Between Cassandra and the Chorus it is a duet of
anguish and fear; in the broken lyric phrases a phantom music wails;
till at last, at what seems the breaking-point, the tension is relaxed,
and dropping into the calmer iambic recitative, Cassandra tells her
message in plainer speech and clearly proclaims the murder of the King.
Then, with a last appeal to the avenger that is to come, she enters the
palace alone to meet her death.--The stage is empty. Suddenly a cry is
heard from within; again, and then again; while the chorus hesitate the
deed is done; the doors are thrown open, and Clytemnestra is seen
standing over the corpses of her victims. All disguise is now thrown
off; the murderess avows and triumphs in her deed; she justifies it as
vengeance for the sacrifice of Iphigenia, and sees in herself not a free
human agent but the incarnate curse of the House of Tantalus. And now
for the first time appears the adulterer Aegisthus, who has planned the
whole behind the scenes. He too is an avenger, for he is the son of that
Thyestes who was made to feed on his own children's flesh.
Pages:
713
714
715
716
717
718
719
720
721
722
723
724
725
726
727
728
729
730
731
732
733
734
735
736
737