The Orestia: ASSIGNMENT

In the previous pages on history, geography, ritual, and social change, you were introduced to some ways of approaching the three plays.  For this assignment, you will create web pages in a similar approach--just update it!  Instead of using the play itself and ancient Greece, find modern parallels, images and language from today and "set the stage" of this play in modern times, with a modern topic and with modern rituals.

For instance, should the Libation Bearers start in a cemetary, in a funeral home, in a hospital--or in a Mardi Gras funeral march??  Find images to represent the places, themes, and images for your pages.  Who are your characters?  People you know or create?  Famous people?  What "quotations" will you use?  (Note:  choose quotations from the play before translating them into modern language and use the same line and page numbers for your translation!)

Objectives:  in this assignment, you will combine close reading of the plays, selection of themes and supporting evidence with your modern interpretation.  In particular, this assignment should have you thinking about ritual, what it is and how we ritualize our lives today. 

You should also think about which rituals in our culture are infused with the depth of meaning that rituals had for Greeks (as their religion) and which rituals we follow with, perhaps, a trivialized manner.  The same issues are meaningful for us today--family loyalty, dedication to honorable behavior, disdain for those who are dishonest or deceitful or even just arrogant in taking justice and fate into their own hands.   Yet, do we have rituals and ways of expressing thoughts and feelings on these matters that rise to the level of impact and expression that we see in Aeschylus.

Criteria:
Fulfills the assignment__________
On time and with all supporting materials__________
Graphic Presentation__________
Neatness and Style____________
Quality and Depth (see critical analysis competeny: good knowledge base, analysis of information, evaluation)___________
Writing Ability is clear, concise, and in depth (see the writing competency: attention to main ideas, inferences, and details)___________