Describe the importance of Chorus as depicted in Sophocles’ plays. importance of Chorus King Oedipus

Chorus, in drama and music, those who perform vocally in a group as opposed to those who perform singly. The chorus in Classical Greek drama was a group of actors who described and commented upon the main action of a play with song, dance, and recitation. Greek tragedy had its beginnings in choral performances, in which a group of 50 men danced and sang parathyroids—lyric hymns in praise of the god Dionysus. In the middle of the 6th century bc, the poet Thespis reputedly became the first true actor when he engaged in dialogue with the chorus leader. Choral performances continued to dominate the early plays until the time of Aeschylus (5th century bc), who added a second actor and reduced the chorus from 50 to 12 performers. Sophocles, who added a third actor, increased the chorus to 15 but reduced it to a mainly commercial role in most of his plays (for an example of this role as shown in the play Oedipus the King).

The distinction between the passivity of the chorus and the activity of the actors is central to the artistry of the Greek tragedies. While the tragic protagonists act out their defiance of the limits subscribed by the gods for man, the chorus expresses the fears, hopes, and judgment of the polity, the average citizens. Their judgment is the verdict of history.

The Chorus is roughly like the peanut-gallery (it’s even occasionally told to shut up). Sophocles uses this group of The bans to comment on the play’s action and to foreshadow future events. He also uses it to comment on the larger impact of the characters’ actions and to expound upon the play’s central themes. In Oedipus the King we get choral odes on everything from tyranny to the dangers of blasphemy.

Sophocles also uses the Chorus at the beginning of the play to help tell the audience the given circumstances of the play. We hear all about the terrible havoc that the plague is wreaking on Thebes. By describing the devastation in such gruesome detail, Sophocles raises the stakes for his protagonist, Oedipus. The people of Thebes are in serious trouble; Oedipus has to figure out who killed Laius fast, or he won’t have any subjects left to rule.

importance of Chorus King Oedipus

Unlike his contemporary Euripides, Sophocles was known to integrate his choruses into the action of the play. In Oedipus the King we see the Chorus constantly advising Oedipus to keep his cool. Most of the time in ancient tragedies choruses do a lot of lamenting of terrible events, but do little to stop them. Amazingly, though, the Chorus in Oedipus the King manages to convince Oedipus not to banish or execute Creon. Just imagine how much worse Oedipus would have felt if he’d killed his uncle/brother-in-law on top of his other atrocities.

The Chorus in Oedipus the King goes through a distinct character arc. They begin by being supportive of Oedipus, believing, based on his past successes, that he’s the right man to fix their woes. As Oedipus’s behavior becomes more erratic, they become uncertain and question his motives. The fact Oedipus doesn’t start lopping off heads at this point is pretty good evidence that he’s not a tyrant. In the end, the Chorus is on Oedipus’s side again and laments his horrific fate.

In musicals, the chorus, a group of players whose song and dance routines usually reflect and enhance the development of the plot, became increasingly more prominent during the 20th century. During the late Victorian era, musical comedy was characterized by thin plot, characters, and setting, the main attraction being the song and dance routines, comedy, and a line of scantily clad chorus girls. Their performances provided an extravagant bonus at the beginnings and ends of songs or special dance numbers, and they were considered the flashy sex symbols of the day. As musicals developed, however, more attention was given to integrating their various elements. In the mid-1920s, song and dance numbers began to stem more naturally from the plot, and the chorus danced more than it sang. The dancing itself soon developed from the lines of synchronized leg kicking of the early 1900s into highly sophisticated ballet and modern dance.

Like most all ancient Greek tragedians, Sophocles divides his choral odes into strophe and anti strophe. Both sections had the same number of lines and metrical pattern. In Greek, strophe means “turn,” and anti strophe means “turn back.” This makes sense when you consider the fact that, during the strophe choruses danced from right to left and during the anti strophe they did the opposite. Sophocles may have split them into two groups, so that it was as if one part of the Chorus was conversing with the other. Perhaps the qualities created by strophe and anti strophe, represent the endless, resolvable debates for which Greek tragedy is famous.

significance of the soliloquies by Hamlet in the play Hamlet or Dramatic significance of the soliloquies by Hamlet in the play Hamlet

Soliloquy is a dramatic technique of speaking alone on the stage. It is a dramatic convention of exposing to the audience – the intentions, thoughts and feelings of a character who speaks to himself while no one remains on the stage. Here in the tragic play “Hamlet” the soliloquies spoken by the protagonist are directed to the audience, rather than seeming like conversations with himself. Some of the famous Hamlet’s soliloquies have been elucidated below.

