The Greek Chorus’ Small Place in HistoryJoin now to read essay The Greek Chorus’ Small Place in HistoryTHE GREEK CHORUS’ SMALL PLACE IN HISTORYThe history of the Greek Chorus can be traced back to a relatively small time period; from the original Dithyrambs, to Thespis’ small, but revolutionizing changes to the system, to Aeschylus’ triple entente of tragedies The Oresteia, which included the infamous Agamemnon. To truly understand the Greek Chorus, and what role it was meant to play when it was created and thereafter altered, one has to go back to the beginning of time…which in this case happens to be somewhere around the seventh century, B.C. During this time, the festival of Dionysus was held annually in Athens to celebrate and honor the god for which it was named. Dionysus, being the Greek (and Roman) god of wine and of an orgiastic religion celebrating the power and fertility of nature, was a god mainly devoted to pleasure. (As it turns out, Dionysus generally had an accompaniment of nymphs and satyrs; this fits in quite well with his sexually promiscuous personage.) (“Dionysus” 391) These festivals consisted of somewhere in the area of fifty men (occasionally dressed up as non-human entities such as birds, clouds, frogs, etc…) who sang ceremonial songs and danced throughout the festivities. The effort of dancing and singing for such long periods of time has often been compared to competing in the Olympic Games. (Greek Tragedy and Chorus)
After over one hundred years of this, a man named Thespis got the chance to direct the festive dances. In 534 B.C. Thespis separated one man from the group, and coordinated the dance to be a call-and-response-type arrangement. The dancers sang and danced mostly as usual, while the separated man called out to, commented on, and talked with the rest of the group, usually in verse. After several years, this slowly evolved into the Greek chorus, mostly as it is known today. The dancers eventually became actors in a play, and the chorus became larger until their number reached at least a dozen or more, depending on what type of play was being acted out. Comedies generally consisted of up to two dozen men, while tragedies usually contained twelve to fifteen members of the chorus. The ‘men’, who were usually just about to enter military service after some years of training, as Athenians were taught at quite an early age to sing and dance, often portrayed women as well, because women were forbidden to become actors, much like in the age of Elizabethan theatre. (Greek Tragedy and Chorus)
The chorus, however, also served other purposes. They made the transitions between the ‘skenes’ so that the actors could have time to enter and leave the stage area, and they also announced who the actors were playing. And instead of being completely detached from the action of the play, the chorus often became an entire character who interacted with the actors, and who generally represented the common people’s thoughts and ideas. It is even said, that actors could and did step out of the ‘skene’ and joined the chorus, though the chorus was forbidden to enter the ‘skene’ with the actors. (Greek Tragedy and Chorus) Beginning at this time also, the Greek chorus also began to dress like the main character or hero did, whether they happened to be portraying a man or woman. (Watt 15) The chorus actually evolved to become part of the entertainment, not just a small sideshow.
The chorus is also supposed to help with social issues, as the cast is supposed to have a lot of people going out and partying. They also act like a bunch of the cast’s friends, thus allowing the actors to go out socially and help those who need it, while at the same time keeping some of them up through social media to make sure they’re doing their job right. These social connections helped the singers stay in a safe place at home, and so they were able to make it home faster.
Other Examples: ․ The ‘skenes were often played in the audience instead of the stage.
․ This is a bit of a departure from the normal way a stage plays.
․ This is part of the reason why it’s so hard for us to tell them off. We get very confused in our reviews about how this show looks, and we always see them with black-and-white, and it just makes me happy, I guess. It’s almost comical to be having so many different things look like. However, a lot of times there’s been different scenes where they play a little different music like a song.
․ There were many more songs in “The Passion” in the original trailer when there were only 50 people and we didn’t know how to cut out 50 people. I guess that probably was just my ignorance, not knowing much in any detail about these songs. And a little about the lyrics, but my heart never hurt quite as much as with this show. (And then finally an interview with Matthew Heimbach) And also, people always ask me about the music, and I feel like I can’t really answer them right now. So, there’s something to be said for that whole “let’s do this together”, and for the fact that I’m playing with what the public is saying here.
․ It’s also always been my intent to try and get this show to move away from that “too many songs don’t do what we wanted” attitude that “we thought of so much but it wasn’t really a good idea”.
․ For the most part, the characters weren’t all that horrible, and the character was supposed to have an emotional rollercoaster. Which was important. The fact that they weren’t all that bad in those scenes did make you happy that they were all better and that it was kind of funny. Maybe they were even better. Or possibly not at all. Sometimes it’s nice to have a little bit of “we’ve got a guy who’s just so good and we figured this would be something to do”. There were a few big issues when I got involved with these songs, and I feel like it’s one for the very beginning at least, that there was a problem. I mean, those were the songs out of the question for us, and it always made me happy to play them a little differently in those moments where we were actually trying to do well. And then it was like “oh man, where do we go? I guess we have more to talk about then there used to be”.
․ People tend to see things from different angles for so long. .
․ I think it’s important to understand that it
Of the hundreds of plays that were written in the fifth century B.C., we’ve only recovered a total of 33 tragedies, 11 comedies, and 1 satyr. Among the most famous, is a tragic trilogy called The Oresteia, which includes Aeschylus’ infamous tragedy, Agamemnon. The chorus is heavily used in this unique play, as they have over half of the lines in the play. They interact with nearly every character, and comment to the audience on almost every event that happens during the performance. Throughout the theatrical presentation, the chorus also adds something else; they garner sympathy for the heroes of the piece, add ironic hopes for the main characters, and act as a sort of link between the audience and the actors so that they may draw the spectators in, despite the fact that many members of the audience are fully aware of the outcome of the story. (Biblical & Classical Literature)
Throughout Agamemnon the chorus recounts the dangerous journey of the Achaeans over the sea to Troy, and they often speak with undisguised malice at the way that Paris came across the sea, stole Helen, and caused the great war that led to the deaths of many common soldiers. They do not, however, limit their anger to Paris; the common people are also resentful that Agamemnon, their king, would actually go to war for his younger brother Menelaus over one woman. “But I: when you marshaled this armament for Helen’s sake, I will not hide it, in ugly style you were written in my heart for steering