MACBETH ACT 1
Summary:
The play begins with the scene of the 3 witches, and then moves on to the battle scene in which King Duncan finds out
that Macbeth has killed the traitor Macdonwald. Later, Macbeth and Banquo run into the 3 witches, who tell them that
that Macbeth will be made thane of Cawdor and eventually king of Scotland. They also prophesy that Banquo will beget
a line of Scottish kings, although Banquo will never be king himself. Macbeth is intrigued by this prophecy, and when he
later becomes thane of Cawdor, he gets really excited about the second part of the prophecy that he will eventually
become king. He tells his wife, Lady Macbeth, all this in a letter, and she gets really psyched too. She’s worried that
Macbeth doesn’t really have the balls to go through with this, so she decides for herself that she will make this happen one
way or another. She decides that the murder must occur when King Duncan is visiting them; Macbeth must kill him in his
sleep and then smear the blood on the chamberlains to make it look like they did it in their drunkenness. Macbeth goes
through some doubts of whether he can actually go through with the murder, but Lady Macbeth keeps convincing him to
do it.
Important Quotes:
Witches (1st scene):
“Fair is foul, and foul is fair.”
Sets tone for play that there is something “foul” in the air, that something is not right, that foreshadowing bloodshed and
disruption in time, witches speak in language of contradiction and play on words, double meanings
---------------------------------------Captain (reports to King Duncan that Macbeth killed traitor Macdonwald):
For brave Macbeth—well he deserves that name—
Disdaining Fortune, with his brandished steel,
Which smoked with bloody execution,
Like valor’s minion carved out his passage
Till he faced the slave;
Which nev’r shook hands, nor bad farewell to him,
Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops,
And fixed his head upon our battlements
Important for several reasons:
1) Ironic b/c Macbeth described as “brave – well he deserves that name,” when he later becomes the worst thing to
happen to Scotland
2) Mention of Fortune as “disdaining”
3) Execution – 2 meanings: execution as murder, and execution as deed
4) Carved out his passage – foreshadowing how basically Macbeth carves out his passage to his own death by being
so ambitious about becoming king
5) Till he unseamed him from the nave to th’ chops – allusion to C-section, foreshadowing Macduff, who is the only
one who can kill Macbeth because he wasn’t “of woman born” but rather “untimely ripped” from his mother’s
stomach
6) Fixed his head upon our battlements – foreshadows Macbeth’s decapitation, first scene mirrors last scene – in 1st,
Macdonwald beheaded, in last, Macbeth beheaded
-------------------------------------------------------First Witch. Lesser than Macbeth, and greater.
Second Witch. Not so happy, yet much happier.
Third Witch. Though shalt get kings, though thou be none. So all hail, Macbeth and Banquo!
Again, witches talking in contradictions, double meanings/language, foreshadowing Macbeth’s downfall and how
Banquo’s line will continue
--------------------------------------------------------Macbeth (after he becomes thane of Cawdor):
Stars, hide your fires;
Let not light see my black and deep desires:
The eye wink at the hand; yet let that be
Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see.
Saying that hidden desires may become visible when Macbeth’s in power, the theme of seeing is knowing, admitting that
his desires are “black and deep,” murderous, foreshadowing really awful deeds that is too fearful for the eye to see
-----------------------------------------------------------Lady Macbeth (after she reads Macbeth’s letter):
Yet do I fear thy nature;
It is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness
To catch the nearest way. Though wouldst be great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it.
Lady Macbeth saying that Macbeth doesn’t have the balls to go through with the prophecy, she will have to take charge if
Macbeth doesn’t get rid of his “milk” and replace it with gall
-------------------------------------------------------------Lady Macbeth (still in same scene):
Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here
And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full
Of direst cruelty! Make thick my blood,
Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it! Come to my woman’s breasts,
And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief! Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark,
To cry “Hold, hold!”
Lady Macbeth’s famous speech – showing her ambition that she will do whatever it takes to gain the throne, asking to be
“unsexed” so she can become man enough to murder, she wants to replace her milk with gall, showing Lady Macbeth’s
masculine side, which is a huge theme in the play (femininity vs. masculinity), throughout the play Macbeth is seen as
more feminine and Lady Macbeth as being the gutsy ballsy man who makes all this happen, she is the “man in charge”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------Lady Macbeth (talking to Macbeth about performing the murder):
When you durst do it, then you were a man;
And to be more than what you were, you would
Be so much more the man.
Again, this theme of masculinity, Lady Macbeth constantly tells Macbeth to be more of a man, constantly questions his
masculinity, which makes Macbeth even more insecure, she is the man in the relationship
----------------------------------------------------------------Macbeth (in response):
Bring forth men-children only;
For thy undaunted mettle should compose
Nothing but males.
Again, the theme of masculinity – Macbeth telling Lady Macbeth what a man she is, ruthless, not lady-like at all, also
brings up the theme of progeny, ironic b/c they never have children, they never can have children b/c of the way they are,
they completely lack the capacity to love
-----------------------------------------------------------------Macbeth (last line of Act):
False face must hide what the false heart doth know.
Again this play on double meanings, the 1st “false” is in reference to a mask, he must put on a “false face” to cover up any
evidence that he is behind the murders, he must keep a straight face, the 2nd “false” refers to his murderous heart, a black
heart
MAJOR THEMES:
1) Masculinity vs. femininity – women as being more masculine (Lady Macbeth, Clytemnestra) and men as being
more feminine (Macbeth, Agamemnon)
2) Progeny – children as line of succession – Macbeth and Lady Macbeth never had kids but everyone else did,
progeny as theme also in Oresteia (Clytemnestra avenging her daughter Iphigenia’s death, her son Orestes
avenging his father Agamemnon’s death) and Oedipus Rex (generations collapsed b/c Oedipus killed his father
and married his mother)
3) What makes a tragedy?  tragic hero is initially of high status and falls from that status through his own deeds,
responsibility for his/her actions, Fate plays a part but it’s the tragic hero who makes the events happen,
recognition (anagnorisis) of all this
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MACBETH ACT 2
Duncan, the King of Scotland, hears about Banquo and Macbeth's success in
battling the Thane of Cawdor's forces. Duncan then orders the exdecution of
the Thane of Cawdor and decides to make Macbeth then next Thane of Cawdor.
Important quotations:
"And Fortune, on his damned quarrel smiling,
Showed like a rebel's whore." (1.2.16-17) (I have a different edition of the
text so the lines are probably off)
These lines show the overall negative sentiment towards women that was discussed
in class. There's the idea of mutilated femininity (the witches have beard,
Lady Macbeth sacrfices her feminine parts to become unsexed) and her Fortune, a
goddess, is disreputable, adding to the negative image of women in the play.
Two themes:
unhealthy relationships and how they affect the people in the play:
- Lady Macbeth and Macbeth feed off of each other's ambition which leads to each
other's demise. Macbeth had decided not to murder Duncan and then he talked to
Lady Macbeth who spurred his ambition and convinced Macbeth to change his mind.
He then began to feed off of her ambition and act independently of her, causing
her stress (as seen in the sleepwalking scene when she says "The Thane of Fife
has a wife. Where is she now? What, will the hands ne'er be clean?" in Act 5
scene 1). the stress Macbeth causes Lady Macbeth to experience leads to her
demise and her actions at the beginning of the play to get him to kill Duncan
starts him on a path that he can't back-track and it leads to his demise.
- Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra: Ag didn't consider how Clyt. would feel if he
sacrificed their daughter. This caused a rift in their relationship and was
one of the reasons why clyt. killed Agamemnon. Ag's murder led to Orestes
avenging his father's death and then being chased by furies. If Ag and Clyt's
relationship had been better, perhaps less suffering would have happened.
- Oed. and Jocasta's relationship is inherently unhealthy because they are
mother-son and wife-husband. They also encourage each other's ignorance of the
prophecy and who Oedipus really is.
avoiding fate creates worse consequences:
- Macbeth wants to have children to have them carry on his legacy even though he
knows that Banquo's children are destined to be kings. He tries to avoid his
childless fate and to prevent Banquo's prophesy from coming true by killing all
sorts of people. This only drives Macbeth's subjects away from him and
encourages them to mutiny. Their mutiny leads to his destruction.
- The House of Atreus was said to have been doomed and yet that entire family
continues to try and propagate itself. In its attempts, more disruption is
caused (Clyt. kills Ag., Orestes kills his mother, the Furies hunt down
Orestes) than would have potentially been caused otherwise.
- Oedipus tried to avoid his fate to couple with his mother and kill his father
by leaving what he thought were his parents and yet he traveled straight into
his mothers arms after killing his father.
MACBETH ACT 3
The two things to remember about Act 3 are
1) the developments of the theme of TIME and
2) the BANQUET SCENE:
Both may serve as possible essay topics. The text below provides
several options of framing an essay on either topic.