Hamlet’s first soliloquy reveals him to be thoroughly disgusted with Gertrude, Claudius and at the world in general. He considers the world to be an unweeded garden with no significance of life and in a grievous tone says:

“O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this world!”

He is saddened at the death of his father, whom he admired as a king and husband to his mother. His grief over his father’s death is compounded by his mother’s hasty marriage to Claudius. Hamlet believes that even a beast that has no power of reasoning, would mourn longer but she had not. The worst part is that he cannot tell them how he feels. This soliloquy kindles an interest in the readers and provides a glimpse on Hamlet’s thoughts while informing the audience of the history of his family’s tribulations.

In the second soliloquy, Hamlet calls on the audience ‘the distracted globe’ to hear his vow to take revenge on his uncle. Now he promises to erase all the foolish lessons in order to remember the commandment of the ghost. The ghost that resembles his father has told him that King Claudius has murdered his father and his soul cannot rest until the revenge is taken. The audience here learns Hamlet’s promise to make Clausius pay for this unnatural crime. Already the audience is excited at Hamlet’s promise because it is giving them something to look forward.

In his third soliloquy, Hamlet admits to the audience that he is a coward. So for his inaction like a day dreamer, he is chiding himself in this way:

“O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I!

Then he is telling the audience about his new idea of justifying the credibility of the news provided by the ghost. This results in delay to reach his goal. Although heaven and hell urge him to take revenge, he must examine the truth through the play with the poison pouring scene. If his uncle reacts to the scene, he will be confirmed of his uncle’s involvement in the murder. Now the audiences have even more of a buildup of what is to come.

In the fourth soliloquy, the Prince of Denmark is in a dilemma whether to commit suicide or to accept the pangs of the world stoically or to fight back against them.

“To be or no to be – that is the question;”

Then he is frightened of the consequences of the life after death and its punishment. He puts a logic that if there were no punishment of God for suicide, nobody would tolerate injustice, the insults of the world, the arrogance of the undeserving superiors, the sufferings of the unrequited love, the delay of law, adversities and the cruelty of a tyrant. It is such fear that robs of courage to commit suicide and transforms us into a coward. Here the audience observes that Hamlet is incapable of taking revenge, as he is always contemplative.

In conclusion, it is clear from the above discussion that the audience is always being included in Hamlet’s thinking process through the use of the soliloquies. Such involvement of the audience helps the real meaning of the play shine through. Some critics view that without the soliloquies, the play “Hamlet’ would degenerate into a cheap melodrama.

How does Aeschylus build intense dramatic suspense around Agamemnon’s home coming in the play Agamemnon?

Agamemnon is treated as the masterpiece of Aeschylus. In it the action takes place before the palace of Agamemnon in Argos at the time of his victorious return from the Trojan War. Besides, the grand theme of the play based on sin, murder, punishment and a fatalistic conception of human life’, the intense dramatic suspense around Agamemnon’s homecoming occupies an important theme of the play. In order to create this dramatic suspense, Aeschylus imposes his creative and dramatic genius and we see how he was interested to represent this dramatic suspense. Although this dramatic suspense operates no serious purpose for the main action of the play it enhances our dramatic interest to a great extent. The suspense is created before Agamemnon’s arrival by the speeches of Watchman, Elders of Argos, Herald and so on. There is hope and also forbidding in the speeches.

The dramatic suspense is firstly created by the Watchman who waits in the dead of night and suddenly sends out a cry of joy as the signal blazes forth announcing the imminent return of Agamemnon. The Watchman strikes the first note of approaching calamity by guarded hints and allusion to Clytemnestra’s adulterous relation with Aegisthus, Agamemnon’s mortal enemy.

Dramatic suspense lies among the mixed feeling in the expression of Chorus. The Chorus’ emphasis is stronger on foreboding. It is not only Clytemnestra who arouses their fear – they trust Agamemnon to find a way to deal with her when he returns, but they know that the King himself is burdened with guilt. They recount in detail how Agamemnon, inheriting the family curses from Atreus; found himself faced with a fearful dilemma, and made the wrong choice to sacrifice his daughter. However, Aeschylus and Sophocles contain excellent dramatic motivation. Oracles, divinities and sooth Sayers as well as the chorus and main actors were frequently used in the foreshadowing. Foreshadowing (giving intimation or hints of action yet to come,) which helped to achieve both suspense and dramatic irony was employed.

