IV.

Dramatic Structure

Although the tragedies of Euripides differ in some remarkable ways from those of Aeschylus and Sophocles, the plays of the three dramatists have many common features. The basic structure is much the same: scenes of spoken dialogue between two or three actors alternate with odes in lyric verse sung by a chorus. The members of the chorus are technically dramatis personae (characters) in the drama, but in effect they are often somewhere between the actors and the audience, especially when they act as witnesses and comment on the action. Euripides often uses the choral odes to reinforce leading themes rather than to advance plot.

Euripides’s plays differ in structure from those of Aeschylus and Sophocles chiefly in their frequent use of prologues and epilogues. These are written in the same verse as the dialogue and are spoken most often by deities who do not appear in the play; sometimes they are spoken by human characters who do appear. In the prologue Euripides makes clear to the audience the events that precede the opening of the play and often outlines what will happen during the play. The epilogue tells the remainder of the story, often changing the fate of the characters.

Euripides’s plays were criticized for their structure. His use of the prologue and epilogue came under attack as clumsy and undramatic. Aristophanes ridiculed Euripides for his mechanical and exaggerated use of the explanatory prologue, which was frequently burdened with long histories of the characters. Euripides’s use of the chorus independent of the chief action of the drama was also unconventional.

The loose structure of Euripides’s plays also drew criticism. Some of his works contain brilliant detached episodes that do not form coherent units, through which the plots gradually develop. He also relied heavily on the deus ex machina, the unexpected introduction of a god to solve the dilemmas of the characters and bring a play to its conclusion.