TIME:
Throughout the play there are several discussions about how time can be
used, spent, and bartered, for example in 3.1.26 ("I must become a
borrower of the night", Banquo). After the murder of Duncan, when
Banquo has grown suspicious, Macbeth again says that it would be good
to take counsel with him; there's no time today, "but we'll take
tomorrow" (3.1.20-22). Macbeth has decided to murder Banquo, and this
speech, together with the previous exchange about making time to get
together, must be taken as examples of "mocking time" and "beguiling
time", activities at which Macbeth and Lady Macbeth become more and
more adept.
Banquo's references to time in his appearances present what we might
call an ordinary view of time, a view predicating a flow, an
uncertainty about what the future holds, and an assumption of the
limitations posed by time. `In a seemingly casual reference to how long
it will take him to return to Macbeth's castle for the banquet in the
evening (the evening he is to be murdered), Macbeth asks, "Is 't far
you ride?" and Banquo replies:
As far, my lord, as will fill up time
'Twixt this and supper. Go not my horse the better,
I must become a borrower of the night
For a dark hour or twain. (3.1.23-27)
The details of Banquo's murder are replete with references to time,
especially to exact time, as if he is the exemplar of the kind of time
that must be killed. Indeed, since his future is to bear a line of
kings, he represents just the kind of succession that is so inimical to
Macbeth.
THE BANQUET SCENE
The banquet scene (3.4) taking place just as the murder of Banquo has
been completed, contains the most complicated dialogue in the play, in
which the confusion around who is telling what to whom is critical to
the dramatic effect. Macbeth speaks to the lords, then goes aside to
speak to the murderers and learns that Banquo is dead and Fleance is
fled. Lady macbeth then talks to Macbeth and the lords as Banquo's
ghost enters and Macbeth begins a dialogue with the ghost. Lady Macbeth
carries on a sotto voce dialogue with Macbeth while she reassures the
lords. Banquo is sublimely silent, unmoved by Macbeth's demands that he
speak, flitting in and out and shaking his "gory locks". Macbeth is
appalled by the ghost and Lady Macbeth is appalled by Macbeth. She
reproaches him for his hallucinatory habits (e.g. the dagger!):
O, these flaws and starts,
Imposters to true fear, would well become
A women's story at a winter's fire,
Authorized by her grandam. Shame itself! (3.4.63.66)
"A winter's tale" is one "of sprites and goblins," as the little boy
Mamillius explains in the play of that name. It's fit for telling among
women and children, and it's a tale passed on through the female chain
of storytelling, a bawbaw may'sah, a grandmother's silly story, as the
Yiddish phrase conveys. Lady Macbeth, then, tells her husband that he,
as a man frightened by ghosts, is a fit subject for women's tales, not
the heroic sagas of men. Macbeth continues to address Banquo and also
turns to speak to the assembled and distressed group of lords. His
reply, as it were, to Lady Macbeth's taunt about the women's tales is
to evoke an image of men's tales and challenge Banquo to a fair fight:
What man dare, I dare.
Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear,
The armed rhinoceros, or th' Hyrcan tiger;
Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves
Shall never tremble. Or be alive again,
And dare me to the desert with thy sword.
If trembling I inhabit then, protest me
The baby of a girl. (3.4.99-106)
These images of masculine martial potency allude to established legends
or epics of male prowess. Ironically, the phrase "authorized by her
grandam" also suggests a legitimate chain of transmission of tales
through the generations, and it is precisely around the issue of his
inability to transmit from father to son that Macbeth is beginning to
crack. He has no son to tell his heroic stories, and he has no heroic
stories because he has no son. As the lords leave, Macbeth continues to
address Lady Macbeth:
It will have blood, they say: blood will have blood.
Stones have been known to move and trees to speak;
Augures and understood relations have
By maggot-pies and choughs and rooks brought forth
The secret'st man of blood. (3.4.123-127)
Secrets will be out, someone or something will reveal them. "Blood" not
only denotes murder but connotes blood-relationship and exploits the
double entendre, as in Donaldbain's "the near in blood, the nearer
bloody" (142-43). "Understood relations" is usually glossed as a legal
or evidential term -- the trail leading to the murderer will be
discovered as these auguries and magic birds find the connections, or
relations, among disparate pieces of evidence. But relations are also
relatives of narrations (i.e. "relating a tale") The tales that cannot
be told are those that involve betrayal and murder of kin, and the
attendant threats to progeny and to the storytelling that is associated
with progeny.
MACBETH ACT 4
Scene 1:
This is the third scene in the play featuring the Three Witches – their first reappearance since they gave Macbeth the
initial prophecies.
The witches make their potion in the cauldron, adding all the lovely animal and human parts
-“Double double toil and trouble/Fire burn and cauldron bubble” (4.1.10)
-“By the pricking of my thumbs/Something wicked this way comes” (4.1.44-45), then
Macbeth shows up.
-In his book, Prof. Simon references how all these weird and twisted parts actually add up
to a monstrous human, implying that this is the type of child that would be created (or in some sense is
created) by Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.
Macbeth comes by, looking to find out what the prophecies mean, and what is going to happen. The witches summon the
apparitions to give him some (riddled) predictions:
-First Apparition is an Armed Head: tells him to “Beware Macduff”
-Second is a Bloody Child: tells him “none of woman born/Shall harm Macbeth”
-Third is a Child Crowned, with a tree in his hand: tells him “Macbeth shall never
vanquished be until/Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill/Shall come against him”
-Then a line of eight Kings and Banquo appear, much to Macbeth’s dismay
Macbeth, of course, is somewhat in denial that the prophecies may come true, as they sound pretty
unrealistic.
Then Lennox comes in to tell him that Macduff has fled to England. Macbeth decides to kill the line of Macduff.
-“From this moment/The very firstlings of my heart shall be/The firstlings of my hand.
And even now,/To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done:” –Macbeth (4.1.146-149) – in
this quote, as he is deciding to attack Macduff’s castle, you see the continued intensification of Macbeth’s
boldness and impetuousness, almost desperately. Since this class is all about psychoanalysis, there are
perhaps some suggestions of sexual potency implied in it.
Scene 2:
Ross tells Lady Macduff that Macduff has fled.
-Lady MacD and Ross discuss whether or not MacD was acting on wisdom or fear in
leaving his family – Lady MacD is upset, but Ross is trying to tell her that he had reason.
-“He wants the natural touch: for the poor wren,/The most diminutive of birds, will
fight,/Her young ones in her nest, against the owl.” – Lady MacD (4.2.9-11) – in this quote, Lady MacD
is providing a representation of one quality of men and fathers as presented in the orderly definition of
what it means to be a man – loving family and home, like the birds. Although we also later see that this
definition includes briefly grieving, weeping, then fighting.
Lady Macduff talks with her witty young son, who doesn’t believe her that Macduff is dead.
A messenger comes in to warn Lady Macduff to flee.
-Lady MacD talks about how she has no reason to flee, but that in this world, the bad is
often rewarded and the good sometimes dangerous, so, “Why then, alas,/Do I put up that womanly
defense,/ To say I have done no harm?” (4.3.74-77)
The murderers come in, kill the son, then chase after Lady MacD, who presumably is killed.
Scene 3:
This scene takes place in England between Duncan’s son, Malcolm, and Macduff.
Malcolm and Macduff talk about how bad everything is, and how evil Macbeth is.
Malcolm and Macduff begin the line of dialogue in which Malcolm tests Macduff by telling him about all the vices he
has, and how he can identify with Macbeth, and how he has no virtues. It is arguable that Malcolm does fear things inside
himself and what sort of king he would be, and recognizes certain vices he may have, but further exaggerates these to test
Macduff’s true colors.
-“It is myself I mean, in whom I know/All the particulars of vice so grafted”…”black
Macbeth/Will seem purse as snow” – Malcolm (4.3.50-ish)
-Macduff protests that “Not in the legions/of horrid hell can come a devil more damned/In evils to top
Macbeth.”
-Malcolm grants that Macbeth exhibits many horrible sins, but that he can’t rival Malcolm’s sexual lust.
-Macduff calls this “boundless intemperance” a “tyranny” but basically excuses it, and says there will be
plenty of “willing dames” for him.
-Malcolm then points out his “staunchless avarice” which will cause him to steel from all the nobles “And my
more-having would be as a sauce/To make me hunger more” (4.3. 81-82)
-Macduff calls this a worse sin but excuses it assuming that Malcolm has other graces
-Malcolm explains that he has no “king-becoming graces”, of which he names many. “Nay, had I pow’r, I
should/Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell”
-Finally, Macduff gets the picture and despairs for Scotland, becoming quite hopeless.
-And finally, Malcolm explains that this is all a ruse – he has none of the faults he has attributed
to himself. Macduff’s “noble passion” has convinced him of his “good truth and honor”. And he
explains that Old Siward is coming with 10,000 men so they can fight back.
A Doctor comes in. Malcolm talks about the disease, “the king’s evil”, which is cured by the touch of the King of
England.
