Agamemnon is the first of three plays included in Aeschylus's trilogy: The Oresteia. It begins in Argos after the Greeks have defeated the Trojans across the sea. In this text, King Agamemnon returns from the Trojan War triumphantly, but is then murdered by his wife Clytemnestra in revenge for sacrificing their daughter, Iphigenia, to Artemis before he sailed out for battle. The murder of Agamemnon, alongside his captive Cassandra who he abducted from Troy, is the central focus of the first of the trilogy.
While hosting some promising monologues and intriguing use of the chorus, the text is fairly complex, making it difficult for young people to tackle if they only have a short timeframe available to do so. Having said that, some stretches of text house quite interesting emotions, specifically the chorus. For example, in one stretch they state: ‘when the winds of good fortune blow easily, our ships sail blindly on to hidden rocks. But if we're cautious and share out wealth and cast some of its burden into the sea, the ship may be saved from disaster.’ These asides may be good opportunities to create moving tableaus with GCSE students, or perhaps be nice starting points for devised pieces.
In the introduction the translators establish that they began with a literal translation of the text, and then ‘reviewed the text to get the spirit of the drama while maintaining the integrity of the original’. I do appreciate the work they have done here, and it does appear to be true to the original text. When assessing it for use in the modern classroom, I think that a number of edits may have to be done to make it applicable for students, especially in younger groups. In addition, the translators are from America, meaning some of the spellings default to Americanisms.
Despite all of these elements, I do believe this text has its place on your drama classroom shelf. The chorus asides are promising, and it is a good case study for a Greek tragedy (if not too gruesome). The plot displays the classic tropes of tradgedy and off-stage gore. Use this with squeamish younger students at your own peril!