Information about Greek Chorus
In tragic plays of ancient Greece, the chorus (choros) is believed to have grown out of the Greek dithyrambs and tragikon drama. The chorus offers a variety of background and summary information to help the audience follow the performance, commented on main themes, and showed how an ideal audience might react to the drama as it was presented. They also represent the general populace of any particular story. In many ancient Greek plays, the chorus expressed to the audience what the main characters could not say, such as their fears or secrets. The chorus usually communicated in song form, but sometimes spoke their lines in unison. Khoregia: The Chorus, the City and the Stage''. Cambridge University Press, 2000.
The chorus' dithyrambic rapture and rhapsody, with the mystic dance weaving its captivating dreamy mazes around the Thymele, were a survival of religious symbolisms. Its sacred origin preserved for it its place until the end--was, in very truth, the real secret of its continued existence and popularity. The dialect of the Chorus which persisted was Doric.
The Chorus rejoiced in the triumph of good; it wailed aloud its grief, and sympathised with the woe of the puppets of the gods. It entered deeply into the interest of their fortunes and misfortunes, yet it stood apart, outside of triumph and failure. Only very seldom does it, as in the "Eumenides," come forward with individual remarkable effect. No gladness dragged it into the actual action on the stage, and no catastrophe overwhelmed it, except in storm of sympathetic pain. It was the ideal spectator, the soul being purged, as Aristotle expressed it, by Pity and Fear, flinging its song and its cry among the passions and the pain of others. It was the "Vox Humana" amid the storm and thunder of the gods.
In the Elizabethan Drama the feelings of the crowd are represented by nameless individuals, such as "First Gentleman," or "First Lord," and so forth, expressing emotions and opinions similar to those of which the Chorus of the Greeks was the mouthpiece.
The Chorus showed its origin, partly, also, by dressing like the chief actor. When that was a woman, the Chorus were dressed as women, except in the Antigone, where splendid isolation sets the trials of the protagonist against the background of stupendous grief.
The Tragic Chorus represented with wonderful truth the Greek inquisitive crowd, and was essentially Athenian in conduct and in spirit.
The Greek chorus had to work in unison to help explain the play as there were only 1 - 3 actors on stage who were already playing several parts each. As the Greek amphitheatres were so large, the chorus' actions had to be exaggerated and their voices clear so that everyone could see and hear them. To do this they used techniques such as synchronization, echo, ripple, physical theatre and the use of masks to aid them.
Kathryn miller Theatre in Ancient Greek Society. London: Routledge, 1994.
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The chorus' dithyrambic rapture and rhapsody, with the mystic dance weaving its captivating dreamy mazes around the Thymele, were a survival of religious symbolisms. Its sacred origin preserved for it its place until the end--was, in very truth, the real secret of its continued existence and popularity. The dialect of the Chorus which persisted was Doric.
The Chorus rejoiced in the triumph of good; it wailed aloud its grief, and sympathised with the woe of the puppets of the gods. It entered deeply into the interest of their fortunes and misfortunes, yet it stood apart, outside of triumph and failure. Only very seldom does it, as in the "Eumenides," come forward with individual remarkable effect. No gladness dragged it into the actual action on the stage, and no catastrophe overwhelmed it, except in storm of sympathetic pain. It was the ideal spectator, the soul being purged, as Aristotle expressed it, by Pity and Fear, flinging its song and its cry among the passions and the pain of others. It was the "Vox Humana" amid the storm and thunder of the gods.
In the Elizabethan Drama the feelings of the crowd are represented by nameless individuals, such as "First Gentleman," or "First Lord," and so forth, expressing emotions and opinions similar to those of which the Chorus of the Greeks was the mouthpiece.
The Chorus showed its origin, partly, also, by dressing like the chief actor. When that was a woman, the Chorus were dressed as women, except in the Antigone, where splendid isolation sets the trials of the protagonist against the background of stupendous grief.
The Tragic Chorus represented with wonderful truth the Greek inquisitive crowd, and was essentially Athenian in conduct and in spirit.
The Greek chorus had to work in unison to help explain the play as there were only 1 - 3 actors on stage who were already playing several parts each. As the Greek amphitheatres were so large, the chorus' actions had to be exaggerated and their voices clear so that everyone could see and hear them. To do this they used techniques such as synchronization, echo, ripple, physical theatre and the use of masks to aid them.
ancient greek stage-The theater of Dionysus, Athens | costumes worn by both the chorus and the actors. |
Kathryn miller Theatre in Ancient Greek Society. London: Routledge, 1994.
In a figurative sense a tragedy (from Classical Greek τραγωδία, "song for the goat", see below) is any event with a sad and unfortunate outcome, but the term also applies specifically in Western culture to a form of drama defined by
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play or stageplay, written by a playwright, or dramatist, is a form of literature, almost always consisting of dialogue between characters, intended for performance rather than reading.
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The term ancient Greece refers to the periods of Greek history in Classical Antiquity, lasting ca. 750 BC[1] (the archaic period) to 146 BC (the Roman conquest). It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western Civilization.
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The dithyramb was originally an ancient Greek hymn sung to the god Dionysus. Its wild and ecstatic character was often contrasted with that of the paean: just as Paean was both a hymn to and a title of Apollo, Dithyrambos
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Antigone (Pronunciation: /æn'tɪɡəni/ Greek: Αντιγόνη) is the name of two different women in Greek mythology. The name means "unbending", for "anti-" (against) and "gon" ("bend" as in "polygon").
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- ''For the 2007 documentary film, see Protagonist (film)
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