What is/are the role(s) of the chorus(es) in The Oresteia? Remember that the three plays have three different choruses.

Although the chorus might have been overshadowed by the other characters throughout the three plays, they were just as important. There were three different choruses in The Oresteia. The chorus in Agamemnon was a group of old men who did not go fight in the Trojan War. Their role in Agamemnon was quite essential as they filled in the audience on some missing information. In the beginning, the chorus discussed some details involving the Trojan War and they also expressed some of their own opinions of the events. The chorus also has the effect of influencing the audience to feel a certain emotion. For example, in Agamemnon, when Cassandra revealed the destructing events that will occur to her, the chorus expressed their pity. In The Libation Bearers, the chorus was a group of slave women and they held a more active role. They were the ones to encourage Electra and Orestes to avenge their father and were also the ones to tell the nurse to ask Aegisthus to arrive alone. Without their presence, the plot would not have taken such significant turns. In the last play, the chorus was the Furies and they had undergone an important change in character at the end of the play. The Furies had the initial role of punishing wrongdoers which was shown as they chased after Orestes for murdering his mother. This was to show that Orestes had to take responsibility for his actions. However, in the end, Orestes was proven innocent and to appease the Furies, Athena had to convince them to stay in Athens and to change their roles. Their new role consisted of bringing justice to the people and this ended their roles as vengeful individuals. Their roles were also essential as it showed how the legal system has continued smoothly with the presence of the Furies who became the Eumenides.