Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy

Click here for map of localities that figure in the trilogy.

SWA: Agamemnon

Discuss the red-carpet scene, with the Agamemnon-Clytaemnestra agōn* (debate-like dialogue), almost exactly half-way through the play. The passage starts with Clytaemnestra's speech, "And your concern, old man, is on my mind. I hear you and agree, I will support you" (Fagles-Penguin edition p. 134 = Kindle location 1982), just after Agamemnon's entrance speech. Or perhaps the agōn is better understood as beginning with Agamemnon's entrance, given his declaration of "rightness" in the terrible revenge wreaked on Troy — also, the veiled threat possibly (?) contained in the words, "Our thanks to the gods, | long drawn out, but it is just the prelude."

* In ancient Greek drama, an agōn is a debate scene, a contest in words. The word agōn actually means "contest," athletic or otherwise. It can also refer to a trial. To the extent that ancient Greek tragedy typically presents itself as a clash of world-views, tragedy as genre (at least in its ancient Greek manifestations) can perhaps justly be termed extended agōn. Later in the fifth century BCE — but don't we have a preview here? — agōnes in tragedy will reflect the influence of the sophists.

What issues in persuasion are worth discussing here?
Why would / wouldn't Agamemnon want to step on the carpet, why does Clytaemnestra want him to do so? How does she get him to do so — how does she win?

Oresteia Trilogy

Production Facts

Author: Aeschylus, Athenian tragic playwright (525/4-456 BCE)
Three tragedies plus a lost satyr drama (Menelaus)
Produced: Athens, 458 BCE
Setting
- Agamemnon, Libation Bearers in Argos
- Eumenides at Delphi, then at Athens
Time: aftermath of the Trojan War
Story
- Agamemnon
  - Agamemnon's return from Troy
  - his and Cassandra's murder by Clytaemnestra
- Libation Bearers
  - Orestes and Electra (children of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra) kill
    - Clytaemnestra
    - Aegisthus (Cl's lover) in revenge
- Eumenides
  - Orestes is put on trial at Athens for the murder of his mother

Larger Questions

What connections between dike (justice), kratos (power), peithō (persuasion) in Aeschylus' Oresteia?
What role does peithō play in both the smaller and the larger movements of the trilogy?
How does peithō affect events in the three plays?
Does the action on stage bear any relation to events in mid fifth-century BCE Athens? Does the Oresteia say anything about peithō in the Athenian polis?

The Agamemnon

Difficulties

This is a very difficult play. You will need to read it carefully and slowly. Pay special attention to the choruses: most of the play is choral reflection - a bit like the playwright (Aeschylus) thinking out loud.

HOWEVER: the chorus has a habit of switching topic without warning. That is because the main mythological events (both plot and "prequel") addressed by the play . . .

the "Feast of Thyestes"
the Abduction of Helen
the sacrifice of Iphigenia
the Sack of Troy and Return of Agamemnon

. . . are, as it were, layered one on top of the other to bring out their parallelisms. Imagery, too (fire signals, carpet scene, etc.), is likewise laid out in parallel.

Plot

Since this is a more-than-usually difficult text, here's the story (quite simple, really):

Fire signals bring news that Troy has been captured and destroyed, and that king Agamemnon will be returning soon to Argos
Agamemnon arrives
He is greeted by the chorus and by his wife, queen Clytaemnestra
He brings with him as a prize of war Cassandra, princess of Troy and prophetess
Clytaemnestra induces Agamemnon to tread on the red carpet
Clytaemnestra stabs Agamemnon in his bath
Cassandra enters palace knowing full well that Clytaemnestra intends to kill her (which Clytaemnestra does)
Clytaemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, savor their victory

Larger Themes

Keep a log of references or allusions to the following themes and concerns:

dike ("justice")
kratos ("power")
- Who exercises kratos (power) in the Agamemnon? How?
peitho/bia
- What forms
- What means?
- What ends?
- By whom?
- What efficacy?
- What ethical resonances?
- peithō-bia interrelationship . . .
  - antithetical?
  - complementary?

Special Lecture/Discussion Topics

Peitho/peithō and . . .

"Mystery passage" . . .
- "Persuasion the persistent overwhelms him, | she, strong daughter of designing ruin" (Chorus, lines 385-386)
  - Who and what does the chorus refer to?
  - What is the larger meaning of the passage?
Clytaemnestra and gender issues
- feminine/masculine qualities
Clytaemnestra's
- peithō
- bia

Cassandra Scene: Cassandra, Chorus

Cassandra possesses the power to read the future. Do people believe her? Does the chorus?

Oresteia: Mythological Background

See caption — Genealogy: Pelops and his Descendants

"Prequel" Events

"Feast of Thyestes"

The brothers Atreus and Thyestes, sons of Pelops, quarrel over the kingship at Argos
Atreus seizes kingship; banishes Thyestes
Atreus pretends reconciliation with Thyestes; invites him back to Argos
At banquet, Atreus serves to Thyestes latter's own children (though not Aegisthus)

The Next Generation

Atreus has two sons
- Menelaus
- Agamemnon
Aegisthus = surviving son of Thyestes
Agamemnon marries Clytaemnestra, becomes king of Argos
Menelaus marries Helen, becomes king of Sparta
Aegisthus without kingdom

Abduction of Helen, Trojan War

Paris and Helen (Menelaus' wife) elope to Troy
Agamemnon organizes an expedition to Troy to retrieve Helen
- Infant Orestes sent to live at court of Strophius in Phocis
- Adverse winds detain Greek fleet at Aulis
- Artemis demands that Agamemnon sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, before she will allow the fleet to sail
- Agamemnon complies
Agamemnon gone, Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus become lovers
Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus intend to kill Agamemnon on his return from Troy
Agamemnon, victor at Troy, returns to Argos with Cassandra, Priam's daughter, among the spoils