PLOT & BIG MOMENTS
Two brothers are locked in a violent struggle for power and vengeance
Who are Atreus and Thyestes?
The amount of sons that were in the feast
what is 3?
The brother-king who plans the revenge
Who is Atreus?
A lot of the worst violence happens offstage and is delivered through this type of speech
What is a messenger report/speech?
this was the brother who became king first
what is Thyestes?
Atreus’s revenge centers on a meal designed to destroy Thyestes psychologically
What is the banquet/feast?
The affair connects to a stolen object that represents power/legitimacy in the family.
What is the golden lamb?
The brother who returns hoping for safety/reconciliation and gets trapped
Who is Thyestes?
This group reacts to events and helps tell the audience what’s morally happening
What is the chorus?
This was the amount of time Thyestes was exiled
what is twice?
The play begins with a supernatural force pushing the family toward inherited violence
Who is the Fury and/or the cursed spirit of Tantalus?
Before the feast, Atreus pretends he’s willing to end the feud by offering this to Thyestes
What is reconciliation/peace?
The supernatural figure who opens the play by driving the family toward inherited violence
Who is the Fury?
this part of the play is chosen by Seneca to be taken off the stage and shown in a different way
What is the murder and butchering/cooking of Thyestes’ sons?
These two relatives brought Thyestes back from exile
What is Agamemnon and Menelaus?
The most horrifying part of the plan is not just murder, it’s forcing Thyestes to unknowingly participate in it
What is Thyestes eating his own sons?
Thyestes isn’t just invited to dinner, Atreus tempts him with restoration of this.
What is kingship/throne (sharing power)?
The cursed ancestor dragged into the story at the beginning (the family’s “origin” of punishment and hunger)
Who is Tantalus?
The banquet is especially brutal because the audience knows the truth while Thyestes does not
What is dramatic irony?
This is what Thyestes thinks he’s celebrating when he happily eats at the banquet
What is being restored as king?
he two brothers’ conflict isn’t just political, it’s also this kind of betrayal inside Atreus’s household.
What is Thyestes sleeping with Atreus’s wife?
The play frames the family’s violence as something that spreads through generations like a curse starting from this line/house
What is the House of Atreus?
Atreus’s wife whose betrayal is tied to Thyestes and the feud
Who is Aerope?
The play doesn’t stage the murders, but it DOES stage this moment where Atreus makes the truth undeniable
What is Atreus revealing the remains/heads of Thyestes’ sons after the meal?
Atreus twists the idea of “family reunion” by telling Thyestes that he has been “joined” to his sons in this specific way
What is that Thyestes has his sons inside him?