The Watchman of this play feels sway in his condition for the suspense of situation. The Watchman describes that sleep’s enemy ‘fear’ stands beside him to forbid his eyes one instance closing. As the beacon shines out, before the Watchman the suspenseful circumstance further deepens:

“0 welcome beacon, kindling night to glorious day,
Welcome! You’ll set them dancing in every street in Argos
When they hear your message. Ho there! Hullo! Call
Clytemnestra!”

 The Watchman descends and another dramatic suspense starts by a cry of triumph from Clytemnestra and is echoed by other women. The hurried coming of a messenger followed by the attendants, going in various directions, and carrying jars and bowls with oil and incense for sacrifice increase the suspenseful situation. There is suspense in the circumlocutory speeches of the chorus and their conversations and interrogation with Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra creates confusion and suspicion by her speeches when she herself says that the victors would avoid being vanquished in their turn. Clytemnestra says that only, let no lust of unlawful plunder tempt the soldiers’ hearts with wealth, to their own harm.

Clytemnestra finishes her words by saying that these are a woman’s words while the chorus says that your words are like a man’s. After the finishing of chorus’ speech suspense arises when the sound of women voices excitedly begins the shout and cheer. One or two Elders go out, and return immediately to report the following remarks as made severally by various members of the chorus;

“Since the beacon’s nears was heard
Rumour flies through every street.
Ought we to believe a word?
Is it some inspired deceit?”

All doubts that remain about the truth of the beacon message are now dispelled by the arrival of the herald from the Trojan expeditionary force. This herald concludes the precious suspense but loads immense suspense in his speeches. The herald announces that Agamemnon, homeward bound has been separated from the rest of his fleet He salutes, in touching words, his country and her gods, and the palace of Agamemnon, which now shines its best to welcome its monarch, who comes like dawn out of darkness. The herald’s speech brings dramatic suspense to the audience because they know the mischievous revengeful attitude of Clytemnestra. As the time of Agamemnon’s reaching shortens, our suspense begins to enhance in every moment. When Agamemnon reaches Argos all the suspense are dissolved and he is heinously butchered by his wife.

Agamemnon’s arrival in the palace in confirmed by the Chorus’ welcome to him as it says:

“…you have come victorious home;
Now form our open hearts we wish you well.”

The opening scene of Aeschylus’s “Agamemnon” prepares the audience psychologically for the events to come later. It introduces Clytemnestra, the most dominant character of the play, as a female having male traits. The watchman, through his representation of the Argive people, informs us of the unrest inside and outside the Argos palace at the prolonged absence of Agamemnon. Considering everything, it may be said that the opening scene is not a necessary, rather a preparatory part of the play. Thus, Aeschylus in his tragedy “Agamemnon” creates dramatic suspense around Agamemnon’s homecoming and it enhances the dramatic brilliance of the tragedy to a great extent.

Character of Clytemnestra in the play "Agamemnon"

Agamemnon is the first play in a trilogy of tragedies by Aeschylus entitled the Oresteia. Even though Agamemnon gets a shout-out in the play’s title, Clytemnestra may well be its most interesting character. By interesting, we don’t mean likable – after all, technically speaking, she is a liar, a two-timer, and a murderer. But maybe that’s just part of her charm. We’d better explain. The first thing we learn about Clytemnestra is from the Watchman in the opening scene of the play. He isn’t her biggest fan, though he doesn’t give us any explanation why. Instead, he makes a vague remark about how the household “is not managed for the best as it was before” . But what does that mean, exactly? Did Clytemnestra stiff him on his overtime pay or something?

We might get a hint of what the Watchman means later on in the play, when the Chorus tells the Herald that Clytemnestra’s public statements about how much she loves her husband aren’t exactly honest. Does the Chorus say this because it knows about her affair with Aegisthus? We aren’t told. If this was common knowledge in Argos, it is possible that this is what the Watchman is referring to – though, it isn’t clear how Clytemnestra’s extra-marital love life would necessarily make her a bad manager of the household.

So, yes, Clytemnestra is having an affair while Agamemnon is off fighting at Troy. Ten years might seem like a long time to wait for one’s husband; of course, Penelope, the heroine of Homer’s Odyssey waited twenty years for her husband to come back. Everyone thinks she’s exceptional, though. But what about the fact that Agamemnon had his daughter Iphigenia sacrificed on the way to Troy, just to get the goddess Artemis to send the fleet some favorable winds? We can see how that might have made Clytemnestra think a little less of her husband, and maybe this is why she turned elsewhere for romance.

