# Name this word. (Theatrical/Old English) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2001, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710 "2001-10-21T17:40:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/1 "2001-10-21T17:40:09Z")
Before the play Romeo and Juliet starts, a guy comes out says his peice that goes along the lines of Blah blah story of 2 lovers Caught in a quarrel blah blah Capulets and Montagues… Question is: Whats this persons title? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/2 "2001-10-21T17:43:14Z")
Prologue. ---
**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/3 "2001-10-21T17:48:19Z")
Don’t think thats it. It’s the guy who says the prologue ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/4 "2001-10-21T17:54:35Z")
That would be the _Chorus,_ actually. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/5 "2001-10-21T19:02:56Z")
The character is unnamed, but it was not unusual for the person who said the prologue to be referred to as prologue. ---
**Author:** ![johncole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@johncole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johncole)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/6 "2001-10-21T20:45:54Z")
The “character” does not identify himself in _Romeo and Juliet_, but in _King Henry V_ he uses the phrase “_Admit me **Chorus** to this history; / Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray, / Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play._” ---
**Author:** ![nineiron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e56c9b/32.png) [@nineiron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nineiron)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/7 "2001-10-21T22:01:09Z")
Chorus is correct. What he reads is the prologue. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2001, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/8 "2001-10-21T22:36:03Z")
When I was in university, I had a professor that suggested that it was indeed Shakespeare who did the Chorus part originally. He said later (after the death of Shakespeare in 1616) it was the responsibility of the director. We used to believe him. He always seemed old enough to have known Shakespeare. TV ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/9 "2001-10-22T09:18:53Z")
At the time the play was written, the terms ‘the prologue’ and ‘the chorus’ were both in use to describe the person who read the prologue, so either will do. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/10 "2001-10-22T12:35:46Z")
The second listing [here](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=prologue) will concur with **APB** and **Reality Chuck**. ---
**Author:** ![johncole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@johncole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johncole)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/11 "2001-10-22T15:11:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pulykamell \* > \*\*The second listing [here](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=prologue) will concur with **APB** and **Reality Chuck**. \*\* I take your point, but then also [this](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=chorus). As **APB** very reasonably states, the references allow both terms to be used, but what did _the Author_ call him? Is this the real point of the OP? I will admit that I have yet to check all the plays (too lazy), but relatively few start with a Prologue. (King Henry IV Part II starts with an Induction spoken by Rumour.) Do you have a cite where WS (or any other contemporary playwright) refers to the character as Prologue? ---
**Author:** ![johncole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@johncole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johncole)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/12 "2001-10-22T16:09:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by johncole \* > \*\*Do you have a cite where WS (or any other contemporary playwright) refers to the character as Prologue? \*\* Got one. In _Hamlet Act III Sc. II_ the second playing of the play-within-a-play (the first is Dumb Show) is introduced by a Player listed (in my edition) as Prologue. I can find nothing in the text to support this listing but it seems a good example. More support for **APB**. PS is it acceptable to reply to your own posts? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/13 "2001-10-22T16:15:54Z")
Wow, you’re actually getting fact-based responses! But I still hope this helps with your homework! Good Luck, WordMan ---
**Author:** ![johncole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f9b8f/32.png) [@johncole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johncole)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/14 "2001-10-22T17:12:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by johncole \* > \*\*Do you have a cite where WS (or any other contemporary playwright) refers to the character as Prologue? \*\* Got one. In _Hamlet Act III Sc. II_ the second playing of the play-within-a-play (the first is Dumb Show) is introduced by a Player listed (in my edition) as Prologue. I can find nothing in the text to support this listing but it seems a good example. More support for **APB**. PS is it acceptable to reply to your own posts? