"Dear gods, set me free from all the pain, the long watch I keep, one whole year awake ... propped on my arms, crouched on the roofs of Atreus like a dog." The play opens with a watchman lamenting fate, who then says of his queen, "That woman--she manoeuvres like a man". You know you're in for something quite dreadful. The first play in the trilogy known as The Oresteia hits hard with violence, murder, & Cassandra uttering chilling prophecies.