Ross comes in and initially tells Macduff that his family is ok, although Scotland “cannot be called our mother but our
grave”
They discuss battle plans and mounting a resistance to Macbeth with Siward’s men.
Then Ross says he actually has some really bad news, pertaining to Macduff alone.
-He tells Macduff, “Let not your ears despite my tongue for ever,/Which shall possess them with the heaviest
sound/That ever yet they heard.” He then tells them that his wife and children have been slaughtered, comparing them to
“murdered deer”.
Macduff is clearly upset. All the men discuss how he must handle the situation like a man and turn his grief into revenge.
This is important in relation to models of men and women, where showing of strength and military force is a proper way
to deal with grief, though it is also important that Macduff acutely feels the pain of his loss, as a father and husband
concerned with his progeny.
Relevant quotes:
-Malcolm: “Be comforted./Let’s make us med’cines of our great revenge,/To cure this deadly grief.”
(4.3.213-15)
-Macduff: “He has no children”; compares Macbeth to a bird of prey, and his family to “my pretty
chickens and their dam” (216-18)
-Malcolm: “Dispute it like a man” (219)
-Macduff: “I shall do so;/But I must also feel it as a man./I cannot but remember
such things were,/That were most precious to me.” (220-22)
-Malcolm: “Be this the whetstone of your sword. Let grief/Convert to anger; blunt not he heart, enrage
it” (226-28)…. “This time goes manly” (235)
Malcolm calls them to go to the King and to defeat Macbeth, ending with the line “The night is long that never finds the
day” (240).
MACBETH ACT 5
Summary
A doctor and a gentlewoman observe Lady Macbeth sleepwalking. She reveals that she knows all about the murders and
cannot get them out of her head. Macbeth hears of the advance of the English army, but is initially not afraid, trusting in
the witches’ prophecy. Macbeth comments that this will be his last fight, for he is sick of life and cannot escape. Malcolm
and his forces hew down boughs from Birnam forest to camouflage the troops. Upon hearing of this, Macbeth is surprised.
On the battlefield, he encounters Siward’s, the English general’s, son and slays him. Upon encountering Macduff,
however, he refuses to fight because he is guilty of killing Macduff’s family and because he is afraid that Macduff would
be the man, ‘not of woman born’ that would kill him. Under the threat of being made a circus show and displayed,
however, Macbeth chooses to fight to the death. After his death, there is great joy and Malcolm is crowned king of
Scotland.
Quotations to Note
The Gentlewoman refuses to tell the doctor what she has heard Lady Macbeth say, “Neither to you nor to anyone, having
no witness to confirm my speech”(V.ii). The things she has heard are too horrible to recount and for others to believe as
credible.
Lady Macbeth cries out in her sleepwalk, “All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh, oh, oh!”(V.ii).
Lady Macbeth realizes that she had a hand in all the bloody murders and cannot clean them. Her guilt, though showing
only in her sub conscience, will stay forever.
The doctor closes by remarking, “I think, but dare not speak”(V.ii), again relating back to talking and not talking and not
revealing things too horrible to say.
Upon hearing of the advancing English forces, Macbeth remarks, “My way of life is fall’n into the sear…as honor, love,
obedience, troops of friends, I must not look to have; but, in their stead, curses not loud but deep, mouth-honor, breath,
which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not”(V.iii.20). This shows Macbeth realizing the hopelessness of his
struggles for power and how everything has turned against him.
Macbeth asks the doctor if he can, “Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow, raze out the written troubles of the
brain…cleanse the stuffed bosom of that perilous stuff which weights upon the heart?” After being told no, Macbeth
orders the doctor to “cast the water of my land, find her disease, and purge it to a sound and pristine health”(V.iii.40).
Macbeth, in desperation, believes that all his problems can be cured with medicine as though they were a simple illness.
This hints at his regret for his crimes and his desire to undo, or undergo a catharsis of the soul.
Everything Macbeth says in Act V, Scene V is important to revealing his self-discovery, his self-hatred, and resignation at
his struggles.
Macbeth says, when he realizes his doom is near, “Why should I play the Roman fool, and dies on mine own sword?
Whiles I see lives, the gashes do better upon them”(V.viii.1). The last remnants of tragic heroism. He will fight to the last.
What Siward remarks about his son is interesting at the end of v.viii. It ties into the concept of heroism and what it means
to be a hero, what it cost Macbeth, and what it really is worth.
Themes to Track
1. Talking and not talking

Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene is an integral part, as well as Macbeth’s letter to her, not mentioning
Banquo’s successors, and what things are too horrible to mention, what things are kept below the surface.
2. Tragic heroism.

Trace Macbeth’s ambition throughout the play. What is it that he wanted? Does it reflect the values of his
society? How does is end up destroying him? Is there any self-discovery at the end? Do the other
characters learn from his tragic fall? What is Shakespeare trying to tell us about being a hero?
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OEDIPUS REX PP. 159-182
The play opens up with Oedipus addressing his people and asking them why they are so full of misery. An old
priest answers him and tells him that people are massing in the square because Thebes is dying, so the citizens came to
Oedipus to ask him to save the city from the plague. He had saved the city once before and he should help it now. Oedipus
answers that he is full of grief for the entire city and that he has already taken steps towards saving Thebes and has sent
Creon to the oracle at Delphi.
At that moment Creon arrives and reports what he has heard in front of the people. He says that Apollo told him
to drive the corruption out of Thebes, that a murder, namely the murder of Laius, is responsible for the plague. Apollo said
that the king’s killers, who are still in Thebes, must be paid back. Oedipus then begins to ask questions about the murder
and it emerges that no one really knows anything, except that a whole band killed Laius. To which Oedipus replies with
the famous slip of the tongue “A thief, so daring, so wild, he’d kill a king?” (140) He then promises to avenge Laius’s
death.
The next scene is the citizens of Thebe begging the gods for help. Oedipus then speaks to the entire city and asks
them for information on Laius’s death. He proclaims his famous curse on the man who committed the murder. Then a
man points out that Apollo should name the killer, to which Oedipus says that one cannot force the gods to do anything. It
is then suggested to call for Tiresias and the seer comes. He says that he will not reveal the truth to which Oedipus reacts
with anger. The king says that Tiresias is betraying them and accuses the old man of being part of the plot. Tiresias then
says that Oedipus is the curse of the city. Of course, Oedipus is in rage and refuses to accept the answer. He then turns to
Creon and accuses him of the conspiracy. In his rage he also questions Tiresias’s prophetic abilities and asks him why he
did not solve the riddle of the Sphinx.
Some of the important quotes are:
Apollo’s prophecy (could be asked as an ID)
“Drive the corruption from the land,
Don’t harbor it any longer, past all cure,
Don’t nurse it in your soil-root it out!” (110ish)
Oedipus’s slip of the tongue:
Creon “He said thieves attacked them-a whole band,
Not single-handed, cut King Laius down.”
Oedipus: “A thief, so daring, so wild, he’d kill a king? Impossible,
Unless conspirators paid him off in Thebes.” (138-141)
Oedipus’s promise “I am the land’s avenger by all rights.
And Apollo’s champion too…..
Whoever killed the king may decide to kill me too,
With the same violent hand-by avenging Laius
I defend myself.” (155-159ish)
Oedipus’s other promise:
“So I will fight for him as if he were my father” (301)
Then there are many quotes from the exchange between Tiresias and Oedipus, such as:
Tiresias: “How terrible—to see the truth
When the truth is only pain to him who sees!” (360-361)
His revelation:
“I charge you, then, submit to that decree
You just laid down: from this day onward
Speak to no one, not these citizens not myself.
You are the curse, the corruption of the land!” (398-401)
Oedipus’s anger at the seer:
“it does but not or you, old man. You’ve lost your power,
Stone-blind, stone-deaf—senses, eyes blind as stone!” (422-423)
Judging from this portion one of the essay topics could definitely be about the connection about prophecies and their
fulfillment:
A possible answer could focus upon Macbeth and Oedipus, how the prophecy drove them to do certain things, how
Oedipus spent a lot of effort and time resisting it and Macbeth was drawn to committing the deeds that would fulfill the
prophecy. Also one could write about how the two prophecies differ and how Macbeth’s was much more alluring and
Oedipus’s frightening.
Another question could perhaps be about the danger of children to their parents. So, example, how Iphigenia’s death led
her mother to commit atrocious deeds and then how another child became the avenger. And then in Oedipus Rex there is
the attempt to get rid of the dangerous child and yet later this child does commit everything that he was prophesied to
commit.
OEDIPUS REX PP. 183-204
Tiresias finally caves in to the insults and pressures of Oedipus and tells him what he cannot see for himself in his future.
