Please read Aeschylus' Agamemnon (pp. 37-76 of Levi Lind's Ten Greek Plays in Contemporary Translation).Directors sometimes encourage their actors to choose one special line and to center their whole performance on building to and building off that line. Assume you are asked to play one of the characters in Agamemnon or to be a member of the chorus. What line would you choose for your "special" line? How would you build up to or build off that line? Why would you choose that particular line?
By the way, the first part of next class will be devoted to a discussion of the major themes in Prometheus Bound. If you have not read that play already, please do. Since that assignment immediately followed the MT exam, I will accept late blog entries for that assignment so long as they are done before Tuesday's class.
Laura McCowan
ReplyDeleteIf I had to build up a line it would have to be for Aegisthus on pg 76 " Do not think you will pay me a price for your stupidity" I really don't know why that line. I just think it kinda fits with me veiw of thinking.
I can't really think of much of a way to biuld up to it, but the end right after really leaves me with a interesting feeling. So I see the end as a best way to build off of the line.
If I were to play Aegisthus, the line that I would choose to build my performance on is on page 74, "So now would even death be beautiful to me having seen Agamemnon in the nets of Justice." I think this line is perfect because it really shows the emotion that Aegisthus feels throughout the play. Because of the acts done to his father, Aegisthus seeks revenge on Agamemnon and when he finally achieves it describes his emotions with lines like this. I could build my performance off this line perfectly because it shows what is fueling Aegisthus actions throughout the play
ReplyDeleteAnnie Merkel
ReplyDeleteI would choose the character of Cassandra. The line that I think best fits her character is on page 67: "They call me crazy, like a fortune-teller." I found her character very confusing, until she became herself. Then she explained that she is something of an oracle and tells people of the future. I guess I imagine fortune tellers to be sort of crazy people, which is why I think Cassandra really acts like a crazy, fortune-teller.
"I, I who stand and thus exult to see
ReplyDeleteThis man lie wound in robes the Furies wove,
Slain in the requital of his father's craft."
Aegisthus this is a good summary of his purpose in this play and lets us know what this character is seeking. Not only is he having an affair with Agammemnons wife, but he is here to seek revenge for the deeds of Agammemnons father against his brothers. These lines give us a good sense of who this character is and what he wants, REVENGE.
Zach Anderson
i liked the lines on page 46 which go "for no man has protection against the drunkenness of riches once he has spurned from his sight the high altar of justice" I really like this line because its true that men can become really greedy and look past doing the right thing once they have a lot of power and wealth. Maybe to build it up tell a few stories about greed or why the characters later in the story pay for being to greedy or unjust.
ReplyDeletePeter Ryman
ReplyDelete"And I, my brain on fire, shall soon enter the trap," pg. 64 line 1172. I think this is a great line for describing CASSANDRA and her dialog with the choristers for a good extent of the play. Miserable, despairing, and in agony, Cassandra would build off of this line by emulating those characteristics and producing the tone of them. I picked this line because I thought it summed up the tone and overall essence of her words.
I would be the WATCHMAN, which is a fairly important role simply for the fact that he is the first character anyone meets in the play. The performance of this character must be special because the audience must be captured by it, or the rest of the play is ruined. And in order to portray this character well, I would utilize the very first line. "The gods it is I ask to release me from this watch" has a tone of anxiousness. So I would perform being very anxious, almost to the point of straining, and then I would act extremely excited when the signal comes. Actually, I would almost perform as if I were a little kid waiting to recieve his present. And rightly so, being kept on the roof for an entire year waiting for the signal that Troy has been taken.
ReplyDeleteDoran Stucky
I think a good line to build up to is "By my hand he fell low, lies low and dead / And I shall bury him low down in the earth / And his household need not weep him"
ReplyDeleteIt seems like such a powerful line on the part of Clytemnestra. I was completely confused by Cassandra's lines and then she walked in and bam! Both of them died.
It's where the play got really interesting and crazy, and this line seems appropriate to the rest of the play.
Brian Johnson
ReplyDeleteThe line I would choose is found on page 41 "That men must learn by suffering...Against one's will comes wisdom; The grace of the gods is forced on us, Throned inviolably."
The line comes at the beginning of the play, so it would be difficult to build up to it, but building off of it would be relatively easy, as it seems to be one of the main themes of the play.
i would pick the line "Here lies Agamemnon, My husband, dead, the work of this right hand,"
ReplyDeletespoken by Clytemnestra.
i chose this becouse i think it shows how strong she is, how she has no shame for killing her husband since she sees it as rightful vengence for what he has done.
-allison rademacher
I think my chosen line would be by Aegisthus on page 75, line 1653:
ReplyDelete"Very Well! I too am ready to meet death with sword in hand"
Not really sure how to build this up throughout the play, maybe by playing the role in an overly courageous manner. The reason I chose it was because it feels like the culmination in conversation and emotions within Aegisthus' character. It also seems like the last big line between Aegisthus and Leader.
-Nik Aberle
Sam Merkel
ReplyDeleteI would have to go with the line on pg. 41 when it says: "That men must learn by suffering." I would play the role as a brave and strong fighter I like this line because it sort of goes along with todays lingo of "you don't know what you have until it is gone." Both of these are very true.
I would go with the one of the lines that the chorus talks about how much suffering can one woman go through. I think that it is a good line and that because of the suffering agamemnon has put his wife through it wouldn't have meant the end of agamemnon. Jon Evenson
ReplyDeleteIf I would play on of the characters in Agamemnon. I want to choose the the character of Cassandra. The Apollo the prophet set Cassandra to prophesy, but he cursed when she deny his love. So no one ever believed me.
ReplyDeleteThe lines on page 65 which “Or do my arrows hit the mark? Or am I a quack prophet who knocks at doors, a babbler? Give me your oath, confess I have the facts, The ancient history of this house’s crimes.” she talked to Leader. But he never believe Cassandra as everyone do.
After all, everyone in the Argos never believe her words, and finally when Agamemnon was killed by his wife and her lover, we was killed, too.
I think Cassandra was the best misery person in this play, because she lost her father and was killed even though she wanted to stop that. It is painful that people cannot stop their destiny, especially when they already know the theirs future.