, and his friendship? What myth does
Agamemnon recall when he says that Odysseus 'sailed against his will'? (842)
21. How does Clytemnestra explain to Agamemnon the absence of their son Orestes? Why
is it convenient to have him out of town?
22. Why is Agamemnon reluctant to step on the carpet? Why do you think that Clytemnestra
urges him to do so?
23. What can be ambiguous about Clytemnestra's evocation of the goddess 'Justice' at the
end of her speech of welcome to Agamemnon? What could be ambiguous about her
saying 'cover his way with crimson'? the mention of the 'crimson path'? (911)
24. How does Agamemnon respond to Clytemnestra's speech? What three criticisms of her
does he make?
25. What is ambiguous about Clytemnestra's prayer to Zeus (973)?
26. This song is full of dread and foreboding. What do the Chorus sing about blood? What
do they say about fate? What myth involving Zeus do they mention?
27. What does Cassandra tell the Chorus at 1090 ff that they do not understand at first? Who
are the small children wailing? See also line 1218. What does the Chorus finally
understand about it? (1242)
28. Why does Cassandra repeatedly mention a bath? (1108, 1127)
29. Why does Cassandra mention Cocytus and Acheron? (1160)
30. What does Cassandra tell the Chorus about her relationship with Apollo? (1202ff)
31. What does the Chorus say about the Pythian oracles? Why does the Chorus say this in
this context? (1255)
32. What issue does the Chorus debate with itself in this song, and what is the result of their
debate?
33. How does Clytemnestra justify her murder of Agamemnon (1414ff, and 1445), and what
reference does she make to the inactivity of the Chorus when Agamemnon committed
his outrage at Aulis? (1414)
34. How does the Chorus speak of Helen, and how does Clytemnestra attempt to correct
them? (1455ff)
35. What is the 'triple-gorged spirit' which Clytemnestra and the Chorus refer to? (1476,
1481) How is Zeus involved?
36. Clytemnestra says that she was only an agent, but the real killer was something else.
What does she claim that it was? And what is the Chorus' response to her claim? (1500)
37. What kind of burial will the murdered Agamemnon have? Who will kiss him after he
dies, according to Clytemnestra? (1551)
38. What arguments does Aegisthus use to prove that the gods were in favor of
Agamemnon's being murdered, and that he was justly killed? (1578)
39. How does Aegisthus respond to the Chorus when they call him an effeminate draftdodger? What kind of personality does he have? (1625ff)
40. What is the Chorus' hope about Orestes? How will this hope be fulfilled?
(lines numbers are approximate)
Adapted from: http://www.uark.edu/campus-resources/dlevine/Agamemnon.html
After
The Agamemnon establishes the basic patterns of imagery and themes for the
Oresteia trilogy.

I.
Discuss the patterns of imagery and themes mentioned below.
o Make sure you answer in complete sentences and provide specific details from the
play. If your answer incorporates words directly from the play, please cite
appropriately.
o Type and print all responses on a separate sheet of paper.
Patterns of Imagery: How do these advance the plot of the play?
1.
2.
3.
4.
II.
Themes: How are these developed in the play? How are they related to the
patterns of imagery?
1.
2.
3.
III.
IV.
Light and Darkness: How are these images introduced in the prologue?
How are they developed throughout the play?
The House and its Curse: How does the physical house symbolize the
family and its curse? How does the curse operate through different
generations of the family? Does the presence of the curse exclude all
possibility of personal guilt on the part of individual family members?
Imagery of Entanglement (yoke, bit, net, etc.): What function do these
images perform in the play and how are they related to the operation of the
curse?
Sickness and Healing: Which of these two images is more prominent in
the Agamemnon? Why?
Grace and Wisdom through Suffering: How is this theme presented in
the Agamemnon?
Masculine versus Feminine: How does Aeschylus present the major
conflicts in the play in terms of the opposition between the masculine and
feminine spheres? How is this opposition developed through the
characterization and actions of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra? Which
sphere triumphs in the Agamemnon?
Hubris (excessive pride): Which character/s in the play manifests this
quality? How? What does the chorus say about this quality?
What is the function of the chorus in the Agamemnon? Why is it so prominent?
What is the primary function of Cassandra and how is her role similar to that
of the chorus?
Adapted from: http://www2.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/agamemnon.html