Lesson 1: How Do Past Narratives Influence Today’s Ideas?
One of your learning goals for this unit is to develop your listening skills. One listening strategy is to listen with a purpose in mind.
Now that you’ve read a summary of the entire play, you are going to listen to four excerpts of the play that connect to its themes.
You should know that, since the play was originally told in Greek, not all translations of the play are exactly the same.
You will be given access to an audio translation of each speech selection.
You will also have a written translation to read on your screen.
These translations are different. You should consider both versions when doing the work involved with this lesson.
Works of literature, such as Agamemnon, endure over time because they have universal themes that relate to the human experience.
Themes are different than issues or topics in a text. Topics can be stated in a word. For example, “love” is a topic inRomeo and Juliet, but that is not a theme. A theme is a perspective on or point of view of the topic. So, a theme, as opposed to a topic, might be that “love is stronger than hatred.”
Consider how a topic is turned into a theme in Agamemnon.
Power is a topic in Agamemnon; the topic of power becomes the theme:
Power that is gained immorally causes unrest and disorder.
Revenge is a topic in Agamemnon; the topic of revenge becomes the theme:
The desire for revenge overpowers all else.
Deceit is a topic in Agamemnon; the topic of deceit becomes the theme:
Deceit is destructive, regardless of the intention.
Loyalty is a topic and love is also a topic in Agamemnon; the topics of love and loyalty become the theme:
The loyalty and love between parents and their children is a powerful force.
In some ways theme answers the question so what? So what about loyalty and love? So what about deceit? Or revenge? The playwright uses the play as the vehicle for giving his answer to so what?
With these theme statements in mind, listen to each of the following four excerpts from the play, then identify which theme you think each excerpt connects to.
Excerpt #1
[The scene opens, disclosing Clytemnestra, who comes forward. The body of Agamemnon lies, muffled in a long robe, within a silver-sided laver; the corpse of Cassandra is laid beside him.] CLYTEMNESTRA speaks:
Ho, ye who heard me speak so long and oft
The glozing word that led me to my will—
Hear how I shrink not to unsay it all!
How else should one who willeth to requite
Evil for evil to an enemy
Disguised as friend, weave the mesh straitly round him,
Not to be overleaped, a net of doom?
(lines 1578-1584)
Which theme does this connect to?
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Excerpt #2
Clytemnestra continues to try to justify to the Chorus why she murdered Agamemnon, reminding them that Agamemnon sacrificed their daughter Iphigenía.
I deem not that the death he died
Had overmuch of shame:
For this was he who did provide
Foul wrong unto his house and name:
His daughter, blossom of my womb,
He gave unto a deadly doom,
Iphigenia, child of tears!
And as he wrought, even so he fares.
Nor be his vaunt too loud in hell;
For by the sword his sin he wrought,
And by the sword himself is brought
Among the dead to dwell.
(lines 1774-1783)
Which theme does this connect to?
Excerpt #3
The Chorus is shocked by Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon and wonders who, if not his wife, will mourn him.
She responds:
Peace! for such task is none of thine.
By me he fell, by me he died,
And now his burial rites be mine!
Yet from these halls no mourners’ train
Shall celebrate his obsequies;
Only by Acheron’s rolling tide
His child shall spring unto his side,
And in a daughter’s loving wise
Shall clasp and kiss him once again!
(lines 1811-1819)
Which theme does this connect to?
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Excerpt #4
Aegisthus enters the scene towards the end of the play and angrily argues with the Chorus, who questions his morality and actions. Aegisthus responds to their harsh criticism, and also threatens them for questioning him:
That fraudful force was woman’s very part,
Not mine, whom deep suspicion from of old
Would have debarred. Now by his treasure’s aid
My purpose holds to rule the citizens.
But whoso will not bear my guiding hand,
Him for his corn-fed mettle I will drive
Not as a trace-horse, light-caparisoned,
But to the shafts with heaviest harness bound.
Famine, the grim mate of the dungeon dark,
Shall look on him and shall behold him tame.
(lines 1924-1933)
Whose Narrative Is It?
