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Clytemnestra
The slave Agamemnon has taken back to Argos as his prize for winning the Trojan War. She is the daughter of Priam, king of Troy. A priestess of Apollo, she has the gift of prophecy, and she predicts the events of the play as well as those to come later in The Oresteia.
Cassandra Quotes in Agamemnon
The Agamemnon quotes below are all either spoken by Cassandra or refer to Cassandra. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Lines 1034-1330
Quotes
Up there on that roof there sits a chorus—
it never leaves. They sing in harmony,
but the song is harsh, predicting doom.
Drinking human blood has made them bold—
they dance in celebration through the house.
The family’s Furies cannot be dislodged.
Sitting in the home, they chant their song,
the madness that began all this, each in turn
cursing that man who defiled his brother’s bed.
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Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
But we’ll not die without the gods’ revenge.
Another man will come and will avenge us,
a son who’ll kill his mother, then pay back
his father’s death, a wanderer in exile,
a man this country’s made a stranger.
He’ll come back and, like a coping stone,
bring the ruin of his family to a close.
For gods have made a powerful promise—
his father’s stretched out corpse will bring him home.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Agamemnon LitChart as a printable PDF.
Cassandra Quotes in Agamemnon
The Agamemnon quotes below are all either spoken by Cassandra or refer to Cassandra. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Lines 1034-1330
Quotes
Up there on that roof there sits a chorus—
it never leaves. They sing in harmony,
but the song is harsh, predicting doom.
Drinking human blood has made them bold—
they dance in celebration through the house.
The family’s Furies cannot be dislodged.
Sitting in the home, they chant their song,
the madness that began all this, each in turn
cursing that man who defiled his brother’s bed.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
But we’ll not die without the gods’ revenge.
Another man will come and will avenge us,
a son who’ll kill his mother, then pay back
his father’s death, a wanderer in exile,
a man this country’s made a stranger.
He’ll come back and, like a coping stone,
bring the ruin of his family to a close.
For gods have made a powerful promise—
his father’s stretched out corpse will bring him home.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
