Libation Bearers Lesson Plan

Discuss Aegisthus's comment about stories of women, which, he suggests, can be "frightened tales" that "spring up in the air but die away with no effect" (Lines 846, 847).

This is a funny comment coming from Aegisthus, as he has been compared to a woman by the rest of the characters for most of the play. The characters' disdain, or at least impatience, for anything feminine or female is rather explicit throughout the play, and Aegisthus's disdain is ironic given how he is viewed. There is something in this moment that suggests a self-awareness on the part of Aeschylus, almost as if he were attempting to draw the audience's attention to the absurdity of a statement...