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Write a note on the role of Chorus in the play Phaedra"

In Greek drama, Chorus was a group of people who sang and danced, commenting on the action of the play. The Chorus had its origin in an ancient Greek religious event and was later used in Greek tragedies and Roman plays. Plays by the ancient Greek dramatists Sophocles and Aeschylus typically contain Chorus with an active role. The chorus, as coneeived by the Roman dramatist Seneca in his plays, speaks highly of his poetic and dramatic skill. Seneca's plays, "Phaedra" employs the Chorus not so much for action as for comment, information or lyrical effect. In Phaedra the Chorus is allotted almost a fixed place at the end of each Act, except Act V. However, sometimes it appears at the beginning of an Act. We meet it for the first time at the end of Act I. It tells the audience about the powerful effect of love on man, deities and animals. Then it sings of the power of Cupid from whose arrows none can escape. All nature is his prey-love drives animals like the bull and the stag, the tiger and the lion. At Cupid's command old angers die, enmity collapses and even a stepmother's cruelty disappears. Thus the Chorus elaboration on love is a commentary on the great difficulty faced by Phaedra to extricate herself from the entanglement of her unnatural passion. In the second Act, the Chorus is found in diverse roles. This Act opens with a question asked by the Chorus to the Nurse:

"Nurse, have you news? How is it with the queen Does she yet find relief from her great torment?

Then the Nurse informed the Chorus that there could be no relief from a suffering such as hers. Nothing pleased for long her drifting mind and her strength seemed to have been ended. Soon the Chorus could see Phaedra talking to herself. She was expressing her grief and dissatisfaction. Consequently the Chorus advised her not to grieve because grief would not help the afflicted. It also suggested Phaedra to appeal to Hecate for help. At the end of the second Act, the Chorus appears on the stage to report that the youth has gone away swifter than a gale and quicker than the flames of fire that stream from a star. It also describes the beauty of Hippolytus and comments:

"O beauty, but a dubious boon Art thou to man, brief gift of little stay Lent for a while, and all too soon Passing away".

The Chorus also praises Hippolytus for his physical strength and amplitude of the body. At last, it hints that the future of Hippolytus will not be bright because Rare is the man look in the roll of time-

To whom great beauty has not been great cost."

Act II ends with the prayer offered to gods by the Chorus. It wishes that gods may restrain from hurting Hippolytus .The Chonus now appears at the beginning of the third act. It reveals to the audience how a heinous crime has been planned and covered by every art. In the form of a question it lays bare that there is no end to the audacity of an impetuous woman crazed with passion. It also makes the audience that Phaedra's accusations against Hippolytus is nothing but lies. Then at the end of Act III, the Chorus delivers a long speech. As the speech is in rhymed verse, it is meant to be delivered by the Chorus along with song and dance. This speech is replete with wisdom and shows Seneca's keen insight into the evil days into which Rome had fallen during Nero's reign. It is a wonderful study of the region of Nature where, discipline and order generally prevail and the region of man where virtue languishes and vice thrives. It also presents an excellent picture of reality that makes a man a mere toy at the hand of fate. n Act IV, the Chorus facilitates the unfolding of a story through the question,"Why does a messenger come hurrying hithe With tears of sorrow watering his cheeks?" This question gives the messenger a scope to describe in detail hippolytus's tragic death by accident (Actually, Neptune takes step to kill him to fulfil Theseus' prayer). At the end of the same Act, the chorus sings in the form of a triad. In the strophe it observes how an accident can bring terrible changes in the lives of men. In the antistrophe, the Chorus says that the highest mountain-tops face the onslaught of wind coming from every direction but the green valleys that lie below seldom feel the stroke of thunder. Again Jupiter strikes caucasian and Phrygian forests with lightning and thunder whereas no great harm can come to common folk who dwell in modest homes. In the epode, the Chorus with the help of a few examples speaks about the whimsical nature of fate from which even the monarchs are not immune. In the fifth Act, the Chorus initiates the action. It announces the coming of Phaedra in an upset mental condition and asks the reason: A voice crying from the high palace! What! Phaedra comes, sword in hand, distraught Ah, wey?"