He defends his honor and Creon’s as well. Oedipus gets upset and they argue more challenging each other, Tiresias
challenges Oedipus’ riddle capabilities (“but aren’t you the best man alive at solving riddles?”) and Oedipus openly
questions “Wait…who is my father?” when Tiresias mentioned nothing about his parents not being his real parents (the
idea of knowing and not knowing). The chorus hypothesizes about the King but then reviews his history and remains on
his side since he has solved the riddle of the she-hawk. Creon comes hearing the comments Oedipus has made about him.
Creon claims he is happy with his position (in the triangle of power) and would not urge Tiresias to lie. Creon cannot
figure why Tiresias did not help to solve the murder if he knew who the murderer was. On this topic, Creon says “I don’t
know. And when I don’t, I keep quiet.” (Jocasta and Creon, two points in the triangle demonstrate restraint and caution in
finding out the truth, Oedipus does not and this offsets the triangle, setting up his future torment and dethroning-theme of
succession). Creon offers rational appeals to Oedipus’ rationality but is met with challenges and the threat of execution.
The exchange where Oedipus says “No matter-I must rule” and Creon says “Not if you rule unjustly” demonstrates the
rash misguided lengths Oedipus is willing to go to just to maintain his status in his own eyes, this suggests he is trying to
compensate for something causing increased insecurities (maybe the guilt associated with an aspect of the prophecy he
does believe to be possibly true, again the idea of knowing and not knowing). Jocasta and the chorus both side with
Creon, Oedipus assumes this means that if Creon lives, he must die, or that if Creon stays, he must go (the idea of
succession). He is becoming to cruel, Creon says “It’s perfect justice: natures like yours are hardest on themselves.”
When Oedipus tries to explain his actions to Jocasta he tells her that Creon says he killed Laius, Jocasta replies “How
does he know?” which is a strange way to phrase her thoughts if she at that point truly believed that Oedipus was innocent
(possibly some knowing versus not knowing). Jocasta tries to calm him down by explaining why according to her version
of the story, he should be innocent. This story makes Oedipus consciously and outwardly question his innocence, he says
“My god, my god-what have you planned to do to me?” a few lines later he says “I think I’ve just called down a dreadful
curse upon myself-I simply didn’t know!” He asks Jocasta to send for the servant and lone survivor of the accident so he
can meet with him.
OEDIPUS REX PP. 205-227
This section is a pretty important part of the play, both in terms of action and in terms of the themes we’ve been
discussing in class. Basically, here’s the action:
 Oedipus has discovered he is the murderer of Laius
 Scene begins with his recounting of what the oracle told him (i.e. he will kill his father and marry his mother)
 Calls himself an “abomination” and “stained with corruption”…keep in mind that this is how he feels about
himself before he knows Jocasta is his mother
 Jocasta notices that there’s something strikingly similar about what Oedipus was told by the oracle and what she
and Laius were told, but is in denial that Oedipus and her son could be the same person
 A messenger brings word that Polybus is dead
 Jocasta is excited, tells Oedipus that he now has nothing to fear
 Oedipus is not so sure that he can just forget the prophesy
 Messenger informs him that Polybus is not his real father
o One of Laius’s servants gave Oedipus to him
 Oedipus wants to find the shepherd who gave him away
 Jocasta begs him not to find out
 Oedipus thinks it’s because she thinks his parents were shepherds, but it’s because she realizes that he is her son
 The chorus hypothesizes who his father might be (a god? The shepherd?)
 Someone brings out the shepherd
 At first he plays dumb, then the messenger reminds him how they know each other
 The shepherd does not want to tell Oedipus who his father is
This is the scene we watched in class, so hopefully everyone is pretty familiar with it. There are a couple of speeches
worth paying attention to, I’ll list their line #s:
- 910-918: Oedipus has realized he killed Laius, calls himself an abomination, takes full
responsibility.
- 954-997: The Chorus is digesting what Oedipus says. They refer to destiny as an authority,
criticize Oedipus’s pride, discuss how Oedipus is responsible for his actions and accountable for
them, but also condemn the oracle and Apollo, saying they will never go to them again.
- 1068-1078: This is the one we discussed in section. Jocasta tells Oedipus he no longer has
anything to fear. She also talks about how many men dream of bedding their mothers, which is a
clear reference to Freud’s Oedipus complex.
- 1183-1214: This is the back-and-forth between Oedipus and the chorus speculating who
Oedipus’s real father is. Oedipus vows to discover who it is, and the chorus begins speculating
that he is the son of a goddess and mortal. This is a great example of the multiple parent theme
described below.
There are a couple of significant themes that one should pay attention to:
1) Who is the parent? When Oedipus finds out that Polybus is not his father, there are several speculations as to who
his father could be, while never guessing the truth (which is both obvious and horrific). Different paternal figures
include: biological, parents who raised him, a god/mortal pairing (what the chorus guesses), and he is also
referred to as “a child of fortune.” This last one can also be tied into the theme of responsibility/autonomy.
2) Knowing/not knowing: This is the point when the knowledge that Oedipus killed his father and married his
mother come to light. Instead of putting the pieces together, Oedipus forces the truth out, and has issues believing
it until everything has been spelled out for him. Others realize the truth in pieces, Jocasta, the shepherd, etc., but
before Oedipus does. This theme is also related to repression, in the Freudian scheme. Knowing/not knowing has
been a significant theme in all three works we’ve read, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a question about
this.
3) Responsibility/individuality: Who is to blame? This theme is more significant in other areas of the play, but at the
beginning of this section when he realizes he is the one who killed Laius, Oedipus takes full responsibility. He
might be incredulous at first, but he clearly accepts his role, and does not try and curse fate or the gods. Later in
the section, as he retells the prophesy, even when he says “the gods told me this is what would happen, it is my
fate” he left (who he thought were) his parents because he was worried that he would make the autonomous action
to kill his father and sleep with his mother. He does not accept his fate, fears it, and at the same time thinks he
can change it, and is responsible if it does happen.
OEDIPUS REX PP. 228- 251
Summary:
This section begins with a discussion between Oedipus, the messenger who brought news of Polybus’s death and also,
coincidentally, was the man who had brought Oedipus from the Mountain Cithearon to Corinth, and the Shepard, who
both (again, very coincidentally) saved Oedipus from death as an infant by giving him to the messenger AND witnessed
Oedipus’s slaying of Laius.
When the section begins each of these lowly servants has a piece of information that spells out Oedipus’s past. The
Messenger knows that the baby the pair jointly rescued is now King Oedipus, and the Shepard knows that the baby who
was rescued was the son of Laius and Jocasta. The messenger tells the Shepard that the baby is now king, and the
Shephard tells him to shut up. The Shepard refuses to tell what he knows and begs not to tell what he knows: that
Oedipus’s mother is also his wife, but Oedipus threatens him with torture. The messenger reveals that Jocasta was the
woman who had left Oedipus, the baby, to die. Oedipus’s bemoans his fate and rushes off stage enraged at Jocasta. The
Chorus laments the horrors of the truth and then the Messenger returns to add even more horror: Jocasta has commit
suicide. After sharing that news, the messenger commences to describe Oedipus’s reactions. First Oedipus was furious
and called for a sword (to kill Jocasta) and then he broke down the door. Inside his bedroom, he saw Jocasta swinging
from a rope. He took off the brooches of her dress (undressing her) and used them to gauge out his eyes. The messenger
then expresses that Oedipus had spoken about wanting Thebes to see him like this.
Oedipus then comes back on stage and he and the Chorus discuss how horrible his condition, with the Chorus focusing on
the physical pain, and Oedipus, on the emotional pain.
Creon then enters and speaks with Oedipus. Oedipus asks to be exhiled, Creon says that he will exhile Oedipus, because it
is what the Gods want. Then Oedipus asks that Creon look after his daughters. Creon brings Oedipus’s (female) children
to him. Oedipus says he wishes they were old enough that he could explain. Creon sends the children away before
Oedipus is ready to part and the last words we hear from Oedipus are, “No! don’t take them away from me, not now! No
no no!” The play ends with Creon the clear King, and the Chorus bemoaning the fate of men.
Quotes: There are no great quote in this section in terms of testability. Everything is pretty explicit in terms of blindness,
riddles, mothers/fathers, etc. I think if one of the passages IS on the test, it should be quite easy. The only exception (sort
of) is some of the Chorus’s lines, for example:
“O the generations of men/the dying generations- adding the total/of all your lives I find they come to nothing…/does
there exist, is there a man on earth/ who seizes more joy than just a dream, a vision?/ And the vision no sooner dawns than
dies/ blazing into oblivion/ (1315)
and
Chorus: “Now as we keep our watch and wait the final day/ count no man happy till he dies, free of pain at last.” (1680)
Main themes for essays
1) The issues of masculinity and femininity in the different plays
Things to consider
-in all the plays the main characters are men but there is a background of evil women
-there is much destruction associated with people either NOT ACCEPTING their gender role or BEING TOO
attached to their gender role- IE, Clytemnestra and Lady Macbeth are far too manly and aggressive, which wreaks
havoc, and Macbeth is overly concerned with being masculine ENOUGH, which brings horror also.
