Dal pianto nascosto al canto di vittoria: sull'autorità della voce corale nelle Coefore di Eschilo

In Aeschylus’ Libation Bearers, the choral voice, although belonging to a group of women of servile status, is characterized by a considerable degree of authority, which allows it to act as a companion and guide first to Electra and then to Orestes in the preparation of their revenge. It is the chorus that becomes the advocate of retributive justice and uses its own song as a tool that, through lamentation, contributes to the necessary awakening of the wrath of the deceased. Aeschylus draws an arc in which the nature of choral singing evolves from an initial hidden lamentation to a cry of victory, but at the same time aims to dramatically undermine the authority of the choral voice in the last part of the tragedy, when the women must face the crisis triggered by the manifestation of the Furies in Orestes’ mind.