CC 301 1st Edition Lecture 18Outline of Last Lecture I. A cover of Greek tragedy in reference to Aeschylus. Outline of Current Lecture II. Agamemnon Breakdown III. Clytemnestra’s FeminismIV. The Second PlayV. Orestes’ Revenge VI. SophoclesVII. OedipusVIII. Antigone’s DefianceCurrent LectureAgamemnon BreakdownPrologue (1-38): Night Watchman sees the fire beacons.Parodos (39-257): The Chorus enters and discusses the background of the Trojan War.First Episode (258-354): Clytemnestra tells the Chorus about the fire beacons signaling the endof the War.First Stasimon (355-502): The Chorus intimates popular discontent with the War.Second Episode (503-680): The Herald enters and announces Agamemnon’s return toClytemnestra and the Chorus.Second Stasimon (681-782): The Chorus fears the downfall of the great.Third Episode (783-974): Agamemnon enters, and Clytemnestra lures him into the palace,treading on a red carpet.Third Stasimon (975-1034): The Chorus’ premonitions.Fourth Episode (1035-1347): Clytemnestra unsuccessfully attempts to coax Agamemnon’sconcubine Cassandra into the palace; Cassandra has a prophetic vision of the slaughter that isabout to come; Agamemnon is killed offstage. Fourth Stasimon (1348-1371): The Chorus is alarmed and confused, but fails to act.Fifth Episode (1372-1576): Clytemnestra reveals the dead bodies to the Chorus, who warn ofretribution.Exodos (1577-1673): Aegisthus emerges from the house and confronts the angry Chorus.Clytemnestra’s FeminismThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.After line 1370, they open the doors and see all the murders and Clytemnestra comes out andbrags about what she has accomplished. Couldn’t have more than a couple speaking acts at onetime because acting was such a skilled profession. Eccyclema – machine used to display an interior scenes (as dead bodies after a murder) in theclassic theater.The disturbing part was that Clytemnestra was almost proud of the murders that she hascommitted taking responsibility for her acts. She comes into conflict with the chorus (elder menthat are memorable). These elders had questioned Clytemnestra’s wisdom. This leads her tobegin acting like a tyrant. The Second PlayThe second play – the libation bearers, takes place at least 10 years later and the chorus in thisplay is a female chorus who is accompanying Electra the daughter of Agamemnon as she goes tothe tomb of her father to make offerings. She alone is preserving the memory of her dead fatherwithin the household. At the tomb of Agamemnon a male stranger appears and through certaintokens, she recognizes this to be her long lost brother Orestes who had been sent away by hisnurse for safe keeping. The nurse saw Clytemnestra having an affair with Aegisthus and knewthat Orestes might be in danger. Orestes was accompanied by Pilodes and hears from his sister how miserable things are. Theyplot to set things right by murdering their mother and her lover. The oracle at Delphi hadcommanded Orestes to go back home and restore order. Women don’t really rule alone, eventhough Clytemnestra was trying to, so it was safe to assume her lover would take over. If Orestescould not take back the throne, he would be haunted by his Furies (revenge, guilt, torment). But,if he killed his mother he would be haunted by HER furies.Orestes’ Revenge Orestes uses deceit to gain access to the household and once there, he kills Clytemnestra andAegisthus and wraps them up in the very same carpet they had used to roll out Agamemnon. It’sjust as if everything is coming full circle and repeating itself. This, however, doesn’t endeverything because he is haunted by the furies of his mother. Orestes finally comes to Athens by the advice of Apollo. He seeks the help of Athena to achievesome protection from the furies. (In this play we actually see the furies on stage, they’re like achorus; not only a metaphor for Orestes’ mental illness but a physical presence). Athena sets upfor Orestes to be tried by the council of the areopagus. In this play, Orestes is put on trial for thehomicide of his mother (Aegisthus death ignored because he was not a likeablecharacter).Murdering one’s mother is a lot more serious than murdering a tyrannical usurper. Tievote, but Athena votes to acquit. In order to assuage the Furies, Athena renames them to the Eumenides (the kindly ones). Sophocles – (496-406). First romantic victory in 468 and defeated Aeschylus. Sophocles wasfantastically successful. We know of at least 123 titles, but only 7 survived in full. He had 24dramatic victories (for full set of four plays - 96). He was politically prominent, perhaps in partdue to his success and popularity as a playwright – state treasurer and was even elected as ageneral. He wrote a pritus on the chorus. We know that he was responsible for innovations in theuse of the chorus; prior to Sophocles the chorus was 12 but Sophocles increased the number to15. He is the one who introduced the third actor. With Aeschylus although there were 3 actors,only got two that would speak, but Sophocles uses all 3. Even then, you tend to get only 2 ofthem speaking to each other. SophoclesSophocles also invented skenographia which means scene painting. Sophocles was an innovator.In Antigone we see a character who has a strong sense of what is right. She is indifferent to anypunishments that Creon and the city can conflict upon her, she’s uncompromising and willing todie for what she believes in. Each one of Sophocles includes a simple hero who is faced with the dilemma of either certaindisaster or abandoning their core values and principles. In each case they wind up acceptingdisaster. Sophocles drama is more character oriented than plot oriented. Part of this is due to adramatic compression that results from Sophocles abandoning the trilogy form. In other words,the same events that might compose a whole trilogy of plays in Aeschylus will becomeconsecrated into one play in Sophocles. This is one reason he needed 3 actors on stage and wasresponsible for a lot of other changes. OedipusEarly in marriage with Jocasta, Laius was told not to try to have children because his son wouldkill him. They