-Both the Orestia and Macbeth have central themes about ‘not being from woman born’—Macbeth in the prophesy
and the Orestia by the judgement in the Furies that parentage is only paternal. Oedipus has some contact with this
theme in the way that Oedipus IS of woman born… but that is what leads to his downfall (kind of.) If men were the
only parent, Jocasta and Oedipus would be OK!
-The theme of crazy/wild women: Cassandra, the weird sisters… very creepy
-women committing suicide… Jocasta and Lady Macbeth (no men commit suicide though Oedipus commits self
mutilation and Macbeth has a semi-suicidal last stand.)
2) The ways characters address their ‘fate’ and ‘obligations’
-Macbeth tries to hurry his fate
-Oedipus tried to run from it
-Orestes is more resigned to commit the act that is his duty, AND suffer the consequences.
(orestes is the only successful character.)
AGAMEMNON PP. 35-53
Characters: Watchman, Clytaemestra, Herald, Agamemnon, Cassandra, Aegisthus, Chorus
Setting: Directly after fall of Troy
Summary: At the beginning, a watchman tells of how long they have waited for Troy to fall, when he sees a beacon which
indicates that troy has fallen and the king is coming home. He says that Clytaemestra has the strength of a man, yet he
expresses fear at her reign in the absence of the king. The chorus provides background on the Trojan War and the
kidnapping of Helen, and also of Agamemnon’s sacrifice of his virgin daughter, Iphigenia. Clytaemestra justifies her
sacrifices by telling the chorus Troy has fallen, news which the chorus receives hesitantly. Clytaemestra treats the chorus
with contempt and aggressiveness when they question her news, thinking she may have dreamed it or heard a rumor. The
Herald returns, telling of his joy to return home, immediately embracing their victory. The chorus must believe the news
that Troy has fallen now. Clytaemestra speaks to Herald about her joy of having her husband return, and of her purity
while her husband has been away.
The chorus expresses how inferior women are, by expressing fear in not having the king home, also by questioning
Clytaemestra when she tells of the fall of Troy.
Line 176: “Zeus, who guided men to think”…spoken by the chorus, shows that men are obviously viewed as the superior
gender, as only men can think reasonably and speak intelligently. This foreshadows Cassandra, who is a woman and
thought to be ignorant and whom they cannot understand.
Line 483: It is like a woman indeed
To take the rapture before the fact has shown for true
_Also spoken by the chorus, furthering their low opinion of women and their ability to think or reason.
Important theme of the play: Doomed heritage. Agamemnon’s family is doomed from the beginning of his bloodline, and
this theme is introduced by the retelling of Iphigenia’s murder. Already, there is reason for Clytaemestra to hate her
husband, and predicts more murder within the bloodline to come.
Essay themes:
The Duality of Women
-There is the duality of gender. In Macbeth, Lady Macbeth shows masculinity when she taunts Macbeth’s own manhood,
and since she is the driving force behind the murder and corrupt acquisition of the throne. Compare to Agamemnon,
where Clytaemestra is the masculine head of the household, she shows no deference to men and is said to have the
strength and reasoning and speaking of abilities of a man, and she murders her own husband.
-There is also the duality of female purity and evil. In Agamemnon, the chorus speaks of how a pure woman, Iphigenia, is
sacrificed in order to carry out a war caused by “one woman’s promiscuous sake.” Clytaemestra also uses her “purity” to
please her husband, speaking of her fidelity, when in reality she has her own lover. She is greatly contrasted with
Cassandra, who is in fact an innocent woman.
-Woman also have a very strong influence on the action of a play, despite their “inferiority.” Agamemnon is driven by
two women who do not even appear in the play: Helen, who caused the Trojan War, and Iphigenia, who is the cause of
Agamemnon’s murder. Their absence only emphasizes their power.
Topic 2: Sight and prophecy.
-In Agamemnon, Cassandra is a prophetess, but no one is able to understand her warnings. Her “sight” therefore is
useless. This is an example of how people are often blind to fate, or how sight is either misinterpreted or unappreciated.
_In Oedipus, sight is never what it seems. Oedipus’ sight, or keenness, is a mark of his power, yet he is blind to his fate
and the truth of the plague and his miserable actions. Tiresias is physically blind, but he is the only person who can see
the truth. When Oedipus goes through the recognition of his actions, he takes away his physical sight, which contributes
to his full reversal: he has lost his powers as king, and he has lost his powers of sight so that he is the most miserable of
human beings. When he finally “sees” the truth, he can no longer physically see.
-Sight is an indication of true feelings and guilt in Macbeth. Macbeth sees many apparitions, like the floating dagger or
the ghost of Banquo. He wishes that his eyes may turn away from what he has done and he can be blind to it, but in turn
he visualizes his guilt, and sees things that aren’t even there. Lady Macbeth also sleepwalks and “sees” blood on her
hands, showing her shame through her visions. Though they try to hide their shame in appearance, “False face must hide
what the false heart doth know,” they can still see their own shame through the masks they try to wear.
AGAMEMNON PP. 53-71
summary: chorus asks herald for news of menelaus, and herald
sorrowfully recounts the tale of the storm that accosted the achaean
fleet at sea, killing many and leaving menelaus missing. herald leaves
and chorus bemoans the tragedy and pain that Helen brings where ever
she goes. agamemnon arrives and is greeted positively by the chorus,
although it acknowledges its initial anger at agamemnon's decision to
go to war. agamemnon says the first thing he must do is thank the gods
for his success in battle and safe return. clytemnestra arrives and
declares her love for her husband and describes the pain she endured in
his absence. she acts joyful, and convinces agamemnon, over his initial
hesitation, to walk on a tapestry into the house. the two enter, and
the chorus remains outside and speaks about how it remains fearful and
on edge despite agamemnon's return. clytemnestra comes back outside and
bids cassandra to enter, but becomes enraged when cassandra doesnt
respond. after clytemnestra goes back inside chorus pities cassandra
and talks to her. cassandra reveals great knowledge about the house's
history and future, but chorus cannot understand her prophesies.
big time quote- lines 716-736 - spoken by chorus about helen, shortly
before agamemnon gets back - reveals double nature of helen, how she is
so nice but so terrible etc.
Once a man fostered in his house
a lion cub, from the mother's milk
torn, craving the breast given.
In the first steps of its young life
mild, it played with children
and delighted the old.
Caught in the arm's cradle
they pampered it like a newborn child,
shining eyed and broken to the hand
to stay the stress of its hunger.
But it grew with time, and the lion
in the blood strain came out; it paid
grace to those who had fostered it
in blood and death for the sheep flocks,
a grime feast forbidden.
The house reeked with blood run
nor could its people beat down the bane,
the gian murderer's onslaught.
This thing they raised in the house was blessed
by god to be pries of destruction.
smaller quote: lines 1125-1129 - spoken by cassandra, to the chorus, as
she is prophesying, after clytemnestra got pissed and went inside foreshadows agamemnon's murder by clytemnestra
See there, see there! Keep from his mate the bull.
Caught in the folded web's
entanglement she pinions him and with the black horn
strikes. And he crumples in the watered bath.
Guile, I tell you, and death there in the caldron wrought.
now that i look at it, the events of this section of the play boil down
to a few major parts:
-herald telling of the storm that (probably) killed memlaus
-agamemnon returns, and clytemnestra greets him and they argue about
the tapestry
-clytemnestra yells at cassandra for not coming inside
-cassandra prophesies to chorus but it doesn't understand
transcending themes:
recognizing/inability to recognize
- all over oedipus as he tries to find out the truth about the murder
and himself
- prominent in agamemnon with cassandras prophesies,
- in the libation bearers when first electra and then clytemnestra have
difficulty recognizing orestes
- macbeth unable to recognize that in building up his security the
witches are setting him up for his downfall
responsibility/fate (im kind of unclear on this but i think its
important)
- with oedipus both he and his parents take measures to try to avoid
the fulfilling of the prophesies (fate), but in the end it is these
measures taken to avoid the fulfillment that end up causing the
fulfillment. oedipus ends up acknowledging that while it was apollo who
willed it to happen, his own hands were the ones that committed the
acts
- in the orestia orestes is prompted to avenge his fathers death by
apollo, but at the same time this does not free him of responsibility.
it was his decision to kill his mother in the end, and as such he
submits to the will of the jury
- in macbeth macbeth is driven to action by the prophesies of the
witches (and the friendly urging of his wife), and it seems that
without the prophesies macbeth never would have been driven to all of
the atrocities he ended up committing. yet it was he who did them, and
the placement of responsibility at the end must be placed on him.
this shifting between responsibility and fate is pretty key, although
its hard to sort it out and get a good feel for which is more
important. it is important to not that in ancient greek society fate
didnt really mean anything; fate never drives people to commit acts,
they do it themselves, and so it is their responsibility regardless of
the gods wills. by the time shakespeare was writing the idea of fate
had developed more and the idea that something was meant to be or was
going to happen no matter what had picked up steam, possibly making the
situation in macbeth (and the assignment of responsibility) different
than in the greek plays.