When he shows up at the end of the play, however, Aegisthus seems like a bit of a dweeb. Does this just mean Clytemnestra has bad taste in men? Or do you think Clytemnestra deliberately sought out Aegisthus knowing he held a grudge against Agamemnon because of the crime of Agamemnon’s father Atreus? If so, that would mean she had been planning revenge against Agamemnon for a long time and was just looking for an accomplice. Unfortunately, the play doesn’t give us any firm information about these matters.

What the play does show us is that Clytemnestra is one accomplished conspirator and murderer. First of all, there is the deception she carries off, by playing the role of loving wife in front of the Herald, the Chorus, and Agamemnon when he shows up. Even though the Chorus tells the Herald not to believe every word she says, it’s pretty clear they don’t suspect Clytemnestra of being a murderer. The proof of this comes in the Chorus members’ reaction to Cassandra’s prophecies, when they go way off track by assuming she is referring to a man who will kill Agamemnon. Frankly, though, who can blame them? We don’t think anybody could have predicted the truly psychotic scene when Clytemnestra reveals herself standing over the bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra, and ecstatically describes how Agamemnon’s blood landed on her like rain on a farmer’s field. Yikes.

We see some more of Clytemnestra’s psychotic side in the debate with the Chorus that follows, but at the very end of the play she has calmed down and taken on a different role. First, she prevents Aegisthus from fighting the Chorus; then, she leads him inside and tells him that they will be joint rulers in Argos. Joint rulers? Who is she kidding? With her air of confident authority, it’s hard to doubt that Clytemnestra will be wearing the crown in their relationship.

Discuss the character of Doctor Faustus. Character analysis of Doctor Faustus

Dr. Faustus, the main character of the story, is a professor of divinity at Wittenberg, as well as a renowned physician and scholar. Not satisfied with the limitations of human knowledge and power, he begins to practice necromancy. He eventually makes a deal with Lucifer (commonly referred to as the “Faustian bargain”), whereby he exchanges his soul for twenty-four years of the devil’s service to him. In the next twenty-four years, Faustus obtains all kinds of knowledge and power through his devil-servant, Mephistophilis. They travel all over the world, playing practical jokes on peasants and even the Pope, displaying magical powers to the emperor and the nobility; Faustus wishes and whims are played out in his various adventures. At times Faustus experiences doubt and despair over having sold his soul to the devil.

He comes close to repenting at several crucial points in the story, but never follows through. Even to the end, Faustus refuses to fully repent, and he is eventually taken by the devils to hell. The character of Faustus comes from a well-known legend of a German physician who reported sold his soul to the devil in exchange for magical powers. In Marlowe’s rendition, he is portrayed as a tragic hero in that his unbridled ambitions lead him to an unfortunate end. But at a deeper level, the tragedy is twofold. First, there is a clear devolvement of his character, from a confident, ambitious scholar, to a self-satisfied, low-level practical joker.

Although he makes a name for himself as an expert magician, Faustus never accomplishes the lofty goals he initially sets for himself. Second, there are times when Faustus despairs over his decision and comes close to repenting, only to back away at the last moment. On the other hand, Faustus can be seen as a hero in that he rejects God’s authority and determines his own course of life.

This format doesn’t allow for a complete discussion of Doctor Faustus’ character traits, but I can explain the two most important and competing ones, that of arrogance and that of despair. In the beginning of the tragedy, the Chorus makes it clear that Faustus is highly gifted, intelligent and talented. He excels in his studies and quickly earns his doctoral degree in theology. Not stopping there, he continues to study–and master–other fields like medicine and law and logic. In fact, there is nothing left for him to study and he is satiated with it all. As a result, in his growing arrogance and conceit at his own powers and accomplishments, he turns to the one unmastered and most enticing field–necromancy, or magic.

FAUSTUS.
These metaphysics of magicians,
And necromantic books are heavenly;
[…]
A sound magician is a mighty god:
Here, Faustus, tire thy brains to gain a deity.

He arrogantly dreams of being the supreme magician, able to command even the wind and oceans. Thus he calls on the devil Mephistophilis. In his arrogance, he believes he can command Mephistophilis and have from him anything he wants. This is the first painful lesson his arrogance and conceit bring him to: Mephistophilis takes orders from Lucifer, and Lucifer won’t tell everything he knows. For example, after asking for knowledge of the cosmos, Lucifer offers him an entertainment by the Seven Deadly Sins and a book about how to change his shape. This adequately sketches and explains Faustus’ character trait of arrogance.

LUCIFER.
In meantime take this book; peruse it throughly,
And thou shalt turn thyself into what shape thou wilt.
[…]    Farewell, Faustus, and think on the devil.