Lesson 1: How Do Past Narratives Influence Today’s Ideas?
There are three main characters in this play: Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, and Cassandra. Although Agamemnon garners our attention, as his name provides the title for the play, he is not necessarily the character whose story captures the audience’s attention the most. He also has fewer lines than both Clytemnestra and Cassandra.
In a play, characters are revealed through their lines. The lines they speak in the play reveal the character’s:
reactions
thoughts
emotions
Listen to these key speeches from the main characters to gain a deeper understanding of these characters. As you listen and read, consider what type of person the character seems to be, and your reaction to him/her. After you’ve listened to these key speeches from the play, you will write a personal response to each character in order to determine whose story is this? While you listen take some jot notes that provide you with some evidence about what type of person this is and your reaction to them.
Once again you are offered two translations: one in audio format, and the second on your screen. There will be differences in the translations, but the main overall ideas remain the same.
Agamemnon
Excerpt #5
Agamemnon is offered a purple or crimson “red carpet” to walk upon as he triumphantly leaves his chariot and enters the palace.
At first he refuses:
Daughter of Leda, watcher o’er my home,
Thy greeting well befits mine absence long,
For late and hardly has it reached its end.
Know that the praise which honour bids us crave,
Must come from others’ lips, not from our own:
See too that not in fashion feminine
Thou make a warrior’s pathway delicate;
Not unto me, as to some Eastern lord,
Bowing thyself to earth, make homage loud.
Strew not this purple that shall make each step
An arrogance; such pomp beseems the gods,
Not me. A mortal man to set his foot
On these rich dyes? I hold such pride in fear,
And bid thee honour me as man, not god.
Fear not—such footcloths and all gauds apart,
Loud from the trump of Fame my name is blown;
Best gift of heaven it is, in glory’s hour,
To think thereon with soberness: and thou—
Bethink thee of the adage, Call none blest
Till peaceful death have crowned a life of weal.
’Tis said: I fain would fare unvexed by fear.
(lines 1060–1080)
Excerpt #6
But after a brief discussion with Clytemnestra, Agamemnon agrees to walk on the carpet, and soon after, enters the palace.
Then, if thou wilt, let some one stoop to loose
Swiftly these sandals, slaves beneath my foot:
And stepping thus upon the sea’s rich dye,
I pray, Let none among the gods look down
With jealous eye on me—reluctant all,
To trample thus and mar a thing of price,
Wasting the wealth of garments silver-worth.
Enough hereof: and, for the stranger maid,
Lead her within, but gently: God on high
Looks graciously on him whom triumph’s hour
Has made not pitiless. None willingly
Wear the slave’s yoke—and she, the prize and flower
Of all we won, comes hither in my train,
Gift of the army to its chief and lord.
—Now, since in this my will bows down to thine,
I will pass in on purples to my home.
(lines 1094-1109)
Cassandra
Review Cassandra’s role in the story. Essentially, she is Agamemnon’s war-prize, brought back with him from his victory in Troy. She also has the ability to see into the future, including the upcoming murders of herself and Agamemnon. She lives under a curse (that her truthful prophecies are never believed). As a result, the Chorus seems to merely pity her and does not take any action against her.
Excerpt #7
Agamemnon has entered the house, and Clytemnestra has followed him. Cassandra remains on the stage with the Chorus, speaking of the imminent deaths of both herself and Agamemnon.
Ah ah the fire! it waxes, nears me now—
Woe, woe for me, Apollo of the dawn!
Lo, how the woman-thing, the lioness
Couched with the wolf—her noble mate afar—
Will slay me, slave forlorn! Yea, like some witch,
She drugs the cup of wrath, that slays her lord
With double death—his recompense for me!
Ay, ’tis for me, the prey he bore from Troy,
That she hath sworn his death, and edged the steel!
Ye wands, ye wreaths that cling around my neck,
Ye showed me prophetess yet scorned of all—
I stamp you into death, or e’er I die—
Down, to destruction!
Thus I stand revenged—
Go, crown some other with a prophet’s woe.
