Cassandra's importance in Oresteia

A detailed Summary of Cassandra's importance in Oresteia

Aeschlyus's trilogy, The Oresteia, is a tragic manifesto that painfully paints a bloody chain of murder and revenge within the royal family of Argos. In the first respective play of the trilogy, "Agamemnon," the character of Cassandra plays a vital role to the play and the trilogy as a whole, in numerous distinct ways. Cassandra, as seer and prophetess, connects the present with the past, and more importantly, draws a foreshadowing veil of doom for the future. In her short yet powerful scene after meeting Clytaemnestra, the mischievous wife of Agamemnon, Cassandra gives a voice, a past, and a portrait to each of the three plays in the trilogy. Moreover, she is able to accomplish this remarkable feat in a divinely poignant manner. Cassandra possesses a woeful vulnerability as victim to both Apollo, her architect of prophecy, and Clytaemnestra, her murderer.

"Agamemnon," the first play of The Oresteia follows the ill fate of the victorious King of Argos, Agamemnon. Upon arriving home from war, royal mistress, Cassandra, at his side, Agamemnon is brutally murdered by his own wife, Clytaemnestra and accomplice, Aegisthus. Clytaemnestra distraught and enraged over Agamemnon's affair with Helen of Troy, coupled with his

Slaughterhouse of heroes, soil streaming blood (1087-1091)

I loved, and they hated me, they were so blind

he sprawled at home in the royal lair

But not without some honour from the gods.

His father's champion. A wanderer, a fugitive

Here, the audience once again is clutched into the engrossing and poignantly vulnerable words of this poor seer. She is victim to god and mortal alike, awaiting her demise with frenzied horror. After seeing her future death, Cassandra strips away Apollo's seer garments and regalia, stomping them on the ground, in an act of defiance. Then in a sweeping dramatic gesture, she connects her own torturous past to her now imminent death at the hands of Clytaemnestra and Apollo.

Cassandra single-handedly sweeps through an entire scene with vulnerable grandeur and connects every element of time and reason perfectly. The past, present, and future come together not only in the immediate play, "Agamemnon," but in the entire trilogy. Agamemnon's long lost son, Orestes, will soon arrive home to Argos in the next play, "The Libation Bearers" to avenge his father's sinister murder. He, alongside his sister, Electra, will slash down their father's killers in heroic fashion. In the culminating play, "The Euminedes," Orestes is then put on trial by Clytaemnestra's metaphorical accomplice, Fury. But, it is Cassandra who gives us the conclusion of the trilogy two entire plays before the verdict. "The gods have sworn a monumental oath: as his father lies / upon the ground he draws him home with power like a prayer" (1306-1307). Orestes is found innocent because of this very oath made by Apollo and the mighty god Zeus, himself.

The first time we, as an audience, view Cassandra is during the arrival of Agamemnon to Argos. While Clytaemnestra works her word magic, luring Agamemnon into their dark home, Cassandra is seated in a chariot listening intently. After the successful victory with her husband, Clytaemnestra turns to deal with Cassandra. Though language has been her great weapon thus far, it breaks on the absolute silence of the prophetess. The queen first offers a sinister invitation to the festivities, which falls on a silent refusal. Cassandra's apparent lack of respect shown towards Clytaemnestra spawns rage within the queen's veins.

Even after Clytaemnestra's invitation and threat, Cassandra still refuses to speak until the enemy, bested for the only time in the play thus far, leaves to go inside the home. This keen sense of impending doom is the first indication of Cassandra's prophetic ability. She saw throug

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Approximate Word count = 1742
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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