AGAMEMNON PP. 71-90
Pages 71-90 of the Agamemnon involves two scenes: Cassandra’s last moments and the murder of Agamemnon
and Cassandra. These will be dealt with separately.
Summary: Here, at the behest of the Chorus, Cassandra tells her story of how she had reneged on her promise to
Apollo to bear him children and was thus fated to foresee that which others do not believe. She bewails the fate of both
her city and the lives lost. She makes three key insights:
1) She knows the story of Atreus serving his brother’s children for dinner
2) She predicts the death of Agamemnon (explicitly) at the hands of his wife
3) She predicts that Orestes will avenge the murder
For the first, the chorus praises her lucidness as the that which she should not know. As for the other two, they disregard
her telling her to “put those bitter lips to sleep”
She then enters the house, aware of the death that awaits her.
Significant passages:
The theme of violence in marriage/intercourse:
The sexual relationship of Cassandra and Apollo as told in this passage reflects Prof. Simon’s
commentary that such relationships (that of marriage and intercourse) are characterized mainly by violence. The sexual
aspects of their relationship is reflected in her words “he wrestled with me, and he breathed delight.” Yet it is Apollo’s
punishment that curses her to never be believed and to wander “from door to door beggar, corrupt, half-starved.” And
Apollo ultimately allows Cassandra to be lead to her death at the hands of Clytemnestra. The characterization of the
sexual as bloody and violent is also later apparent in Clytemnestra’s speech.
Summary:
After Cassandra enters the house, the Chorus hears Agamemnon’s death cries. Clytemnestra, upon presenting her
bloodied self to the chorus, denies any remorse over the matter. She describes how she trapped him beneath a net and
then stabbed him. In her justification of her act she refers to two things:
1) Agamemnon’s infidelity ) ”plaything of all the golden girls at Ilium”
2) His sacrifice of Iphigenia (“It must be Iphigenai his child, who else, shall greet her father by the whirling
stream and the ferry of tears to close him in her arms and kiss him”)
Then Aegisthus arrives, revels over the death of the king, and is roundly criticized by the chorus not for his part in the act,
but for his cowardice in allowing the king to be killed by his wife rather than another man. To this, Aegisthus can only
respond with childish threats “You are old men; well, you shall learn how hard it is at your age, to be taught how to
behave yourselves”
Significant passages:
The theme of gender ambiguity:
Clytemnestra chides the chorus that they would “try [her] out as if [she] were a woman and vain” and
asks that they “speak of [her] never more as the wife of Agamemnon” Prof. Bennet mentions the phallic nature of the
weapon used in the murder of Agamemnon. This, however, one could argue is in tension with the feminine image of
netting also associated with the murder of Agamemnon. As for Aegisthus, the chorus explicitly chides that “like a
woman, waited the war out here in the house, shaming the master’s bed with lust.” To this Aegisthus makes no attempt to
redeem himself. “Up now from your cover, my henchmen: here is work for you to do” he tells his bodyguards in his order
to attack the senile, old men. +++But what is thematically significant is that such ambiguity of gender is also that which
reconciles everything in the end (Athena’s gender ambiguity)
The theme of violence in marriage/intercourse
Clytemnestra’s delight in the murder of Agamemnon has, as Prof. Bennet points out, erotic overtones.
*“He lies there; and she who swanlike cried aloud her lyric mortal lamentation out is laid
against his fond heart, and to me has given a delicate excitement to my bed’s delight”
* “He spattered me with the dark red and violent driven rain of bitter savored blood to
make me glad, as gardens stand among the showers of God in glory at the birthtime of the buds”
The chorus blames Helen for both the war, and now for the murder of Agamemnon—thus both the allure
of her beauty and her relationships with Menelaus and Paris are a source of bloodshed.
LIBATION BEARERS PP. 93-110
Summary
Orestes (with his companion Pylades) arrives at Agamemnon’s tomb, prays to Hermes that he might avenge the murder of
his father, and leaves a lock of hair on the grave, and then hides to learn more as the women approach. Electra (his sister)
comes in with the Chorus. They are bringing libations sent from Clytemnestra, and mourn the loss of their king, while
Electra mourns about being all alone and how she despises her mother and her crime. The Chorus says that Orestes might
come to avenge Agamemnon’s death, and Electra prays to Hermes for this.
Then she recognizes the lock of hair as one from her own family, and Orestes and Electra are reunited. Orestes
explains that Apollo has commanded him to avenge Agamemnon’s death – if he doesn’t, he will be haunted by the Furies.
They consider the next step. Electra recounts the family situation, and Orestes prays to Zeus for success. The Chorus
encourages them, bringing justice by matching evil with evil. Orestes expresses his regret that Agamemnon did not die
gloriously in battle, instead of in Clytemnestra’s net. He learns how Agamemnon’s body was mutilated, and Electra made
an outcast. Finally he is convinced to kill his father’s murders. Together, Orestes and Electra promise Agamemnon that
he will be avenged.
Passages (NOTE: I have a different translation, so the words/line numbers may be slightly different.)
- “All the pure streams flowing from heaven / And pouring through one bath / Can never wash the hands that have
dabbled / In blood that is unavenged.” (Chorus at Agamemnon’s tomb, LB 104-107. ) This is reminiscent of Lady
Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene – guilt haunting murderers and making their hands unclean.
- “Evil for evil is justice / And justice is holy.” (Chorus at Agamemnon’s tomb, LB. 134-5) This is that cycle of
violence that proves the undoing of the hero.
- “All I ask for myself / Is to be unlike my mother -- / Hands, heart, thoughts clean, / Unlike my mother, /
Conscience clean, undarkened by blood, / Unlike my mother.” (Electra at Agamemnon’s tomb, LB. 144-150)
This follows the theme of broken family relations – here, daughter hating mother for killing father (perhaps the
Oedipal complex in a daughter-father sense).
- “It is your face, Orestes. / The face of my four joys -- / All that remains of our father; / all that remains of our
mother – who became / The murderess of our mother / When she murdered our father; / All that remains of our
sister, / Iphigenia, sacrificed so lightly / For a puff of air – Three vessels of love / Poured into you, my fourth, /
My brother who has not changed -- / Your very name has delivered me / From slavery and shame. / Now let God,
/ And his justice, give you the prize / Of avenging our father.” (Electra to Orestes at the tomb, LB. 240-255) This
is a good summary of the messed-up family dynamic. Only Orestes and Electra are left after this slaughter of
daughter and father (and soon, mother and stepfather). Murdering his mother, however, will not be the solution
Orestes hopes it would be.
LIBATION BEARERS PP. 111-131
Orestes and Electra make one last plea to Agamemnon before moving on to other
concerns. They make specific, prodding prayers that are meant to incur the
wrath of their father so that he will come to their aid. They remind him of all
of the injustices that he has suffered, and assure him that only they will be
able to avenge these injustices.
Orestes asks for the details surrounding Clytamnestra's decision to send the
libation bearers to the tomb. It is too little too late, he says. All ones
possessions cannot balance out the blood spilled. The chorus then describes
Clytamnestra's terrifying dream. They tell that she dreamed she bore a snake,
and wrapped it like a baby. Then she tried to feed it from her breast, but the
snake bit her, and blood curdled the milk. She awoke with a scream, and sent
the libations in the hope that they would appease whoever sent the vision.
Orestes interprets the dream, saying that he will be the snake, saying that
just as she bred this violent sign, so she will die by violence. He lays out a
cunning plan, one to match that by which Agamemnon died. He will send Electra
inside, and she will keep the secret. He will go the gates as a stranger and
speak in Parnassian, the dialect of Delphi. He might have to wait at the doors,
as no one might welcome him, but this will attract the attention of others, who
will wonder at how Aegisthus keeps people waiting.
Once he crosses the threshold, he will find Aegisthus. Before he can ask who
Orestes is, Orestes will kill him, and Clytamnestra will drink his blood
unmixed, a libation to Zeus.
Soon after, Orestes is pounding at the palace door, calling for the slave to
open up and asking if there is a man inside the house. The porter finally comes
to the door and asks where Orestes has come from and who he is. Orestes orders
the porter to announce him to the masters of the house, saying that he comes
bearing news. At first he asks for the mistress of the house, but then corrects
himself, saying that the master would be better, for then no words need be
minced. With women one must speak delicately, whereas men can speak directly to
one another. Clytamnestra then emerges from the palace, and graciously addresses
Orestes and Pylades. She says, "we have all that you might expect in a house
like ours," and offers them warm baths and beds. If, however, the travelers
have arrived not seeking comfort, but in order to do political business, then
it is the men's concern and she will communicate it to them. Orestes lies about
his origins to his mother in order to gain her trust. He says that he comes from
Delphi, and that he encountered a stranger named Stophios on his way to Argos.
