One quote I wanted to bring up was this quote mentioned by the Chorus in lines 248- 257.
What comes next? I cannot see it, cannot say.
The strong techniques for Calchas do their work.
But Justice turns the balance scales,
sees that we suffer
and we suffer and we learn.
And we will know the future when it comes.
Greet it too early, weep too soon.
It all comes clear in the light of day.
Let all go well today, well as she could want,
our midnight watch our lone defender,
single minded queen.
We can learn many things from the words of the Chorus here. This is at the end of their speech, after complaining to Clytaemnestra, about why she is giving so many sacrifices. The chorus also mentioned what Agamemnon did, by sacrificing their daughter because he believed that was the only way to win the war. We see a clear foreshadow in this quote of what is going to happen at the end of the play. It also questions what everyone wants to know, “What comes next?” We can also tell that Clytaemnestra is going to avenge the death of her daughter, and kill Agamemnon.
Question: Why make such an obvious foreshadow so early in the play? We haven’t even met the characters yet and we know so much about them. Should we have learned what is going to happen a little more into the play, or was mentioning so much information about Clytaemnestra so important, that the pay will not be the same without?
Michael – Thanks for the post on such short notice! I think that’s an interesting question — one thing to keep in mind is that this myth would be ‘common knowledge’ for an Ancient Greek audience. They would be familiar with it from Homer’s Odyssey for instance. Even with that though, the question is interesting — whether or not the audience knows the “back story,” why begin with it?