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4 - The Chorus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 September 2009

Gillian Jondorf
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

We know tantalisingly little about how the humanist dramatists used, or wished to use, their Chorus on stage. Writing about the Chorus in Garnier's Les Juifves, R. M. Griffiths says firmly: 'The Chœur des Juifves is, like all Renaissance choruses, present on the stage throughout the action' (1986,57); but it is by no means certain that this is true of 'all Renaissance choruses'. Françoise Charpentier (1981, 575) holds that in plays of Montchrestien where the Chorus is 'personnalisé' (La Reine d'Escosse, Les Lacènes), there must also be a 'Chœur impersonnel', although this is not mentioned in the list of 'Entreparleurs'; but this too is only surmise. Charpentier also speculates about the deployment of the Chorus on the stage: 'Sur la scène même, il faut imaginer les acteurs du Chœur en retrait, opérant, au moment de prendre la parole, un mouvement pour occuper le devant de la scène, et peut-être masquer les déplacements des autres acteurs en train de l'évacuer.'

The continuous presence of the Chorus is one way of both imposing and guaranteeing the unities of time and place; but even if we assume that once the Chorus appeared it remained on stage for the rest of the play (and this seems unlikely in plays with multiple Choruses, such as Garnier's Antigone), we need not necessarily suppose that it appeared as soon as the play began.

Type
Chapter
Information
French Renaissance Tragedy
The Dramatic Word
, pp. 65 - 86
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1990

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  • The Chorus
  • Gillian Jondorf, University of Cambridge
  • Book: French Renaissance Tragedy
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511470370.006
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  • The Chorus
  • Gillian Jondorf, University of Cambridge
  • Book: French Renaissance Tragedy
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511470370.006
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Chorus
  • Gillian Jondorf, University of Cambridge
  • Book: French Renaissance Tragedy
  • Online publication: 22 September 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511470370.006
Available formats
×