The result of this enquiry follows in the enactment of the most dramatic part of the play The result of this enquiry follows in the enactment of the most dramatic part of the play where Phaedra shows her abhorrence to Theseus, weeps bitterly for the death of her step-son declares his innocence, offers her veil and lock to the dead youth as tokens of love and then commits suicide. When Theseus beigins to lament the death of his son (Hippolytus), the Chorus advises him to do his due rites to preserve the honour of his son. It also says, Let us put away this vilely ravaged and dismembred body. The Chorus again intervenes when Theseus cannot arrange his son's ravaged body properly. It instructs the sorrow-laden king what he will have to do. Finally the Chorus regrets, "Alas, how much of him is lost, and lies Far from our weeping! In fact, in the last Act of "Phaedra" the Chorus performs three functions. Firstly, it reveals a universal truth by telling that no time is enough to express one's sorrow exactly by lamentation alone. Secondly, it reminds one about one's duty and pays proper homage to rites due to a man after his death. Finally, it shows adequate sympathy to the loser (Theseus) through sorrow and lamentation. In a Greek drama, the Chorus serves a two-fold funetion- it recorus the reactions of the audience to the stage and also the reactions of the stage to the audience. In Seneca's "Phaedra" the chorus does not exactly perform the same function. Moreover, in his use of the Chorus, Seneca suffers from verbosity. Still the philosophical nature of some of the saying of the Chorus is undeniable. Above all, it should be said that if the Chorus had not made Theseus aware of his duties other than sheer lamentation for his dead son, the play would not have ended with the highly moving tragic tone.

Write a note on the role of Chorus in the play Phaedra"

Green Land | July 26, 2018 | 0 comments

Write a note on the role of Chorus in the play Phaedra"

"Nurse, have you news? How is it with the queen Does she yet find relief from her great torment?

"O beauty, but a dubious boon Art thou to man, brief gift of little stay Lent for a while, and all too soon Passing away".

To whom great beauty has not been great cost."

Phaedra , Seneca

Seneca use the rhetorical speeches of the characters in "Phaedra"

To a reader of Seneca's Phaedra', the first impression that it leaves on his mind is that it is an appealing tragedy. An audience will also have the same impression if he is fortunate enough to see it enacted on the stage. Though the play contains many characteristies of the classical Greek tragedy, it also contains matters which are exclusively Senecan in nature. A Senecan tragedy (süch as "Phaedra) is difterent from a classical Greek tragedy in some of the points mentioned below:(i ) it employs the Chorus not so much for action as for comment, information or lyrical effect; (2) it employs a highly rhetorical style as well as stoic philosophy; and (3) in it the presentation of action through long speeches is meant not so much for the purpose of actual dialogue as for narration and reporting. Seneca was not a dramatist who found pleasure in setting exciting action upon action. He would rather cheerfully suspend the action for the recital monologues. These monologues might be not very appropriate to the time and situation but relevant to the character of the speaker or his mood at that moment in the drama. In the application of this technique he made use of a dramatic speech that is quite narrow in range-either monologue or stichomythia. In the monologue, the speaker expresses his thoughts with great freedom with or without regard to the presence of any other person on the stage. It is to be noted that these types of speech recur persistently in the tragedies of Seneca. For example, the speech on 'simple life' of "Phaedra" gets repeated in his "Thyestes" and Octavia". Similarly the speeches of the messengers who usually report the final disaster fall into a stereotyped pattern. The interesting thing about such a speech, when isolated as a narrative, is that it can easily be detached from the main action of a play. The same happens in Seneca's "Phaedra" Seneca has used several set speeches in his dramas. Their content is very universal and treatment is very simple. They are marked by elaborate preparation, careful planning, impressive style and effective result. In Act I we have the set speech of Phaedra who is frustrated because of her husband's long absence. Describing herself as "wife to an alien lord" she regrets for her present wretched condition. In a tone of anger and accusation, she calls her husband as one who has neither fear nor shame. She begins to suspect her husband and straightforwardly utters "Lust and lawless marriage in hell Hippolytus' father seeks. "In the same Act, the Nurse has recourse to a set speech through it he advises Phaedra to get rid of Cupid at the first assault otherwise he will have to wear his yoke round her neck all the time. The Nurse realizes that Phaedra is not free from royal pride and does not pay Heed to her advice. So she says that royal pride is stubborn and deaf to truth. What is more woeful is that it abhors correction. In another long speech, the Nurse warns Phaedra that every sin will come to light. She also asserts that though some have sinned with safety, their conscience have been evidently perturbed for that. Then in another set speech, she delineates the growth of lust and the rhetorical speeches of the characters in phaedra.

