Agamemnon Short Summary

The play by Aeschylus begins with a guard who happily acknowledges the signal, which is meant to indicate that Troy is no longer in control. It signals that Agamemnon will be coming home shortly. The Choruses from the older men in the land briefly give an account of the Trojan War.

However, the wife of Agamemnon is unhappy with the news. Agamemnon had earlier sacrificed Iphigenia, the daughter and she still felt bad about it. The sacrifice was at the beginning of the Trojan War. The intention was to appease Artemis, the offended god. Additionally, she had taken Aegisthus, Agamemnon’s cousin as her lover when Agamemnon was unavailable. Aegisthus has intentions of ascending to the throne.

To her disadvantage, Agamemnon eventually returns. With him is Cassandra, Trojan’s priestess who has been enslaved. He has brought her as his concubine. That act makes the jealous Clytemnestra even angrier.

The main actions in the pay come after the chorus from the older men. The focus of play is the discussion Clytemnestra and Agamemnon are involved in. As soon as Clytemnestra persuades Agamemnon to come into the house, she strikes him dead using an axe. At that time, he was defenseless as he was taking a bath. That means the man who was thought to be prosperous is no more. Things twisted to his disadvantage.

Cassandra had earlier received a curse from Apollo. With the curse, there is nobody who can believe in the prophecies from her. She is involved in discussion with the Chorus on whether she should get into the palace or not. Cassandra has a feeling that she may be murdered as well. There are descriptions of the atrocities perpetrated in the House of Atreus which is now considered a cursed location. Finally, she decides to enter the room even though the danger she feels awaits her. In any case, her fate is already sealed, and she cannot avoid it.

The palace opened suddenly. There is a display of the fearsome-looking dead bodies belonging to Agamemnon and his concubine, Cassandra. Clytemnestra also appears looking unrepentant and arrogant. Aegisthus, the lover of Clytemnestra, arrives and gives a speech that is full of arrogance amid the Chorus from Argo’s elders. The elders are not happy with the speech from Aegisthus. At the end of the play, the elders’ chorus act as a reminder to those who have killed Agamemnon that his son called Orestes will come back to avenge his death.