One day, when he dosed off, the god Dionysus appeared to him in a dream and said, "Hey, Aeschylus! You should become a writer of tragedies.
The guy was no shrinking violet, however, and when the Persians made war on the Greeks, Aeschylus fought alongside his fellow Athenians at the battle of Marathon. When the Persians invaded Greece a second time ten years later, Aeschylus fought again, this time participating in the sea battle at Salamis, a decisive victory for the Greeks. According to one ancient source, Aeschylus was so proud of defending his country that his epitaph which he wrote himself, of course made no mention of his career as a playwright, instead boasting of his courage in battle against the Persians.
Aeschylus's epitaph makes a great story, but, at the time of his death, the guy's prowess as a writer of tragedies probably went without saying. In between those two battles against the Persians, Aeschylus won the annual tragedy contest for the first time in B. He was top of the heap for a good time after that, in part because he completely revolutionized his art form. According to Aristotle , before Aeschylus came along, tragedies only featured one actor and a chorus; Aeschylus was the first person to add a second actor.
Thus, you could say that Aeschylus invented dramatic dialogue, making him the originator of all subsequent theater, movies, and TV. Not too shabby. But then, in , Aeschylus was given a run for his money by a young upstart named Sophocles , who actually won first prize in his first year competing.
Aeschylus knew a good thing when he saw it, though, and in no time he was working three-actor scenes into his own tragedies, including those of the Oresteia. Aeschylus's trick was that he would keep the third actor silent for long periods of time, making him all Greek actors were male speak only at climactic moments. The character of Cassandra in Agamemnon fits this pattern. Written near the end of his life, and incorporating his own innovations and those of Sophocles, Agamemnon and the rest of the Oresteia make up Aeschylus's greatest achievement.
It is no coincidence that these plays were revived and re-performed after Aeschylus's death, a rare honor in ancient Athens. Fortunately for us, they continue to be read and performed today. What is it about scary movies that makes them irresistible? Why do we enjoy that feeling of slowly increasing tension, like a knot in the pit of our stomach? What is it about the sudden jolt, when the killer finally appears, that keeps us coming back for more?
If you don't know, that's OK: we don't either. But we all know the feeling, and that's why we think you're going to enjoy Aeschylus 's Agamemnon , the original horror movie, in which the tension doesn't let up until the final terrifying conclusion. The actual act of violence occurs off-stage, a traditional practice in Greek tragedy. Thematically, the murder of Agamemnon must be understood in the context of three other acts of violence, all of which precede the action of the play.
The first significant violent development in the play is the theft of Helen and the Trojan War that followed; again and again, the Chorus declares that even the deaths following the conflict should be dropped at Helen's door. The second violent act is Agamemnon's sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia, which justifies Clytemnestra's resolve to murder him.
Perhaps the most vile display of violence is the terrible sin of Agamemnon's father, Atreus, who cooked his own brother's children and served them to him. This act justifies Aegisthus' role in the play. But in a broader sense, it is the source of the ancestral curse that pervades the trilogy, as one act of violence leads to another.
Sees the Greeks have taken Troy. The chorus of Argive elders. Summarizes the war to get back Helen, Agamemnon's sister-in-law. They are suspicious of what Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, is up to. They describe the injustice done to Clytemnestra by her husband.
Clytemnestra enters. Chorus Leader and Clytemnestra. The chorus learns from the queen that the Greeks are back from Troy, but they don't believe her until she explains the beacon relay that provided her with the news, then the chorus gets set to offer prayers and thanksgiving. Clytemnestra exits. Says that Zeus is the god of guests and hosts and disapproves of breaking the bonds, as Paris did. The families suffer and begrudge their losses when their men follow Agamemnon to war to avenge Paris' theft.
Too much glory brings an inevitable fall. The Herald asks the gods to welcome back those who have survived the year war, and especially Agamemnon who destroyed their land and the altars to their gods. The chorus says it has been anxious for the return. She says she already knew it was time to rejoice and asks that the message is brought to her husband that she has remained faithful and loyal.
The herald doesn't know any better than to believe Clytemnestra. The chorus wants to know whether Menelaus suffered any mishaps, which he and other Achaeans have, but the herald says it's a day for rejoicing. The Herald exits. The chorus takes Helen to task. Agamemnon and Cassandra enter. The chorus greets their king. Chorus and Agamemnon, with Cassandra. The king greets the city and says he will now go to his wife. Clytemnestra explains how awful it is to be the wife of a man away at war.
She addresses her attendants to fete her husband and strew his path with a royal cloth. Agamemnon doesn't want to make a feminine entrance or one more suited to the gods. Clytemnestra persuades him to step on the royal cloth, anyway. He asks her to receive the war prize that is Cassandra with kindness. Clytemnestra then asks Zeus to work his will.
Clytemnestra and Agamemnon exit. The chorus, with Cassandra. The chorus senses doom. Fate doesn't forget blood guilt. The Chorus, with Cassandra.
Clytemnestra tells silent Cassandra to go inside. The Chorus tells her to do so, too. Cassandra is distraught and invokes the god Apollo. The chorus doesn't understand, so Cassandra tells the future or the present that Clytemnestra is slaying her husband, and tells the past that the house has a lot of blood guilt.
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