Medea Journal 1

The role of the chorus is very important in both Medea and Sophocles' Oedipus. Not only does the chorus give general information that helps the reader/audience better understand the story, but they also ask questions that everyone would be asking. One example of this is when Medea is talking about leaving the palace and the chorus asks, "Whom will you turn to? Where will you turn? What country, what stranger, what home for a haven? Who will receive you?" (p. 44 Lines 359-361). Theses are questions that match what the reader/audience is thinking exactly. By trying to work out these uncertainties through asking questions and using metaphors as well as other literary techniques, this helps the reader/audience better understand what is going on. With the use of literary techniques to try to illustrate what is happening helps the reader/audience relate to the situation as well as the characters themselves. The chorus is different from Oedipus to Medea because when Oedipus refers to the chorus it is more general, like he is talking to the crowd/people of the town whereas Medea refers to the chorus as her friends during some of the hardest times that she goes through. The chorus and Medea seem to have a closer, less casual relationship than Oedipus does.