To begin, the chorus had a very large effect on the structure of The Agamemnon. In a small way it lets the reader/audience know about things taking place outside the realm of the play's setting. This was not as important at the time this play would have been performed, but in this modern era it is very important that the chorus inform the audience with past events like the outcome of the Trojan War and the death of Iphagania. Such as in this case " Then the elder king found voice and said: "This fate is hard to disobey, and hard I obey. Sever my child-my palace pearl? Bloody my hands in that virgin flood? A fathers hands at the alter side? Oh which is worse? But how can I betray my fleet and fail my allies? They are right in their fury-bound frenzy to imprecate the winds to calm by the blood of a virgin sacrificed...I hope it my be well!" If not for excerpts such as that one modern readers as well as some audience members in the past would not know the story of Iphagania and how it made Agamemnon make a choice no one would want to face and one in which the decision led to his death. The chorus informing the audience/reader things they might not know provides a colossal influence on the structure of the play, without them the reader might become confused or lost in some of
To begin, the chorus had a very large effect on the structure of The Agamemnon. In a small way it lets the reader/audience know about things taking place outside the realm of the play's setting. This was not as important at the time this play would have been performed, but in this modern era it is very important that the chorus inform the audience with past events like the outcome of the Trojan War and the death of Iphagania. Such as in this case " Then the elder king found voice and said: "This fate is hard to disobey, and hard I obey. Sever my child-my palace pearl? Bloody my hands in that virgin flood? A fathers hands at the alter side? Oh which is worse? But how can I betray my fleet and fail my allies? They are right in their fury-bound frenzy to imprecate the winds to calm by the blood of a virgin sacrificed...I hope it my be well!" If not for excerpts such as that one modern readers as well as some audience members in the past would not know the story of Iphagania and how it made Agamemnon make a choice no one would want to face and one in which the decision led to his death. The chorus informing the audience/reader things they might not know provides a colossal influence on the structure of the play, without them the reader might become confused or lost in some of