Medea | Style

Medea Style

Chorus

Taking his cue from Sophocles, who demoted the chorus from primary character status to that of a speaking spectator, Euripides reduced this dramatic device even further. In Medea the chorus appears less often than it would have in Sophocles or Aeschylus's plays; its time on stage is limited to mere moments between scenes. At the same time, the acting characters now have chanting parts (a move that eventually led to the development of opera) further eroding the unique contribution of the chorus. Euripides also reduced the interaction between chorus and characters. Euripides's reduced use of the chorus ultimately led it is eventual disappearance from ancient Greek theater.

In its modified role, Euripides's chorus of Corinthian women is a kind of precursor to the modern theater's narrator (such as the one employed in Thornton Wilder's Our Town). The chours in Medea goads the consciences of the audience while it sympathizes...
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