Euripides Metamorphosis

Euripides, youngest of the three great Greek tragedians, was born c.485 BC though he was scarcely a generation younger than Sophocles, his world view better reflects the political, social, and intellectual crises of late 5th-century Athens. Euripides' enormous range spans contradictory tendencies: He was both a rationalist and a romanticist; he both criticized the traditional gods and celebrated religious phenomena He incorporated the new intellectual and scientific movements into his works but also conveyed the irresistible power of the irrational. Original and experimental, he parodied the conventions of tragedy and also used new theories about the illusionist and deceptive powers of language. He created tragicomic plots. His Alcestis …show more content…
The appearance of chorus is mandatory in Greek plays. In the plays of Sophocles the chorus continually present on the stage. In Euripides the picture is quite different. His plays are relatively complex. He experienced difficulties in retaining chorus. In Alcestis The entry of the chorus, or the "parodos" sequence, follows: a chorus of fifteen men of Pherae, led by a "coryphaeus" (chorus-leader), enter the orchestra of the theatre. The chorus-leader complains that they are in a state of suspense, ignorant of whether they ought to be performing mourning rituals for their queen. The chorus' lyrical ode, to which they dance as they sing, consists of two paired stanzas of strophe and antistrophe. They sing of the silence that greets their search for signs of mourning, the evidence of Alcestis' death. "When goodness dies," they lament, "all good men suffer, too." The chorus-leader concludes by dismissing the chorus' search for hope in the situation: "The King has exhausted every ritual." The Chorus is significant here and active. They informed the audience about what is happening inside the palace. Unlike Seneca’s chorus, the chorus is very active and plays a very important …show more content…
In this play the chorus is mostly passive. For in a Sophoclean play the chorus announces new comers. In Hippolytus the chorus is not as active as Sophoclean tragedy. They inform the audience of the death of his wife. But under no circumstances could they speak of the criminal passion of Phaedra for Hippolytus. That would have been the height of impropriety. That is why Phaedra has to lay bare her heart to the Nurse. It is Artemis who informed Theseus of what actually happened. What mortals fail to do, Dues ex machine can. The choruses in Hippolytus therefore do not serve any important purpose as they do in the tragedies of Aeschylus and