Before and After

To help actors understand this play more, I'll be giving some background about Agamemnon, both the play and the person, as well as some information about what happens after the play.

Before the play begins, Agamemnon is just coming back from being the leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. This is all explained, but what isn't is a few details of the war. One such is that Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter, Iphigeneia, "to atom for an offence against Artemis, who in anger was keeping the Greek fleet wind-bound at Aulis" (ORO). Something interesting about this play, is that Aegisthus, Clytemnestra's lover, is the son of Thyestes, who was fed his own sons by Atreus, who is the father of Agamemnon and who raised Aegisthus as his own son, even though Thyestes was his actual father.

Agamemnon has at least two other children though, Electra and Orestes. After the play, as the chorus predicts in the play, Orestes comes back with the help of Electra and kills Aegisthus.