According to the Nurse, when one is under the grip of lust, ordinary care no longer satisfies. Lust flourishes the most in palatial houses. In the same Act the Chorus in a set speech speaks about the powers of love. Act II is filled with set speeches. The Nurse makes use of two set speeches. In the first one she explains how conscience and royal order are at variance with one another. The second speech is comparatively long. Here she lays emphasis on the best use of youth. She tells Hippolytus that life should be enjoyed as it passes quickly. Youth is the best period of human life. So, instead of draining away the best days of his life, he should give up single life at once and enjoy the pleasures of conjugal life. Through the mouth of Hippolytus two set speeches come out in quick succession. The first speech is made in praise of open air rustic life which is "far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife. The second speech is about the legend of the ages of man. Then Phaedra makes use of a set speech. In it she tries to indicate her unprincipled action. She also points out that if she sticks to her purpose (to win Hippolytus' heart), she may conceal her sin in marriage. It proves that success may justify some evil actions. From this speech we get a hint that Seneca is not against the policy that the end justifies the means. Very soon, the audience can hear another set speech from the mouth of Hippolytus. It is about the way of cleansing sin. Hippolytus hates Phaedra so much that he cannot endure her 'wanton hands' touching his chaste body'. He asks himself "Will Tanais wash me clean, will the wild waves/Of far Meotis, feeding the Pontic sea" He suppresses his conviction He suppresses his conviction that even Neptune (the god of seas) cannot drown this great load of sin. At the end of Act II, the Chorus has recourse to a set speech. Through this speech, the Chorus exhibits a balanced view on beauty. Initially, it speaks the magic spell of beauty which can even draw the moon from the sky. Then it shows the ephemeral nature of beauty. It reminds the audience that the cost of beauty is quite great. Very few men can keep beauty without paying a heavy price for it. It is onlydivine favour that one can keep it till death when all beauty must be lost. The Chorus makes use of another set speech in Act lll. There it makes a wonderful study of the region of nature where care, discipline and order prevail and also of the region of man where virtue languishes and vice thrives. It also presents an excellent picture of reality that makes man a mere plaything at the hand of fact. In the last Act Phaedra uses a set speech intended for self punishment. She feels that she is responsible for Hippolytus death. So she cries .

Let all the blue sea's monsters, All that were ever brought to birth afar In the deep lap of tethys all that Ocean Bears in the farthest tides of his wild waters Come againust me

Thesus expresses a similar grief in another set speech. He speaks in such a way as he thinks that the highest punishment can alone match the type of crime he has committed. So, we find that in "Phaedra we get more of set speeches than dialogues. These speeches show the playwright's neat planning and impressive style. Their content is so universal that they might without much effort be transposable from one play to another.

To what purpose does Seneca use the rhetorical speeches of the characters in "Phaedra"?

Green Land | July 23, 2018 | 0 comments

Seneca use the rhetorical speeches of the characters in "Phaedra"

Let all the blue sea's monsters, All that were ever brought to birth afar In the deep lap of tethys all that Ocean Bears in the farthest tides of his wild waters Come againust me

Phaedra , Seneca

The role of the Nurse in Seneca's play "Phaedra"

The Nurse is an important and interesting character in the tragedy "Phaedra" written by Seneca. She plays a two-fold role in the play. On the one hand, she is an admirable foil to her mistress Phaedra. On the other hand, she is a confidant whose role is to console or abuse Phaedra at the time of her anxiety. In fact, her advices save her mistress from many difficult situations.

Seneca introduces this character in the very first Act of his play. When Phaedra expresses her dissatisfaction at the long absence of her husband and her secret love for her step-son Hippolytus, the Nurse tries to give her good advice. She tells her mistress to put out the fire of passion and give no support to evil hopes. She proves her to be a moralist when she says to Phaedra-

"To choose the good is the first rule of life And not to falter on the way, next bestIs to have shame and know where sin must stop."

Phaedra replies that what the Nurse says is true but Cupid is in control of her heart. He is the unconquerable winged god who rules all earth. Then the Nurse proves that she is a woman with modern sensibility. She comments:

.....vain fancies Conceived by crazy minds, they are all false! Venus' divinity and Cupid's arrows."