This man made him promise to bring news to the palace that Orestes was dead.
Clytamnestra cries out that this story spells out her ruin, for the curse of
the house is still at work. She laments that the curse has stripped her bare of
all that she loves, now taking Orestes down. She announces that she will commune
with the master of the house in order to discuss the news.
Orestes's nurse Cilissa enters in tears, and the chorus asks her where she is
going. The nurse describes how Clytamnestra ordered her to fetch Aegisthus,
feigning sadness while laughing inside at the news. For the house, this message
spells ruin. Aegisthus will certainly rejoice when he hears of Orestes's death.
The nurse laments the grief she has had to suffer over the years, saying that
this new sorrow is by far the worst. She reared Orestes from birth, pacing back
and forth throughout the night to quiet his crying. The chorus interrupts the
nurse's dirge to ask whether Clytamnestra told Aegisthus to come with his
guard. The nurse replies that she told him to come with his guard. The chorus
bids her to alter the message, saying that she should bid Aegisthus to come
alone, and happily. The nurse remains confused, but the chorus tells her to get
on with it. Soon, the chorus sings, there will be cause for rejoicing. "But
you," they say, meaning Orestes, "when your turn in the action comes, be
strong." When Clytamnestra cries out "Son!", he must reply, "Father!" Doing
this, he may commit the awful deed in innocence.
Aegisthus enters the stage. He has heard the news of Orestes's death, and calls
it far from welcome. He asks the chorus how he can know that the news is true,
and not some rumor spread by women that will soon die away.
The chorus says that it has heard a little, but that he should learn the rest
from the stranger directly. Aegisthus announces that he will see the stranger
himself and put them to the test. For, no one would be able to deceive
Aegisthus, whose mind is quick of sight.
A servant staggers out of the palace, crying that Aegisthus is dead.
Clytamnestra enters, asking what's the matter. The servant replies that the
dead are killing the living. She understands the riddle, and recognizes the
deceit that has been put upon her. Calling for the servant to bring her an axe,
she prepares to fight. Before the servant can return, the main door opens and we
see Orestes standing over the body of Aegisthus. Disgusted over Clytamnestra's
sorrow for Aegisthus, Orestes drags her over to his body and prepares to kill
her. She stops him by asking whether he has no respect for the breast that fed
him as a baby. Orestes hesitates, asking Pylades what he should do. How can he
kill his own mother?
Pylades reminds him of Apollo's commands, saying that one should make all men
enemies before one offends the gods. Convinced, Orestes turns back to
Clytamnestra. He speaks contemptuously to her, saying that she will die next to
the man whom she favored over Agamemnon.
Clytamnestra pleads once more, saying that she gave him life, and that he should
let her grow old with him. Orestes balks, recalling the murder of his father.
She claims that destiny was responsible for his death. Clytamnestra warns him
that he should fear a mother's curse. Orestes cries that she bore him and then
abandoned him, selling him off for a price. Clytamnestra challenges him to name
the price, and to name his father's failings. Orestes reproaches her, saying
that she can never judge a man who was fighting for her while she sat at home.
Clytamnestra shrieks, seeing murder in her son's eyes. She warns him of her
curse, and then recognizes him as the snake from her dream. Orestes pronounces
that she has killed in an outrageous manner, and now she will suffer the same
outrage now. He pulls her over the threshold and they disappear behind the
palace door.
Orestes celebrates the victory but is struck by madness. The furies come after
him for the death of his mother. The chorus tries to convince him otherwise but
they can’t see anything. The chorus tells him to go to the house of Apollo to
rid himself of the furies. Orestes flees.
Key Quotations (The Libation Bearers pgs 111-131)
1.“I turn snake to kill her this is what the dream portends.” (549-550) Orestes
speaking regarding the dream she had about giving birth to a snake that she
wrapped in clothes and sucked her breast and drew blood from her along with
milk. Orestes takes the dream as him being the snake to kill her for her past
transgressions.
2.“They killed an honored man by cunning, so they die by cunning, caught in the
same noose.” (lines 556–558)
Orestes speaks these words as he begins to outline his plan for killing
Aegisthus. It is significant that in laying out this plan, he makes no mention
of what he intends to do about Clytamnestra. However, while he does not address
it directly, he alludes to his intention to kill his mother in this quote, as he
speaks of the killers in the plural form. Although warriors in battle should
confront their enemies directly, Clytamnestra and Aigisthos forfeited that
right when they tricked Agamemnon into making himself vulnerable to murder.
Thus, Orestes is justified in his approach to the confrontation.
This line is echoed again nearing the climax of the play, when Clytamnestra asks
who is shouting up and down the halls, and the servant tells her that the dead
are killing the living. Immediately recognizing that Orestes has plotted
against her, Clytamnestra says, "By cunning we die, precisely as we killed"
(line 888). Noose refers to the same net Agamemnon was trapped in.
3.“Orestes! I wore out my life for him. I took him from his mother, brought him
up.”(749-750) Clilissa Orestes nurse as a child claims to have taken care of
him and been way more of a mother to him than Clytamnestra. This discredits
Clytamnestra’s role as a nurturing mother. Also note Cilissa is crucial when
giving an alternate message to Aegisthus (thanks to the chorus’s persuasion) to
meet Orestes without bodyguards unlike what Clytamnestra ordered.
4. “But you, when your turn in the action comes, be strong. When she cries
'Son!' cry out 'My father's son!' Go through with the murder—innocent at last.”
(lines 827–830)
The chorus speaks these words in their last ode before the climax of the play.
After praying to Zeus, the household gods, Apollo and Hermes, the chorus
addresses Orestes (figuratively, not literally.) Anticipating Clytamnestra's
emotional hold over her son, the chorus warns him that when she appeals to him
as a mother, he should deny his bond to her and call himself Agamemnon's son
only. This way, he will not really be guilty of matricide, as Clytamnestra has
been discredited as his mother. Since Clytamnestra has taken on the attributes
of a man and violated the safety of the home, she no longer has a right to the
privileges of a mother and deserves to die like a man.
This quote also reflects the chorus's naiveté regarding the outcome of Orestes's
actions. They engage in the same kind of wishful thinking for which they
criticized Orestes and Electra after the kommos. We will soon discover that the
Furies do not consider Orestes to be innocent at all.
5. “Wait, my son—no respect for this, my child? The breast you held, drowsing
away the hours, soft gums tugging the milk that made you grow?” (lines 896–898)
Clytamnestra says these words as Orestes is dragging her towards the body of
Aegisthus in order to murder her alongside her lover. After taking on the
attributes of a calculating man throughout the Agamemnon and calling for an axe
to fight off Orestes, Clytamnestra here reverts to her maternal role in a last
ditch attempt to fend off death. While there is a possibility that she is
sincere in her wish to return to proper female norms, it is too late now to
cross back into that territory. The audience is likely to have looked with
disgust upon this emotional gesture, seeing it as a hypocritical act. Not only
have we watched Clytamnestra forgoing her female role in favor of taking a
strong male position over the household, but we have also learned from Cilissa
that Clytamnestra did not, in fact, nurse Orestes at her breast as she claims.
Orestes, however, is deeply moved, and his resolve momentarily weakens. It is
at this point that Pylades steps in to remind him of his pledge to Apollo,
saying that it is better to make enemies of all men than to anger the gods.
These words negate Clytamnestra's act and condemn her to death.
6.“No! Women who serve this house, they come like gorgons, they wear robes of
black, and they are wreathed in a tangle of snakes. I can no longer stay.”
(1047-1050) Orestes speaking after being haunted by the furies who have come to
chase him for the bloodshed of his biological mother Clytamnestra. The furies
pursuit of Orestes makes him flee to the house of Apollo in the next play.
Key Themes:
The Lack of clarity between right and wrong
-Describe Clytaemestra’s motives for killing Agamemnon
-Talk about how Orestes will be haunted by the furies even if he doesn’t kill
Clytaemestra as well as if he does. He chooses Apollo’s will and follows his
destiny.
-Discuss which murder is more justifiable, Agamemnon’s or Clytamaestra’s.
-The role of fate in terms of Orestes
The Cycle of Blood Crimes
-The link between Iphigenia, Agamemnon, Clytaemestra, and Orestes. Even
Agamemnon’s father who served Aegisthus’s father his own son.
-According to Furies blood must continually be paid back with blood
-Apollo seeks to end the bloodshed with Orestes
Apollo’s new more civilized answer is supposed to a way out to the furies
continued bloodshed.
=====================================================================
EUMENIDES PP. 135-152
The Eumenides begins with Pythia, the priestess of Apollo, encountering
Orestes as a supplicant in the temple of Apollo. Orestes wants to be
purified for killing his mother, which Apollo grants, since Apollo takes
the blame for inciting Orestes to matricide. In the temple, the Furies
(cited as the Chorus) have pursued Orestes, but Apollo has put them to
sleep. Apollo tells Orestes to go to the temple of Athena to be put on
trial and be justified in the view of the polis (in the eyes of the
citizens by a trial by jury), where Orestes is taken, kept safe from the
Furies by Hermes. The Ghost of Clytemnestra appears and awakens the
Furies, who, after a brief exchange with Apollo, pursue Orestes.
