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Medea And The Chorus - Paper

Medea And The Chorus

As you have learned, Greek drama evolved from the ritualistic
performances of a chorus at the Dionysian festivals. After the actor Thespis
stepped out of the chorus and began a dialogue with it, other characters soon
followed, and the chorus's role gradually diminished in size (from fifty members
to fifteen) and importance. Playwrights kept the chorus as a significant
element in their dramas, but its functions were necessarily more limited.
Robinson Jeffers, who translated Medea, has also retained the chorus, but has
modified its mature slightly. Instead of having it speak in unison, he has
assigned speeches to individual members. Nevertheless, the chorus still plays
a prominent part and ...

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happened in many
places of the story. The characters that the chorus took on were the first
woman, second and third woman. All of them introduced new characters in
order to move the play along smoothly. Such as in 1.29 when second woman
and third woman introduce Creon when he arrives on the scene to talk to
Medea. "Medea beware! Some great person is coming. It is Creon himself!"
And," Creon is coming." These two examples clearly show how the chorus
introduce the entrances of characters in the play. Or when on 1.256, when the
women introduce the entrance of Jason, Medea's husband. "Look: who is
coming? I see the sunlight glitter on lanceheads", says the first woman. Then
the second woman states "Oh, it is Jason!" these statements also show that
chorus members introduce the entrances of characters.
Also, the chorus recounted or interpreted past events in order to clarify
the plot. Such as when first woman on 1.53 says "I hear her crying again: it is
dreadful" meaning ...

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 9/9/2004 03:54:21 PM
Category: American History
Type: Free Paper
Words: 561
Pages: 3

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