The Nurse warns Phaedra of the disastrous consequence of the kind of love that she is nourishing. She discourages Phaedra so that she may drive out her passion for Hippolytus. According to the Nurse, Hippolytus is a hater of the whole fair sex:

"He hates the whole sex, he avoides them all, He has no heart, he dedicates his youth To single life; marriage is not for him Which proves him a True Amazonian.

However, Phaedra opines that she cannot conquer her passion. she adds that only-

By death I shall avert transgression.

She also declares her resolve that she will commit suicide. As the Nurse has a deep affection for Phaedra she requests her not to take any rash step. She also tells Phaedra that she will speak to Hippolytus and "bend the stiffness of his stubborn will.

In Act II we find the Nurse talking to the Chorus. As advised by the Chorus, she prays to Hecate to bend the hard heart of Hippolytus and also to let him feel the flame of love. Suddenly, she finds Hippolytus coming that way. When Hippolytus asks her about Phaedra and her two sons, she delivers a long speech. She tries to persuade him to develop relationship with Phaedra but cannot succeed. Hippolytus declares in a straightforward manner that

There is no woman now whom I must love.

It is at this time that Phaedra rushes towards him but falls on the ground. When Hippolytus lifts her up from the ground the Nurse asks Phaedra to notice that Hippolytus is with her and that arm she is in his. Phaedra uses this opportunity and goes to embrace Hippolytus. She requests him to have pity on her love. At this he becomes terribly angry and leaves the place by saying that she will obtain no boon from him. Then we mark that the Nurse has much ready wit we are started at the agility of her brain. As a well-wisher of Phaedra, she wishes to launch a counter attack against Hippolytus. In a loud voice she begins to seek the help of the Athenians because

"Rape is afoot, a ravisher, Hippolytus Attacking, assaulting us, threatening death Menacing a chaste woman with drawn sword.

She tells everyone that he has just fled leaving his sword behind. She adds that Phaedra's hair still remains in a torn and disordered state as a proof of his crime. After Theseus return from the "dark universe, it is the Nurse who has told the king that Phaedra is firm in her decision to die. When Theseus wants to know the cause for which she wishes to die, the Nurse cleverly replies She will tell no one. This is her last speech in the play. Though the Nurse does everything to save her dear mistress from shame and guilt, she fails in the long run. As after Hippolytus' death she loses all interest in living she decides to disclose the truth to Theseus. Thus the Nurse's plan ultimately brings about two deaths. First of Hippolytus who killed by Neptune (Poseidon) because Theseus requested him to do so and next of Phaedra who kills herself in despair. We may say that though the Nurse is a minor character of the play, her role is not insignificant. She is worldly wise. She has a habit to pronounce high moral principle without an all out effort to stick to them. However, her love for Phaedra, her mistress is genuine."

Discuss the role of the Nurse in Seneca's play "Phaedra".

Green Land | July 21, 2018 | 1comments

The role of the Nurse in Seneca's play "Phaedra"

"To choose the good is the first rule of life And not to falter on the way, next bestIs to have shame and know where sin must stop."

.....vain fancies Conceived by crazy minds, they are all false! Venus' divinity and Cupid's arrows."

"He hates the whole sex, he avoides them all, He has no heart, he dedicates his youth To single life; marriage is not for him Which proves him a True Amazonian.

However, Phaedra opines that she cannot conquer her passion. she adds that only-

By death I shall avert transgression.

There is no woman now whom I must love.

"Rape is afoot, a ravisher, Hippolytus Attacking, assaulting us, threatening death Menacing a chaste woman with drawn sword.

Phaedra , Seneca

Discuss the characteristics of a Senecan tragedy with reference to "Phaedra"

Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman stoic philosopher and an eminent playwright. He wrote mine plays. The manner of his writing was different from that of the Greek dramatists. Almost all his plays deal with the theme of revenge. Moreover, he tried to show the horrible side of unbridled passion.Phaedra" is one of Seneca's great plays. The play narrates the disastrous consequence/of Phaedra's incestuous lave for Hippolytus. There is a revenge motif in this play. The cause of Phaedra's unnatural passion is the revengeful motive of Venus, Moreover Phaedra herself was willing to take revenge on Hippolytus because he did not pay any heed to her passionate love for him.

