Synopsis
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Scene 1: The Greek army, led by Agamemnon, king of Argos, has been away fighting at Troy for ten long years. A lone Watchman on the roof of the Argive palace, posted to watch for a prearranged signal of victory, scans the night sky and laments the absence of his master ("Gods, deliver me"). At last, the fire-signal glows through the night and the Watchman gives the joyous news to the household.
Scene 2: The Chorus of citizens of Argos enters and reflects upon the difficulties of the Trojan War for those left behind at home ("Ten years ago"). The citizens also recall that Agamemnon was forced to sacrifice his daughter Iphigeneia to the goddess Artemis in order to secure favorable winds for his fleet on the way to Troy.
Scene 3: Klytemnestra, Queen of Argos and wife of Agamemnon, announces to the Chorus that the fire-signal has brought news of the fall of Troy to the Greeks. She celebrates the victory with an exultant song ("Troy is fallen, Troy is taken"), which is answered by a second choral song. The Chorus begins by praising Zeus for the Greek victory ("O lord Zeus and kindly night"), but concludes in a more pensive and less celebratory mood as its members question both the validity of the recent news and the reason for fighting the war in the first place.
Scene 4: An Argive Herald from the Greek army, overjoyed to see his homeland once more, arrives with the message that the Greeks have won the Trojan War and Agamemnon is coming home ("Hail, land of Argos"). The Chorus, having unsuccessfully tried to warn the Herald of the danger that may await in the city, reflects on Helen, the unfaithful wife of Menelaus whose departure for Troy with Paris prompted the outbreak of the Trojan War, and on the themes of justice and vindication ("Helen").
Scene 5: Agamemnon enters in a triumphal procession, accompanied by the captive Trojan priestess Kassandra, and is acclaimed by the Chorus ("Hail, Agamemnon!"). He boasts of his righteous triumph over Troy ("Smoke marks out the conquered city"), and promises to remedy whatever has gone wrong in the city. Klytemnestra welcomes her husband with a gushing, melodramatic description of her misery during his absence ("A woman abandoned"), and then convinces Agamemnon to make a ceremonial entrance into the palace on a pathway of crimson tapestries. She reflects on the wealth of their house ("The sea is there") before praying to Zeus for assistance in her efforts for revenge. The Chorus expresses its growing sense of dread ("Why does this hovering fear?").
Scene 6: Klytemnestra unsuccessfully tries to coax Kassandra, who remains silent, into the palace. Left alone with the Chorus, Kassandra becomes possessed by her patron god, Apollo, and prophesies her own death and that of Agamemnon. The Chorus cannot interpret her warnings. Kassandra laments the fate of her native Troy ("Woe for the marriage of Paris") before entering the palace. The death-cry of Agamemnon is heard offstage, and the Chorus entertains various thoughts of action before becoming paralyzed with fear.
Scene 7: In the midst of this confusion, Klytemnestra appears with the corpses of Agamemnon and Kassandra ("Lies!"). She justifies her actions with the death of her daughter Iphigeneia and her husband's infidelity, but the Chorus rebukes her and laments Agamemnon ("O my king" ).
Scene 8: Aegisthus, Klytemnestra's lover, enters, attended by a bodyguard. He exults over the death of Agamemnon, whose father Atreus had made a banquet of Aegisthus' brothers and sisters in revenge for a family quarrel ("Atreus, more cruel than kind"). The Chorus is contemptuous of Aegisthus, who did not have the courage to kill Agamemnon himself, and Aegisthus meets their verbal attacks with threats of harsh punishment. The Chorus wishes for the return of Orestes, Agamemnon's son, from exile, so that he may avenge his father's murder and claim his rightful throne, which has been usurped by Aegisthus. As tensions mount, and a brawl nearly erupts between the Chorus and Aegisthus' bodyguard, Klytemnestra intervenes and brings Aegisthus into the palace with her. They are now the rulers of Argos.