The contrasting and competing trait of despair enters most strongly into Faustus’ characterization in Act IV when his days are dwindling, although his despair begins to effect him after his revealing encounter with Lucifer. As Faustus feels his designated years coming to an end and the time when he will serve Mephistophilis in hell for eternity fast approaching, his yearnings for repentance and redemption begin to overwhelm him. He is visited by an Old Man who tries to teach him how to repent and accept redemption, then by his friends the Scholars who are aghast at Faustus’ misfortune and importune with him to seek Christ’s mercy and seek to have his soul yet saved.

SECOND SCHOLAR.
Yet, Faustus, look up to heaven; remember God’s
mercies are infinite.
THIRD SCHOLAR.
Yet, Faustus, call on God.

It is this despair that Faustus feels–coupled with an ironic new-found awareness of ignorance–that prevents him from acting and seeking redemptive forgiveness. His despair, which competes with and overcomes his arrogance, leads him to his ultimate doom, doom stemming from the one point on which he is ignorant and doom hemmed in by crippling despair. This adequately sketches and explains Faustus’ character trait of despair.

FAUSTUS.
The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,
The devil will come, and Faustus must be damn’d.
O, I’ll leap up to my God!—Who pulls me down?—

Faustus is the paragon of the Renaissance Man—turning away from the religious strictures of the Medieval Age (God-centeredness) in favor of the enlightened age of reason and human achievement (man-centeredness).

Analyse the character of Bosola

Daniel de Bosola, a former servant of the Cardinal, now returned from a sentence of imprisonment in the galleys for murder and was sent by Ferdinand to spy on the Duchess as her provisor of horse. He is employed by Ferdinand to spy on the Duchess in hopes of keeping her away from marriage. He is involved in the murder of the Duchess, her children, Cariola, Antonio, the Cardinal and Ferdinand, and a servant. Upon witnessing the nobility and fearlessness of the Duchess and Antonio facing their deaths, he then experiences guilt. Though he was the one who arranged her death, he then seeks to avenge it. Bosola can be considered the most complex character in the play since he goes from being a killer without regret, and then changes and is filled with regret. Being the malcontent of the play, he tends to view things cynically, and makes numerous critical comments on the nature of Renaissance society. He is frequently characterized by his melancholy.

It could be argued that The Duchess of Malfi is merely a seventeenth century melodrama which explores not the philosophical questions of life and love, but instead the spectacle of death. Indeed Delio is the only character left standing at the end of the play and at one point Webster goes so far as to kill off one of his characters through kissing a poisoned bible.

However, if there is one character that does have a philosophical input to the play it is the ever perceptive Bosola, who ironically is (in line with the ‘slasher’ genre of the play) is a hired killer.

Bosola is Webster’s mouthpiece for the dramatist’s restless, mocking, intelligence. Throughout the play Bosola reels out pragmatic observation. However petty and comical:

“There was a lady in France that, having the small-pox,
Flay’d the skin off her face to make it more level;
And whereas before she looked like a nutmeg grater,
After she resembled an abortive hedgehog.”

Although Bosola is quick to point out other people’s weaknesses, particularly the vices of the professions, when he talks to Castructio about the legal profession he is quick to mock:

“When you come to be a president
In criminal causes, if you smile upon a prisoner, hang him, but if
You frown upon him, and threaten him, let him be sure to ‘scape
The gallows.”

He is also aware of his own shortcomings with an admission of avarice follow by a justification of it. The rest of the world screws each other so will he:

“Physicians that apply horse-leeches to any rank swelling use to cut off their tails, that the blood may run through them the faster: let me have no train when I go to shed blood, less it make me have a greater when I ride to the gallows.” 

It is impossible to talk about Bosola without pointing out the fact that he is the quintessential malcontent. The root of his discontent is his betrayal before the play by the cardinal, a betrayal for which Bosola spent time in the galleys as punishment for a murder at the order of the Cardinal that he took full responsibility.

“I have done you better service
Than to be slighted thus.
Miserable age, where only the reward
Of doing well, is the doing of it!”

There is no question about the nature of Bosola’s character at the beginning of the Play. As Antonio puts it:

“Here comes Bosola,
The only court-gall; yet I observe his railing
Is not for simple love of piety:
Indeed he rails at those things which he wants;
Would be as lecherous, covetous, or proud,
Bloody, or envious, as any man,
If he had means to be so.”

