Preparatory Notes for the Quiz

The quiz will be entirely on The Libation Bearers, by Aeschylus. Below are things you should know:

(1) When the Chorus are left alone on the stage, we have a stasimon.

(2) When a character (usually a major character) joins them on state, we start an episode.

(3) An aphorism is a terse saying, similar to a proverb, and embodying some fundamental truth or wisdom. We have several examples of these:

– “A great stock may come from a little seed.”

– “Where is goodwill greater than from guest to host?”

– “In the mouth of a messenger a crooked message is made straight.”

– “The orphaned colt of a loved one is harnessed to the chariot of distress.”

– “Count all men your enemies rather than the gods.”

(4) Irony arises when a character says or does something that has a totally different meaning or outcome than what he/she expects. We see examples of verbal irony, and in a sense also dramatic irony:

– Clytemnaestra says, “Your story spells our utter undoing.” She pretends to be a grief-stricken mother, completely “undone” by the loss of her son. However, because she believes this story, she will let Orestes into the palace, where he will kill her and Aegisthus.

– Clytemnaestra’s dream of the serpent that drew her milk and also her blood is more symbolic imagery, yet the fact that she had such a dream just as Orestes arrived to slay her – and also her own words (“I bore and nourished this serpent!”) makes the passage somewhat ironic, also.

(5) Know the important characters -- Elektra, Orestes, Clytemnaestra, Aegisthus -- and who they are in relation to one another.

(6) Remember the name of this dramatist (Aeschylus) and the other two great Greek tragedians (Sophocles and Euripides).