Agamemnon

To what extent are characters such as Agamemnon and Clytemnestra responsible for the decisions they make in the play? To what extent are the characters’ decisions determined by fate?

Why do you think the chorus is so apprehensive in the first part of the play? What are they afraid of, and are their fears proven to be valid?

Compare and contrast the ways the other characters perceive Agamemnon and what they say about his actions and his character. Do you think that Agamemnon is depicted as a sympathetic figure?

In what way are the themes of the play developed through Aeschylus’s use of imagery and symbolism, such as light and fire or animal symbolism?

In what ways are justice and fate interchangeable in Aeschylus’s Agamemnon? In what ways are they different?

What is the “Curse of Atreus”? How are Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, and Aegisthus victims of this curse?

How does Agamemnon display hubris by stepping on the crimson tapestries? Why is his decision to step on them significant?

Discuss Clytemnestra’s motivations for murdering Agamemnon. In what ways does she behave in accordance with the notion of retributive justice explored in the play? In what way does she behave unjustly?

Who is Aegisthus, and what are his motivations? How does his role in the murder of Agamemnon compare to Clytemnestra’s role?