She Walks In Knowing

The Agamemnon does something almost no other Greek tragedy attempts. Brought to Argos as a prize, Cassandra stands at the door and narrates, accurately, what is waiting on the other side of it: the house's old murders, the net, the bath, the blade, her own death and the king's. The chorus follows the words and cannot assemble them into belief. Then she does the thing that makes the scene unbearable — she stops, says she will endure it, and walks in. She is not surprised, not deceived and not resisting. She is the only one outside that door who knows exactly what is behind it.