The Oresteia by Aeschylus

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Description:

The Oresteia is a trilogy that dramatizes the reckoning of the curse fixed upon the mythical House of Atreus. The story includes love and hatred, betrayal and loyalty, revenge and justice, and virtue and sin in ancient Greece. The first of the plays, Agamemnon, deals with Agamemnon’s return from the Trojan War and his murder at the hands of his wife, Clytemnestra. In the second of the plays, The Libation Bearers, Agamemnon’s children reunite and plot revenge; Clytemnestra assumes the throne of Argos with her lover, Aegisthus. The Eumenides completes the trilogy with the trial of Orestes, Apollo, and the Furies before Athena and a jury consisting of Athenians to determine their fates for Orestes’s murder of his mother, Clytemnestra.

Activities:

Students participate in a variety of activities, including brainstorming, small and large group discussion, and role-playing. They have opportunities to conduct research on various topics related to Greek mythology. Students explore literary elements present in the play. They have an opportunity to illustrate a myth. Several exercises allow students to write essays and poems.

Supplementary materials include additional paper topics.

Ethical Values:

Family commitment
Justice
Loyalty
Responsibility
Truth