However it is a matter of greater debate whether Bosola’s motivation for killing changes and therefore his morality improves with the course of events. Some argue that after the death of the Duchess, for whom Bosola feels remorse, he is then driven to kill his employers through revenge on behalf of the wronged party.

“Faith, end here,
And go no farther in your cruelty;
Send her a penitential garment to put on
Next to her delicate skin, and furnish her
With beads, and prayer-books.”

However I would argue that he is still driven by his own self-interest. His conscience not plagued by the acceptance that he has killed the Duchess for evil men, but that he is not being paid for the deed.

Because of the nature of his character the audience would not expect Bosola to have passionate leanings; however he does enjoy some flirtation with Julia at the expense of the Cardinal.

“I have it, I will work upon this creature.—
Let us grow most amorously familiar:
If the great cardinal now should see me thus,
Would he not count me a villain?”

To conclude; Bosola’s defining characteristic is his intelligence. This is perfectly demonstrated when he speaks of the sycophants at court and compares them to parasites getting the best fruit from an isolated tree.

“He and his brother are like plum trees that grow crocked over standing pools… none but crows, pies and caterpillars feed on them”

Role of Chorus in Electra by Sophocles

The Chorus plays a crucial role in the overall development of any Greek tragedy; they are responsible for providing the overall background and summary information of the play, alongside they interact with characters to develop the personalities of characters and drive the plot. 

The chorus is comprised of the virgins of the palace. The chorus is important in determining the tone. The Chorus sympathizes largely with Electra. They lament with her when she suffers, and rejoice when she reunites with her brother and achieves her long-desired goal at the play's end. An interpretation that centers on the Chorus might condone Electra's actions. 

But the Chorus also gives Electra a hard time, especially at the beginning of the play when she debates with Chrysothemis about how to live their lives in light of their father's murder. The Chorus actually takes Chrysothemis's side – they encourage Electra to move on like her sister, to start thinking pragmatically instead of idealistically. This tension is important – the Chorus doesn't just reiterate Electra's ideas here.

In the beginning of the play, the chorus beseeches Electra to cease her constant mourning, and they attempt to console her in her suffering. this traditionally conservative stance is slowly eroded over the course of the play; at the moment of revenge, the chorus is an active and enthusiastic participant, giving urgent warning when it sees Aegisthus returning.

The chorus initially softens its stance upon hearing Chrysothemis relate Clytemnestra's dream. They regard the dream as an omen that the retribution for which Electra so longs is near, perhaps legitimizing their support of the heroine. The urge Chrysothemis, then, to do as Electra bids and throw Clytemnestra's offering for Agamemnon away, replacing it with one of their (the sisters's) own. Afterwards, the chorus is far more sympathetic to Electra than to Clytemnestra in their angry exchange, and the chorus is as distraught at the false news of Orestes's death as is Electra herself. The chorus's support of Electra and the revenge grows thus stronger throughout the play. One effect of this is to lend sanctity to the revenge, which itself seems increasingly questionable as Sophocles reveals news things about his characters.

Three Legacy Hunters in Volpone

Three legacy hunters are Voltore, a lawyer; Corbaccio, an old gentleman; and Corvino, a merchant

Voltore

One of the three legacy hunters or carrion-birds—the legacy hunters continually circle around Volpone, giving him gifts in the hope that he will choose them as his heir. Voltore is a lawyer by profession, and, as a result, he is adept in the use of words.

 Voltore is, like all the legacy hunters, named after a carrion-bird. In the case of Voltore, that bird is the vulture; for Corvino, it is the crow, and for Corbaccio, the raven. Voltore is the most pleasant of all the legacy hunters, for he is the least crass and the least obsessed with seeing Volpone die.

His preferential status shows in Mosca's special regard for him: Mosca tries to make sure that Voltore gets enough payment for his services at the Scrutineo in Act IV. But Voltore comes to regret his actions at the Scrutineo. Of course, this regret only comes after he has been denied his inheritance, and it seems to stem directly from his bitterness at Mosca's leapfrogging over him on the social ladder.

And when Volpone whispers to him that he might still get his inheritance, he stops confessinghis lies to the Scrutineo and pretends that he was "possessed" by an evil demon. Theverbal irony is that Voltore, in that statement and action, reveals his greed.

Corbaccio

Another "carrion-bird" circling Volpone, Corbaccio is actually extremely old and ill himself and is much more likely to die before Volpone even has a chance to bequeath him his wealth. He has a hearing problem and betrays no sign of concern for Volpone, delighting openly in (fake) reports of Volpone's worsening symptoms. He goes as far as to testify against his own son. He is finally punished, sent to a monastery, and forced to turn his estate over to his son, Bonario.

