Analysis of the Play Agamemnon
Analysis of the Play Agamemnon
We are in Argos, at the tomb of Agamemnon. Enter Orestes and his friend, Pylades. Orestes pays respects to the memory of his father. He has returned to have his revenge on Agamemnon's killers, Clytaemestra and Aegisthus. Orestes speaks of his regret that he was not present for Agamemnon's death or for his funeral, and he puts a lock of his hair on the grave. A group of mourning women enter, veiled in black and carrying urns to pour libations for the dead. Orestes thinks he sees his sister Electra among the women, but he decides that he and Pylades will hide and try to learn the women's intentions. The Chorus of women and their cries create an atmosphere of incredible dread and anxiety. Omens have indicated that the dead are not satisfied and bear great hatred for the living, and Clytaemestra has sent the women out to pour offerings on Agamemnon's grave. The women allude to the house's bloody history; so much violence and murder has plagued the house that the bloodshed has become self-renewing, impossible to clean away. The women also speak of their own status as slaves; they are captive women, won in various campaigns, but they still feel sorrow for the unjust end met by Agamemnon.
Full of bitterness, Electra asks the women how she should make the offering. She feels she cannot honorably pour libations on behalf of her mother, who was Agamemnon's murderer. The Chorus, speaking subtly, implies that Electra should pray for herself and the slave women. She should also pray for Orestes, who is in exile far away. The Chorus also tells Electra to pray that Agamemnon's killers be killed themselves for the life they took. Electra prays as instructed, complaining to her father's spirit about the fate that has befallen Electra and her brother. Orestes is an exile, and Electra lives in her own house as little better than a slave. The Chorus repeats Electra's prayer for an avenger. Electa suddenly sees something that makes her weak: a lock of hair, cut off and laid on Agamemnon's grave. The hair is unique to Agamemnon's children; the hair must belong to Orestes. Electra is torn between hope and the fear of having that hope disappointed. She searches for other signs of her brother, and finds two sets of footprints.
Orestes emerges from his hiding place, still dressed as...