Chorus (Literary Terms Related to Drama)

Chorus

The word "Chorus" originates from the Greek word for 'dance' and initially referred to performers at religious festivals, particularly those celebrating fertility rites. Greek tragedy evolved from these choral rites, making the Chorus integral to Greek drama. In Aeschylus' works, the Chorus participated in the action; in Sophocles', it served as a commentator; and in Euripides', it added a lyrical element. The Romans adopted the Chorus from the Greeks, and Elizabethan dramatists inherited it from the Romans. However, full-scale Choruses were rarely used in English or European drama.

Typically, the Chorus was reduced to a single person, as seen in Shakespeare's Henry V, Pericles, and The Winter’s Tale. Milton used a full Chorus in Samson Agonistes, and T.S. Eliot revived this in Murder in the Cathedral and The Family Reunion. Occasionally, a single Chorus member acts as a commentator, like Thersites in Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida, the Fool in King Lear, and Enobarbus in Antony and Cleopatra.

In ancient Greece, the chorus, a masked group, sang or chanted verses while performing dance-like movements. They played a significant role in Greek tragedies, often commenting on the action and expressing societal values. Nietzsche speculated that the chorus originally consisted of satyrs who were attendants and witnesses to Dionysus's suffering, with actors later introduced to enact events. The chorus's role then shifted to that of a commentator.

Roman playwrights like Seneca adopted the chorus from the Greeks. In the mid-sixteenth century, English dramatists imitated the Senecan chorus, but it was never widely adopted. Milton, Shelley, and Thomas Hardy included choruses in their works.

Modern scholars use "choral character" to describe a person within the play who stands apart from the action and provides the audience with a special perspective. Examples include the Fool in King Lear, Enobarbus in Antony and Cleopatra, Thersites in Troilus and Cressida, and Seth Beckwith in O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra.