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Rhythms of the Chorus and Choral Odes in Oedipus Rex

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Rhythms of the Chorus and Choral Odes in Oedipus Rex Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-5, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in Rhythms of the Chorus and Choral Odes in Oedipus Rex Dr. Mufeed Al-Abdullah Associate Professor, Dhofar University. Abstract: This paper studies the structural rhythm scholarship on the Sophoclean chorus has been of the chorus in Oedipus Rex, namely that of always directed to the contents of the choral odes emanating from the relationship between the and the relationship between those odes chorus and the structure of the play and from the and the plot [4, 5, 1, 6, 7; 8 and 9, among others]. place of the chorus in the succession of events. It will also address the internal rhythm within the There are numerous suggestions about the role of choral odes themselves. The type of rhythm the chorus in Shophoclean dramas. Weiner [1] addressed in this study is the harmony emanating mentions some of the popular views about the role from the alternation chorus and episodes in the of the chorus among scholars. Some say that it macrocosmic structure of the play, and the serves as a "buffer between actor and the audience alternation of the strophes and antistrophes within (p.206); others say that it is there to intensify the the choral odes themselves. These alternations are passions of the characters; still others think of it as supposedly repetitive, regular, and equidistant. an "Ideal Audience" (p. 206), so that the natural However, any departure from these features audience assesses it reaction to the events on the dictates an explanation. The paper hopes to stage in light of that of the chorus; a fourth opinion demonstrate that the chorus contributes another is that the chorus turns "commonplace details to important dimension to the musical structure of the universal verities" (p. 206). Weiner suggests that play and enhances the meaning of the tragedy. the function of the chorus is to produce an Alienation Effect similar to that we find in Brecht. He describes that effect as "perhaps the most efficient and direct method of arousing emotions 1. Introduction and passions of the audience while forcing it to think at the same time" (p. 211). Weiner also aligns Oedipus Rex is considered one of the best dramas with Nietzschean theory that tragedy is the in the history of literature as it has survived over 25 outcome of "the marriage of the opposing attitudes centuries without losing its glamour and appeal to of Apollo and Dionysus" (p.112). The characters readers, scholars and directors of drama. It was the accordingly represent the Apollonian values of favorite Greek tragedy of Aristotle who considers it intellect and reason, whereas the chorus represents the model play with the model chorus [1] and Dionysian aspects of imagination and instincts. Oedipus is the ideal character in an ideal tragedy [2]. The play is indeed a masterpiece in its plot and This paper hopes to contribute a new dimension structure. In numerous places in the Poetics, to the studies of choral odes, namely that of Aristotle refers to it as example of a well composed rhythm. Generally, there are various types of tragedy in the sense that every part of it contributes rhythm in Oedipus Rex. At the basic level, there is to the whole and enhances the meaning of the play. the rhythm stemming from the patterns of poetic The chorus is one of the components that contribute meters as presented in William Scott [10]. At to the integrity of the plot and structure, according another level, there are the structural rhythms as to Aristotle. Indeed, he considers the chorus an those analyzed in David Porter [4]. Porter argues actor in the play [3]. that the play demonstrates "a tightly controlled and highly significant parallelism between its overall The chorus in the tragedies of Sophocles has movement and the rhythms of its component parts" attracted a lot of attention of the critics. This is (p.470). But what is rhythm? natural because Sophocles improved the role of the chorus by increasing the number of the elders to Rhythm originally is related to the beats of music fifteen, making it interactive, and relating its odes and the meter of poetry. It includes an alternation to the plot, especially in Oedipus at Colonus, which between two antithetical items or sounds. Thomas probably has the strongest chorus in Greek tragedy. Arp and Greg Johnson [11] define it as a In Oedipus Rex the chorus is less interactive and "“wavelike recurrence of motion or sound.”(p. weaker than that of Oedipus at Colonus. Generally, 838). They define rhythm in language as an Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Page 841 Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-5, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in alternation between stressed and unstressed mere interludes- a practice first begun by syllables (P. 838). Furthermore, they maintain that Agathon. Yet what difference is there between there is "interdependence between rhythm and introducing such choral interludes, and meaning" in poetry (p. 838). Abercrombie (1967) transferring a speech, or even a whole act, argues that rhythm "in speech as in other human from one play to another. [3, chap. 18] activities, arises from the periodic occurrence of some sort of movement, producing an expectation He further enumerates and defines the parts that that the regularity of succession will continue" compose the structure of a tragedy as thus: (quoted in [12 p. 18]. Schluter discusses "the principle of rhythmic alternation in language as a The Prologue is that entire part of a tragedy domain in prosody or suprasegmental phonology" which precedes the Parode. The Episode is that (P. 17). entire part of a tragedy which is between complete choric songs. The Exode is that entire All these definitions include the element of part of a tragedy which has no choric song repeated alternation at equal distance. This sort of after it. Of the Choric part the Parode is rhythm is indigenous to us as it imitates the rhythm the first undivided utterance of the Chorus: the of our heart beats, our inhales and exhales of Stasimon is a Choric ode without anapaests or respiration and the numerous other regular trochaic tetrameters: the Commos is a joint rhythmic patterns in the human body. It is also lamentation of Chorus and actors. The parts of similar to circadian rhythms of the alternation of Tragedy which must be treated as elements of day and night, sleep and wake, and the endless list the whole have been already mentioned. The of dual antithetical pairs that surround our lives and quantitative parts- the separate parts into which our world. it is divided- are here enumerated. [3, chap. 12] In this study, the perception of rhythm is in line with these definitions as there are numerous According to Aristotle's description of the structure alternating items in Oedipus Rex. The study of a tragedy, the chorus alternates with the proposes that there are still other types of rhythm prologue, the scenes, and exodus in a regular emanating from the choral songs, such as the rhythm. The flow of the whole play looks like this: rhythm emerging from the antithetical alternation Prologue > chorus > scene 1 > chorus > scene 2 > of episodes and choral songs which produces a chorus > scene 3 > chorus > scene 4 > chorus> musical structure of the play. Also, there is the Exodus> chorus, as in figure 1. rhythm emanating from sequencing the binary antithetical sets of strophe-antistrophe in the choral Figure 1 Prologue odes. The rhythm secured from these successions Exodos Scene Scene contributes another important dimension that Scene Scene Chorus Chorus Chorus Chorus Chorus enhances the poetic structure of the play and the Chorus 4 1 2 3 meaning of the tragedy. This paper will study the rhythm resulting from the design of clustering and constructing the choral odes in the hope to demonstrate the elaborate and thematically significant music in the flow of action in the play. 2. Rhythms Related to the Structure of Theater These rhythmical patterns posit an external or macrocosmic musical design on the structure of the In the Poetics, Aristotle considers the choral play. If we compare this sequence with the feet in songs an integral part of the play like the prologue, the lines of the odes, it looks like an iambic scenes, and exodus. He also considers the choric hexameter line if we consider that episodes stand odes integral to the action of the play exactly like for unstressed syllables and the chorus for stressed the action of the other characters. Says Aristotle: syllables: U / U / U / U / U / U/. The Chorus too should be regarded as one of the actors; it should be an integral part of the The resulting rhythm of the alternation is regular, whole, and share in the action, in the antithetical, and equidistant. Similarly, the rhythm manner not of Euripides but of Sophocles. As stemming from the alternation of the episodes and for the later poets, their choral songs pertain as chorus generates another rhythm emanating from little to the subject of the piece as to that of any the regular alternation of the place in the theater other tragedy. They are, therefore, sung as designated for the actors of the episodes and that of Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Page 842 Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-5, 2016 ISSN: 2454-1362, http://www.onlinejournal.in the choristers. So the fact that the actors utter their chorus escort him along his sad discoveries and speeches on the stage (proskenion) and the chorus accompany him toward his tragic fall.
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