Look! it is he, it is Apollo’s self
Rending from me the prophet-robe he gave.
God! while I wore it yet, thou saw’st me mocked
There at my home by each malicious mouth—
To all and each, an undivided scorn.
The name alike and fate of witch and cheat—
Woe, poverty, and famine—all I bore;
And at this last the god hath brought me here
Into death’s toils, and what his love had made,
His hate unmakes me now: and I shall stand
Not now before the altar of my home,
But me a slaughter-house and block of blood
Shall see hewn down, a reeking sacrifice.
Yet shall the gods have heed of me who die,
For by their will shall one requite my doom.
He, to avenge his father’s blood outpoured,
Shall smite and slay with matricidal hand.
Ay, he shall come—tho’ far away he roam,
A banished wanderer in a stranger’s land—
To crown his kindred’s edifice of ille
Called home to vengeance by his father’s fall:
Thus have the high gods sworn, and shall fulfil.
And now why mourn I, tarrying on earth,
Since first mine Ilion has found its fate
And I beheld, and those who won the wall
Pass to such issue as the gods ordain?
I too will pass and like them dare to die! [Turns and looks upon the palace door.]
Portal of Hades, thus I bid thee hail!
Grant me one boon—a swift and mortal stroke,
That all unwrong by pain, with ebbing blood
Shed forth in quiet death, I close mine eyes.
(lines 1445 – 1491)
Clytemnestra
Excerpt #8
The doors open and it is revealed that Clytemnestra has murdered both Agamemnon and Cassandra in the palace. Clytemnestra angrily chastises the Chorus for being shocked by her act of violence, but not by Agamemnon’s earlier sacrifice of Iphigenía.
O ye just men, who speak my sentence now,
The city’s hate, the ban of all my realm!
Ye had no voice of old to launch such doom
On him, my husband, when he held as light
My daughter’s life as that of sheep or goat,
One victim from the thronging fleecy fold!
Yea, slew in sacrifice his child and mine,
The well-loved issue of my travail-pangs,
To lull and lay the gales that blew from Thrace.
That deed of his, I say, that stain and shame,
Had rightly been atoned by banishment;
But ye, who then were dumb, are stern to judge
This deed of mine that doth affront your ears.
Storm out your threats, yet knowing this for sooth,
That I am ready, if your hand prevail
As mine now doth, to bow beneath your sway:
If God say nay, it shall be yours to learn
By chastisement a late humility.
(lines 1635 – 1652)
Excerpt #9
Clytemnestra continues to defend her actions, including her involvement with Aegisthus.
Hear then the sanction of the oath I swear—
By the great vengeance for my murdered child,
By Atè, by the Fury unto whom
This man lies sacrificed by hand of mine,
I do not look to tread the hall of Fear,
While in this hearth and home of mine there burns
The light of love—Ægisthus—as of old
Loyal, a stalwart shield of confidence—
As true to me as this slain man was false,
Wronging his wife with paramours at Troy,
Fresh from the kiss of each Chryseis there!
Behold him dead—behold his captive prize,
Seeres and harlot—comfort of his bed,
True prophetess, true paramour—I wot
The sea-bench was not closer to the flesh,
Full oft, of every rower, than was she
See, ill they did, and ill requites them now.
His death ye know: she as a dying swan
Sang her last dirge, and lies, as erst she lay,
Close to his side, and to my couch has left
A sweet new taste of joys that know no fear.
(lines 1663 – 1683)
Write a personal response to the three main characters, with a focus on the speeches you have listened to, but also consider your understanding of the characters in the play as a whole.
Write a paragraph for each character. Summarize your impressions of the character and the effect on the play of his/herstory or version of things. Be sure to identify which character’s story was most powerful to you and why.
The next section explains your Writing Portfolio, which is where you will put your finished personal response.
Introduction
Lesson 2: How Has Human Tragedy Evolved?
Shakespeare’s most famous line, “To be or not to be” comes from his tragedy Hamlet. This play is the focus of both this lesson and the next.