Corvino

A greedy, rich merchant and an extremely cruel and dishonorable character, Corvino is Celia's jealous husband. He frequently threatens to do disgusting acts of physical violence to her and her family in order to gain control over her. Yet he is more concerned with financial gain than with her faithfulness, seeing her, in essence, as a piece of property. Corvino is another one of the "carrion-birds" circling Volpone. Corvino is punished in theend for offering up his wife, which results in her returning to her father, with her dowry tripled. Corviono is the third of the "carrion-birds" circling Volpone.

A comparative study between Sophocles' ‘Electra’ and Euripides' ‘Alcestis’ as women of courage and determination

Both “Electra” and “Alcestis” are Greek tragedy play. “Electra” is written by Greek tragedian Sophocles and “Alcestis” is by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. The central character of both the plays is a woman and the plays are named by those central female characters “Electra” and “Alcestis”. In the plot both the characters are portrayed as woman of courage and determination.

Electra was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra and the sister of Iphigenia, Chrysothemis and Orestes. The play opens in Mycenae, in Ancient Greece. As background to the play, King Agamemnon of Mycenae (or Argos in some versions of the myth) had returned from the Trojan War with his new concubine, Cassandra. His wife, Clytemnestra, who had borne a grudge against Agamemnon for many years since he had sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia at the start of the Trojan War in order to placate the gods, and who had in the meantime taken Agamemnon's ambitious cousin Aegisthus as a lover, killed both Agamemnon and Cassandra. Orestes, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra’s infant son, was sent abroad to Phocis for his own safety, while his sister Electra remained in Mycenae (although more or less reduced to the status of servant), as did their younger sister Chrysothemis (who, however, did not protest or look for vengeance against their mother and Aegisthus). As the play begins, many years after Agamemnon’s death, Orestes, now a grown man, arrives in Mycenae in secret with his friend Pylades of Phocis and an old attendant or tutor. They hatch a plan to gain entrance to Clytemnestra’s palace by announcing that Orestes was dead, and that the two men (really Orestes and Pylades) are arriving to deliver an urn with his remains. Electra has never come to terms with her father Agamemnon’s murder, and laments his death to the Chorus of Myceaean women. She argues bitterly with her sister Chrysothemis over her accommodation with her father's killers, and with her mother, whom she had never forgiven for the murder. Her only hope is that one day her brother Orestes will return to avenge Agamemnon. When the messenger (the old man of Phocis) arrives with news of the death of Orestes, therefore, Electra is devastated, although Clytemnestra is relieved to hear it. Chrysothemis mentions that she has seen some offerings and a lock of hair at Agamemnon’s tomb and concludes that Orestes must have returned, but Electra dismisses her arguments, convinced that Orestes is now dead. Electra proposes to her sister that it is now up to them to kill their hated step-father Aegisthus, but Chrysothemis refuses to help, pointing out the impracticability of the plan. When Orestes arrives at the palace, carrying the urn supposedly containing his own ashes, he does not recognize Electra at first, nor she him. Belatedly realizing who she is, though, Orestes reveals his identity to his emotional sister, who almost betrays his identity in her excitement and joy that he is alive.