While writing plays, Seneca took materials from Greek myths legends and literature. In order to write "Phaedra" he borrowed facts slightly altered. In Euripides' play, "Hippolytus" is a chilly and disappointing character. But Phaedra's character has great tragic appeal because of the struggle between her passion for her lover and her loyalty to her husband. However, in Seneca's play, Phaedra was not a very loyal wife. The tragedies of Seneca were not meant for public performance. perhaps Seneca did not have anything like public performance in mind when he wrote his adaptations of Greek tragedy. They resemble the closet drama which is treated as a dramatic poem intended for private reading rather than the performance on the stage. In fact, the unnatural passion of Phaedra and her committing suicide on the stage can not possibly be staged before the audience. The messenger's report on Hippolytus' death is undoubtedly an instance of the narrative, rather than the dramatic, form. In this perspective, it should be mentioned that Aristotle has stated that any tragedy should be presented in dramatic, as opposed to narrative, form and in poetic rather than in prosaic language. Outwardly Seneca tries to follow the dramatic form. Still then are long speeches attributed to Theseus, Hippolytus, Phaedra and the nurse. These speeches have the appearance of monologues despite their presentation as dialogues.

Seneca's style of writing is different from that of the Greek tragedians. He used an exaggerated rhetoric. He has a tendency to use condensed pithy moralizing sayings. The Senecan bombast and declamation is not absent in "Phaedra" There are many rhetorical speeches in the play. Stichomythia has been uneconomically used in this play. In Act III some dialogues between Theseus and Phaedra are examples of stichomythia.A Senecan tragedy depicts the clash of conflicting emotions (as between Phaedra and Theseus) leading to crisis and catastrophe.In Phaedra", the Nurse tries her utmost but fails to make Hippolytus love Phaedra. He is like a rock that flings back the waves that come to strike it. As Phaedra has no chance of winning his love, she is in a crisis. The Senecan tragic climax is not similar to that of the Greek dramas. The swift and merciless destruction of Hippolytus, as the result of his father's hasty verdict, with no word spoken between than has a more awful grandeur than the same event in Euripides' play "Hippolytus, where the father and son confront each other in a noisy argument over the issue.Seneca employs the Chorus not so much for action, as for comment, information or lyrical effect. In "Phaedra" we meet it first at the end of Act I in which it sings of the power of Cupid. It speaks about the omnipotent nature of Cupid from whose arrows on one can escape. It also suggests about the coming events in the next Act. At the end of Act II, the Chorus showers praise on the beauty and other qualities of Hippolytus. It also hints about the coming danger of Hippolytus. In Act III the Chorus reveals to the audience how a heinous crime has been planned and covered by every art. At the end of the same Act it presents an excellent picture of reality which makes a man a mere plaything at the hand of fate. In Act IV, the Chorus facilitates the unfolding of a story through the question "Why does a messenger come hurrying hither with the tears of sorrow watering his cheeks" In the last Act the Chorus performs three functions; it reveals a universal tragedy, reminds one of one's duty and shows adequate sympathy to the loser through sorrow and lamentation. In a Senecan tragedy horror seems to be cultivated for horror's sake and there are references to rape, unlawful love, incest and suicide. In "Phaedra" we meet horror piled on horror. It is very much blood curdling to hear the description of Hippolytus' painful and unnatural death. The pivotal element in the is Phaedra's unlawful love for his step-son. The play ends with Phaedra's death by suicide.

The use of set speeches is a remarkable feature of Senecan tragedy. Such speeches are marked by elaborate preparation, careful planning, impressive style and effective result. The play "Phaedra is strewn with various set pieces. Their content is so universal that they might be transposable from one play to another. In Act I we hear the set speech of a frustrated wife (Phaedra) because of her husband's absence. In the same Act, the Chorus in a set speech speaks about the power of love. In Act II the Chorus has recourse to a set speech in which it speaks about the ephemeral nature of beauty and the heavy price that its possessor has to pay. Seneca is noted for characters not treated as individuals with idiosyncratic traits but as types. Thus in "Phaedra" we find Phaedra as a giver of her all for the sake of love and a rebellious wife against the mastery of her husband, Hippolytus as an obedient, docile and respectful son and a hater of woman; and Theseus as an autocratic ruler and husband

Finally the action as employed in "Phradra" and other Senecan tragedies is different from that used in Greek tragedies. Action, in the ordinary sense, (as used in drama) is activity which is display in the carrying on of the plot. In this sense action is not driving force of Seneca's technique. His action may be described as the creation of dramatic tension by words with the minimum of visual aid.It is for this that T.S. Eliot observed that Seneca's plays might be practical models for the modern 'broadcasted' drama.