Orestes and Hermes reach the temple of Athena, the Furies immediately
after, and Athena appears (summoned by the invocation of her image by
Orestes). Athena determines that a trial by jury must be commenced, and
departs briefly to gather such a jury. After Athena returns with the
jury, Apollo appears, and the trial begins.
The prosecutors (the Furies) say that Orestes killed his mother (which
he does not deny), and Orestes responds that he was directed to do so by
Apollo. Orestes aruges that Clytemnestra was "doubly polluted" (600) by
killing her husband and his father. The Furies counter that Agamemnon
was not related to Clytemnestra by blood (and hence no blood debt needed
to be paid), while Clytemnestra was Orestes's mother, and hence a blood
debt is needed from Clytemnestra's death.
Relevant quotes (in chronological order):
Apollo
"Zeus honors the respect of those who are outside the protection of
laws" (92).
A major theme is the new dependence on Zeus as the bringer of the new
laws and new order, and Athena constantly cites that she says nothing
that she was not commanded to by Zeus. Here, Apollo demonstrates that
Zeus's law will be foremost, in respecting people who otherwise have no
legal protection. (We will no longer be uncivilized to foreigners or
estranged citizens such as Orestes.)
Ghost of Clytemnestra
"And yet, while I suffer so cruelly from my most beloved, no god has
anger on my behalf." (100-101).
Clytemnestra sums up the controversy succinctly: Orestes has Apollo
defending him for matricide, while Clytemnestra had no help from the
gods in avenging Iphigenia's death and in murdering Agamemnon. This
double-standard is resolved later by devolving the mother from being a
true parent of the child.
Similar quote with same interpretation: the Chorus to Apollo
"Though you are a god, you have stolen away a man that killed his
mother. Who will say that any of this was done with just resolve?"
(153-154)
Apollo to the Furies
"Do you hear, the feasts you love make you detestable to the gods?" (191)
Apollo rejects the Furies has cruel, barbaric, bloodthirsty, and
uncivilized. He insinuates that they will no longer have any power to
demand blood debt.
Apollo
"What about a wife who kills her husband?"
Chorus
That would not be murder of relative by blood. (211-212)
That is the defense of the chorus as to why the Furies were not angry
with Clytemnestra but are angry with Orestes. Apollo soon turns it
around and demonstrates to the jury that the mother and the son are also
not blood related.
Chorus
"but whoever commits an offense, as this man [Orestes] has, and hides
his blood-stained hands, we are reliable witnesses against him, and we
are avengers of bloodshed, coming to the aid of the dead as we appear in
the fullness of time." (316-320)
The Furies says their role as "avengers of bloodshed," and claim to be
"reliable witnesses," both are loaded terms in reference to the coming
trial by jury.
Apollo
"I have come both to bear witness, for this man was a suppliant
according to custom, and a guest of my sanctuary, and I am his purifier
from blood, and I come in person to be his advocate. I have the
responsibility for the murder of his mother." (576-580)
Orestes
"Up till now I have never blamed my fortune." (596)
Apollo again says that he has the responsibility for the death of
Clytemnestra, but still Orestes must stand trial, which relates to the
fact that Greeks, even if destined by fate to do terrible things, are
responsible for their actions. There is also the phrase "bear witness"
again, which relates to the institution of trial by jury.
EUMENIDES PP. 152-171
Summary:
In the final pages of the trilogy, the Oresteia, Athene decides to hold a trial to decide the fate of Orestes. The Furies argue
for the death of Orestes for his crime of matricide, and Apollo makes a surprise appearance to argue for his freedom. The
trial consists of a debate between the old world and new world, with the Furies/Chorus representing an archaic and savage
sense of justice and the Olympian gods standing for civilized manners of conduct and the use of reason and law. Apollo
argues three main points: 1) The oracles sanctioned the murder and commanded Orestes to kill mother; 2) Orestes was
avenging his father, Agamemnon’s death, which resulted from the dishonorable actions of a woman slaying him; 3) The
woman is not the true parent of the child, and since it is not real kinship the Furies’ argument is undermined. Athene then
agrees that she was not born of woman and so finds Orestes innocent. The jurymen cast their ballots and since there are an
equal number for both sides, Orestes is set free. He pledges to restore peace between Athens and Argos. The Furies are
extremely distraught, but are appeased with Athene changes them into the protectors of marriage and childbirth.
Quotes:
 “Yes. She was dirtied over twice with disgrace.” line 600, spoken by Orestes referring to his mother bedding with
Aegisthus while being questioned by the Furies on trial.
 “Never, for man, woman, nor city, from my throne of prophecy have I spoken a word, except that which Zeus,
father of Olympians, might command. This is justice. Recognize then how great its strength. I tell you, follow our
father’s wil. For not even the oath that binds you is more strong than Zeus is strong.” Lines 616-621, spoken by
Apollo during trial. Arguing that Orestes was given orders from Zeus, who is the most righteous and powerful of
all. Illustrates the conflict between the old order and the new order, emotion vs. reason, and womanly
sentimentality vs. men’s strength and logic.
 “It is not the same thing for a man of blood to die honored with the king’s staff given by the hand of god, and that
by means of a woman, not with the far cast of fierce arrows…There is the story of the death of a great man,
solemn in all men’s sight, lord of host of ships. I have called the woman what she was, so that the people whose
duty it is to try this case may be inflamed.” Lines 625-638, spoken by Apollo on dishonor of a man being killed
not in battle, but by a woman. Duty of Orestes to avenge death of king, regicide.
 “The mother is no parent of that which is called her called, but only nurse of the new-planted seed that grows.
The parent is he who mounts. A stranger she preserves a stranger’s seed, if no god interfere…There can be a
father without any mother. There she stands, the living witness, daughter of Olympian Zeus, she who was never
fostered in the dark womb yet such a child no goddess could bring birth”. Lines 658-666. Apollo. Final argument
on why Orestes should be let free, appealed to the primarily male Athenian audience with insecurities on
parentage and paternity. Divide between men and women.
 “Neither among the elder nor the younger gods have you consideration. I shall win this suit”. Line 721-2. Apollo
asserting power of Olympian gods over Furies, who represented the lower caste of female deities. Riddled
language of furies contrasts with straightforwardness of Apollo – another divide between women and men.
 “It is my task to render final judgment here. This is a ballot for Orestes I shall cast. There is no mother anywhere
who gave me birth, and, but more marriage, I am always for the male with all my heart, and strongly on my
father’s side. So, in a case where the wife has killed her husband, lord of the house, her death shall not mean most
to me. And if the other votes are even, then Orestes wins.” Lines 734-741. Athena the only example of a
respected and wise woman supports the males in the story furthering the gender divide and giving more power to
men.
 “Pallas Athene you have kept my house alive…I shall go home now, but before I go I swear to this your country
and to this your multitude of people into all the bigness of time to be, that never man who holds the helm of my
state shall come against your country in the ordered strength of spears, but though I lie then in my grave, I shall
still wreak helpless bad luck and misadventure upon all who stride across the oath that I have sworn.” Line 754-


769. Orestes creates allegiance between two cities, but does not discuss what sort of king he will be or how he
will avoid the tragedy that befell his family.
“Gods of the younger generation, you have ridden down the laws of the elder time, torn them out of my
hands…Afflicted I am mocked by these people. I have borne what can not be borne. Great the sorrows and the
dishonor upon the sad daughters of the night.” Lines 778-792. Chorus (furies) again remarking on split between
old and new laws.
“Here are my actions. In all good will towards these citizens I establish in power spirits who are large, difficult to
soften. To them is given the handling entire of men’s lives. The man who has not felt the weight of their hands
takes the strokes of life, knows not whence, not why, for crimes wreaked in past generations drag him before
these powers.” Line 927-935, Athene gives Furies new role.
Major Themes:
 Gender roles
I. Manly women (e.g. Clytaemestra, Athene, Lady Macbeth)
II. Emotional and uncivilized women (e.g. Furies)
III. Womanly Men (e.g. Aegisthus, Macbeth)
IV. Women not as true parents (e.g. Athene from Zeus’ head, Apollo’s argument, Macduff not born of woman,
Oedipus not knowing true mother)
V. Divide between men and women (reason v. emotion, plain speak v. riddles, high ground of Olympus v.
underground, new order v. old order, trials v. murder, sphinx in Oedipus speaks in riddles)
 Problems deciphering prophecies - inescapability
I. Cassandra foretells death of king, Oracles of Zeus tell Orestes to kill mother
II. Oedipus fleeing from adopted parents, not believing Tiresias’ prophecy, Jocasta doubting Laius’ prophecy
III. Macbeth misinterpreting witches’ prophecy