On the other hand, Alcestis was the daughter of Pelias, king of Iolcus and either Anaxibia or Phylomache and wife of King Admetus. In the prologue to the play, the god Apollo explains some of the prior events leading up to the moment: Apollo had once persuaded the Fates to grant King Admetus of Pherae in Thessaly the privilege of living past the allotted time of his death, (his life was to have been cut short after he had upset Apollo’s sister, Artemis) as recompense for the hospitality the King had shown Apollo during the time he was exiled from Mount Olympus. However, the gift came with a price: Admetus must find someone to take his place when Death comes to claim him. Admetus’ old parents were unwilling to help him and, as the time of Admetus' death approached, he had still not found a willing replacement. Finally, his devoted wife Alcestis agreed to be taken in his stead, because she wished not to leave her children fatherless or to be left herself bereft of her beloved husband. At the start of the play, she is close to death and Thanatos (Death) arrives at the palace, dressed in black and carrying a sword, ready to lead Alcestis to the Underworld. He accuses Apollo of trickery when he helped Admetus cheat death in the first place and Apollo tries to defend and excuse himself in a heated exchange of stychomythia (short, quick alternating lines of verse). Eventually Apollo storms off, prophesying that a man would come who would wrestle Alcestis away from Death. Unimpressed, Thanatos proceeds into the palace to claim Alcestis. The Chorus of fifteen old men of Pherae lament the passing of Alcestis, but complain that they are still unsure whether or not they should be performing mourning rituals for the good queen yet. A maidservant gives them the confusing news that she is both alive and dead, standing on the brink of life and death, and joins the Chorus in praising Alcestis' virtue. She describes how Alcestis has made all her preparations for death and her farewells to her sobbing children and husband. The Chorus leader enters the palace with the maidservant in order to witness the further developments. Within the palace, Alcestis, on her death-bed, entreats Admetus never to remarry again after her death and allow a vicious and resentful stepmother to take charge of their children, and never to forget her. Admetus readily agrees to all this, in return for his wife’s sacrifice, and promises to lead a life of solemnity in her honour, abstaining from the usual merrymaking of his household. Satisfied with his vows and and at peace with the world, Alcestis then dies. The hero Heracles, an old friend of Admetus, arrives at the palace, ignorant of the sorrow that has befallen the place. In the interests of hospitality, the king decides not to burden Heracles with the sad news, assuring his friend that the recent death was simply that of an outsider of no account, and instructs his servants to likewise pretend that nothing is amiss. Admetus therefore welcomes Heracles with his usual lavish hospitality, thus breaking his promise to Alcestis to abstain from merrymaking. As Heracles gets more and more drunk, he irritates the servants (who are bitter at not being allowed to mourn their beloved queen properly) more and more until, finally, one of them snaps at the guest and tells him what has really happened. Heracles is mortified at his blunder and his bad behaviour (as well as angry that Admetus could deceive a friend in such an embarrassing and cruel way), and he secretly decides to ambush and confront Death when the funerary sacrifices are made at Alcestis' tomb, intending to battle Death and force him to give Alcestis up. Later, when Heracles returns to the palace, he brings with him a veiled woman whom he gives to Admetus as a new wife. Admetus is understandably reluctant, declaring that he cannot violate his memory of Alcestis by accepting the young woman, but eventually he submits to his friend's wishes, only to find that it is in fact Alcestis herself, back from the dead. She cannot speak for three days after which she will be purified and fully restored to life. The play ends with the Chorus thanking Heracles for finding a solution that none had foreseen.

From above, the comparison between Electra and Alcestis could be discussed. Electra, the protagonist of the drama, has an extremely complex role in that the principles of justice and honor to which she so stubbornly adheres require her to do the unthinkable—to participate in her mother's death. What adds to the inherent complexity of Electra's position is the increasing evidence throughout the play of the uncertainty of Electra's grasp on the very standards of justice that motivate her. It is clear from the outset that Electra is right to mourn her father's murder by her mother. Her mourning is a natural response to an awful occurrence, and she claims that although she does not necessarily choose grief, she feels forced, as if by the principles of honor, to act as she does. Electra's mourning results in her abuse by both Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, who, perhaps threatened by Electra's refusal to let go of the past, treat her as little better than a slave in her own house. Electra is willing to suffer in the name of honor, and, in the name of justice, she rightfully longs to avenge her father's death. Yet Electra soon undermines her position in her initial encounter with Clytemnestra. Clytemnestra insists that she murdered Agamemnon to exact revenge for his sacrifice of their daughter. Electra counters by arguing that justice cannot be achieved by answering a killing with another killing but this raises questions about the integrity of Electra's character for Electra herself longs to avenge her father's death. However, Electra has been determined to avenge her father death throughout the play and she stands against Clytemnestra and Aegisthus courageously even though she dwells among them. Her determination was strong and permanent. 

In contrast, Alcestis demonstrates her profound love for King Admetus by surrendering her own life so that he may live. In doing so, she also surrenders the joy of her children and her own desires for the future.  She was willing to lay down her life on behalf of her husband, when no one else would, although King Admetus had a father and mother; but the tenderness of her love so far exceeded theirs, that she made them seem to be strangers in blood to their own son, and in name only related to him. Alcestis has shown the determination to save her husband and courage to face death and this action of hers appear so noble to the gods, as well as to men, that she is one of the very few to whom God have granted the privilege of returning alive to earth; such exceeding honour is paid by the gods to the devotion and virtue of love.  

Finally it can be stated that both the protagonists Electra and Alcestis are women of courage and determination in the plays though both of them are driven by their emotion. They have shown their courage and determination in the course of their action. But their sources of courage and determination are completely different. If Electra’s courage and determination are result of revenge of her father’s death, then the determination and courage of Alcestis derives from her profound love for her husband and family.