Discussion Questions:
Aeschylus' LIBATION BEARERS
Illustration: Red Figure crater: Orestes kills Aigisthus (that lyre player!) as Clytemnestra with an axe tries to come to the aid of her lover. (c. 470 BCE)
(translated by Peter Meineck)
Written Answers Due November 12.
1. Summarize the plot of the LIBATION BEARERS in three sentences or fewer.
2. Why is this play called LIBATION BEARERS?
3. How do the Chorus contrast light and darkness, in terms of the House of Atreus? (Parodos, lines 22-83)
4. Meineck's note to line 151 says that Agamemnon's daughter Electra "turns an offering contrived by Clytemnestra to appease the dead into a call for vengeance." What does Electra say to change her mother's intent?
5. What are the three main elements that allow for Electra 'sand Orestes' anagnorisis (recognition)? (episode 1, lines 166-245)
6. How does the old saying, "The doer suffers," quoted by the Chorus, indicative of the story of the Oresteia? (306-314)
7. Why does Orestes wish that a Lycian spear had killed his father Agamemnon at Troy? How does the Chorus agree? How does Electra amend his wish? (345-372)
8. Why did Clytemnestra send libations to the grave of Agamemnon? (514ff)
9. What arguments does Clytemnestra use to try to persuade Orestes not to kill her? How does Orestes answer her arguments? (884-930)
10. Pylades only has one speaking part in this play. Who is Pylades, and why is his speech important? (900)
11. Write a few sentences about the importance and meaning of Hermes in THE LIBATION BEARERS (1, 124, 728, 811, 946).
12. Write a few sentences about the importance and meaning of Earth (Gaia) in THE LIBATION BEARERS (44, 66, 127, 148, 164, 476, 489).
13. Write a few sentences about the importance and meaning of Apollo and his oracles in THE LIBATION BEARERS (269ff, 557, 808, 900, 939, 953, 1030, 1059ff).
14. Write a few sentences about the importance and meaning of the Furies (Avenging Spirits) in THE LIBATION BEARERS (403, 283, 577, 650, 924, 1047ff).
15. Write a few sentences about the importance and meaning of Burial and the Tomb in THE LIBATION BEARERS (1ff, 345ff, 488, 510, 540).
16. Write a few sentences about the importance and meaning of nets/traps in THE LIBATION BEARERS (492ff, 505ff, 980ff, 998).
17. Write a few sentences about the importance and meaning of Hospitality in THE LIBATION BEARERS (565ff, 660ff, 700ff, 1002).
18. Write a few sentences about the importance and meaning of Justice in THE LIBATION BEARERS (144, 148, 244, 308, 398, 463, 497, 646, 788, 884, 935, 950, 1027).
19. How does Orestes describe the Erinyes (Furies)? (1044-1063)
20. Write a few sentences about the importance and meaning of Zeus in THE LIBATION BEARERS (18, 246ff, 307, 382, 394, 409, 783ff, 855)