Act 1

Questions

1. Who's sitting on the roof of Agamemnon's palace?
2. Why's the Watchman complaining?
3. Who were the most important Greek kings ten years before the story?
4. Who seduced Helen?
5. What did Agamemnon and Menelaus do when Paris seduced Helen?
6. What does the Watchman see in the distance?
7. What does the Chorus talk about first when they come on stage?
8. Why didn't the Chorus go to war?
9. What do the chorus ask Clytemnestra about the city?
10. What sign confirmed that Menelaus and Agamemnon had justice on their side when they brought war against Troy?
11. Who said the eagles represented Menelaus and Agamemnon?
12. What bad news did Calchas reveal?
13. Why did Calchas say Artemis might cause trouble for the Greeks?
14. What does the Chorus say one should do if one wants wisdom?
15. How does Zeus allow people to learn?
16. Where did the Greeks get stuck while traveling to Troy?
17. What did Agamemnon do to bring Artemis around to his side?
18. Where was the bonfire that the watchman saw lit?
19. Who do the Chorus praise after hearing about the Greek victory?
20. Why did the citizens begin to complain about the sacrifices they were making during the Trojan War?
21. What does the Chorus say to the Herald about Clytemnestra?
22. What does the herald say happened to Menelaus on the way back from Troy?
23. Where, according to the Chorus, does the goddess Justice spend her time?
24. Which of his good friends does Agamemnon talk about when returning?
25. Where did Clytemnestra send Orestes to stay?
26. How does Clytemnestra tell Agamemnon to enter his home?
27. Why does Agamemnon refuse to walk on the purple fabric?
28. How does Clytemnestra convince Agamemnon to walk on the purple fabric?
29. Who has Agamemnon brought from Troy as a slave?
30. Who does Agamemnon pray to that everything will be okay?
31. What does the Chorus sing about human life when Agamemnon goes into the palace?
32. What does Cassandra chant about?
33. What does Cassandra predict about Agamemnon?
34. How does Cassandra say she knows about Thyestes?
35. Why did Apollo give Cassandra prophetic power?
36. What curse does Apollo put on Cassandra when she refused to sleep with him?
37. What does Cassandra see the children of Thyestes doing?
38. What does Cassandra pray for before going into the palace?
39. Who does Clytemnestra blame for killing Agamemnon?
40. Who does Clytemnestra say will be the only person to lament Agamemnon?
41. Why does Aegisthus think that Justice brought him back?
42. What does Clytemnestra say at the end of the play?

Answers

1. A Watchman
2. This is the tenth year he's had to spend the night up on the roof, in the cold and wet, waiting for a sign that the Trojan War's over.
3. Agamemnon and Menelaus
4. Paris
5. They rounded up a fleet of a thousand Greek ships and travelled to Troy.
6. A signal fire burning
7. The beginning of the Trojan War
8. They're old men.
9. Why there's been so much commotion there, what with fires being lit and sacrifices being made
10. Two eagles (one black and one white) flew by on the right-hand side of the ships before devouring a pregnant hare and its unborn young (fun).
11. Calchas, the Greeks' official soothsayer
12. The goddess Artemis had sided with the Trojans and may give the Greeks bad weather to keep them from traveling.
13. There was an evil spirit lurking in the house of Agamemnon.
14. Respect Zeus
15. Through suffering
16. Aulis
17. He sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia.
18. Mount Arachnae
19. Zeus
20. The sacrifices won't benefit them and were only undertaken to recover Menelaus' wife.
21. She may not have been faithful while Agamemnon was away.
22. He was separated from the rest of the fleet during a huge storm.
23. In the houses of people who are just
24. Odysseus
25. With Strophius the Phocian
26. Without his feet touching the ground
27. Only gods would do so.
28. She tells him Priam would have walked on the purple fabric and that his people won't mind.
29. The Trojan princess Cassandra
30. Zeus
31. It's unstable and can change from one moment to the next.
32. Horror and how Apollo has destroyed her
33. He'll be killed by his own wife.
34. Apollo gave her prophetic power.
35. He was attracted to her.
36. No one will believe she has the power of prophecy.
37. Holding their own guts in their hands
38. That whoever comes to avenge Agamemnon will avenge her also
39. The Fury of vengeance
40. Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia
41. To avenge his murdered brothers and sisters
42. She and Aegisthus will be joint rulers in Argos.