After the Greeks gave the genre of tragedy to the world, it continued to evolve. Some elements remained the same and some changed. The playwright William Shakespeare had a lot to do with that. Shakespeare’s heart-wrenching tragedy Hamlet was first performed four centuries ago in England. You will view one video version of the play and then make connections to the conventions of ancient Greek tragedy and Agamemnon in particular.
In this lesson, you will:
identify the most important ideas and supporting details in texts, including complex and challenging texts
analyze oral texts, including complex and challenging texts, focusing on the ways in which they communicate information, ideas, issues, and themes and influence the listener’s/viewer’s response
build vocabulary for writing by confirming word meaning and reviewing and refining word choice as appropriate for the purpose
Rubric
Expectations Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
Knowledge and Understanding
Identify the most important ideas and supporting details in texts Limited identification of the most important ideas and the supporting details
Limited use of and/or some inaccuracies when making reference to the texts Some identification of the most important ideas and the supporting details
Some use of and/or some inaccuracies when making reference to the texts Considerable or detailed identification of the most important ideas and the supporting details
Considerable or detailed use of and/or some inaccuracies when making reference to the texts High degree or thorough identification of the most important ideas and the supporting details
High degree or thorough use of and/or some inaccuracies when making reference to the texts
Thinking
Analyze oral texts, including complex and challenging texts, focusing on the ways in which they communicate information, ideas, issues, and themes and influence the listener’s/viewer’s response Comparisons show limited or insufficient thought and analysis of how these plays communicate information, ideas, issues, and themes and influence the listener’s/viewer’s response Comparisons show some thought and analysis of how these plays communicate information, ideas, issues, and themes and influence the listener’s/viewer’s response Comparisons show considerable or detailed thought and analysis of how these plays communicate information, ideas, issues, and themes and influence the listener’s/viewer’s response Comparisons show high degree or thorough thought and analysis of how these plays communicate information, ideas, issues, and themes and influence the listener’s/viewer’s response
Communication
Build vocabulary for writing by confirming word meaning and reviewing and refining word choice as appropriate for the purpose
Use grammar conventions correctly and appropriately to communicate their intended meaning clearly and effectively Limited use of appropriate vocabulary: word choice is too informal or basic
Limited use of correct grammar and language conventions in order to communicate clearly and effectively Some use of appropriate vocabulary: some word choices are appropriately formal and display advanced vocabulary
Some use of correct grammar and language conventions in order to communicate clearly and effectively Considerable or detailed use of appropriate vocabulary: considerable amount of word choices are appropriately formal and display advanced vocabulary
Considerable or detailed use of correct grammar and language conventions in order to communicate clearly and effectively High degree or thorough use of appropriate vocabulary: most word choices are appropriately formal and display advanced vocabulary
High degree or thorough use of correct grammar and language conventions in order to communicate clearly and effectively
Application
Produce pieces of published work to meet criteria identified by the teacher, based on the curriculum expectations Limited connections are made between the student’s opinion and the text Some connections are made between the student’s opinion and the text Considerable or detailed connections are made between the student’s opinion and the text High degree or thorough connections are made between the student’s opinion and the text
Task 1: You will do this by answering one of the following questions:
Which play, in your opinion, was more tragic – Hamlet or Agamemnon? Be sure to explain your opinion clearly and support it with direct references to both plays and to the elements of tragedy that you have learned so far.
OR
Which two passages, one from Agamemnon and one from Hamlet, speak to your life? Quote the two passages identifying which play they come from and who is speaking and then make a personal connection to each quotation explaining how they speak to you today.
You will receive two kinds of feedback:
Your teacher will highlight the phrases that best describe your assignment to show you how you have done.
Your teacher will also provide you with detailed comments about the strengths of your assignment, the areas of the assignment that were weaker than others, and what you should do before submitting another assignment like this one.
Reflect on the feedback you receive. Was it helpful? What did you realize?
Look at the following rubric. Below the rubric, you’ll find instructions for uploading your files and submitting your work to your teacher for feedback. Pay careful attention to the rubric. Your teacher will use it to assess your work. You should use it too, so you’ll know exactly what to aim for on your finished assignment.
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