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/15 "2001-10-22T17:33:58Z")
The difficulty in asking what terms the author used is that we don’t have the original drafts of the plays. The published versions have come through various hands (prompters, stage managers, actors, scribes, editors, publishers), and may have been altered or added to at various times. Tracing the history of a particular text and trying to identify which parts can reliably be attributed to WS is one of the major areas of the textual criticism of the plays. As well, not all of the plays as received come with tables of all the actors. In fact, only a minority of them had “dramatis personæ” when published in the First Folio or quartos. Subsequent editors have compiled the tables of actors. Similarly, the division of the action of the play into acts and scenes, including Inductions or Prologues, is not always found in the original printed versions, but have been added by later editors. I took a quick spin through my Kitteridge. Of the 37 plays, only 7 have tables of actors dating back to the original published versions. They are: _The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Measure for Measure, Henry IV, Pt. 2, Othello, Timon of Athens, A Winter’s Tale,_ and _The Tempest._ Of these plays, only _Henry IV, Pt. 2_ has a prologue. As **johncole** points out, _Henry IV, Pt. 2_ begins with a speech by “Rumour, the Presenter,” listed as such in the table of actors. He enters, “painted full of tongues.” His presentation is called an “Induction,” and is separate from Act One, but it looks like that term was added by subsequent editors. (Kitteridge prints Induction in square brackets, [Induction], which normally indicates that it was not found in the source texts.) He is not referred to as a Prologue. _Henry V_ does not have a dramatis personæ from the source texts, but as **johncole** notes, it begins with a Prologue. The stage direction reads: “Enter Prologue,” without any square brackets, so I assume that the term was used in the source texts. The Prologue’s speech is not included in Act One, but neither is it termed an Induction. However, in subsequent places in _Henry V_, the “Chorus” enters, to update the audience on where the action is occurring: at the beginnings of Acts 2, 3, 4 and 5, and as an Epilogue at the end of Act 5. The stage direction is “Enter Chorus” without square brackets, so I assume it comes from the source texts. _Henry VIII_ does not have a dramatis personæ from the source texts. It begins with “The Prologue,” prior to Act I. The Prologue is not attributed to any actor, and there is no stage direction for the entry of the prologue. Since there are no square brackets around “The Prologue,” I assume that the usage of the term as a division of the action comes from the source texts. Similarly, _Romeo and Juliet_ does not have a dramatis personæ from the source texts. It begins with “The Prologue,” prior to Act I (no square brackets). Unlike _Henry VIII_, there is a stage direction for “Chorus” to enter, but “Chorus” is in square brackets, indicating it was a later editorial addition. _Troilus and Cressida_ does not have a dramatis personæ from the source texts. It begins with “The Prologue,” prior to Act I. The Prologue is not attributed to any actor, and there is no stage direction for the entry of the Prologue. _Pericles_ has a prologue spoken by Gower, as part of Act One, but not included in Scene 1 or termed an Induction or Prologue. Gower is listed in the dramatis personæ “as chorus” in square brackets. So, based on all that, I would say that both terms could be used, but with some differences in usage. “Chorus” seems to have been used only to refer to the speaker, while “Prologue” could indicate the speaker, the speech, or a division of the action of the play. And of course a prologue can only come at the beginning of a play. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/16 "2001-10-22T18:46:19Z")
After a quick perusal of the Arden Shakespeare, it looks like the editorial convention is to use “Chorus” as the speech prefix (SP) if the character appears before scenes other than the beginning or end, such as in _Henry V_ or _Romeo and Juliet_ (though I’ve never seen the second chorus in performance). However, characters that only speak the prologue or epilogue and are not otherwise named are usually just given the SP “Prologue” or “Epilogue.” (Curiously, the Folio text of _Henry IV, Part 2_ reads “Epilogue, spoken by a Dancer,” although the modernized texts I have omit that particular direction…and further, when the epilogue is spoken by a named character, there usually isn’t a normal SP, but something like _The Tempest_’s “Epilogue, spoken by Prospero.”) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/17 "2001-10-22T22:22:56Z")
**Katisha** , my copy of the Arden H4,ii indicates that the attribution to “a dancer” doesn’t come from the Folio. It says: > [@](#): > > Pope and many editors mark the whoe Epilogue as ‘_Spoken by a Dancer._’ Are we referring to different editions, perhaps, or am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/18 "2001-10-23T03:50:47Z")
OK, I was a bit careless there – I’ve got the big Arden, which doesn’t have the extensive notes and hence doesn’t mention “spoken by a dancer” bit, and the Bantam edition doesn’t have it either. But I know I’ve seen it somewhere…I have a facsimile edition of the Folio which, unfortunately, I don’t have at hand, and I think I misremembered it as coming from the Folio. Now that I think about it more, I probably saw it in the edition my mom has, which is a reprint of a nineteenth-century version (edited by Staunton) and hence a good look at editorial techniques from a hundred years ago. Sorry for the mix-up. 🙂 I wonder where Pope got it, though? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/19 "2001-10-23T04:32:47Z")
I remember reading somewhere that it was common to have a dance at the end of a play - sort of like the credits rolling, gives members of the audience something to do while the wife looks for her purse, the hubby puts on his cloak, etc. There is also a specific indication in the H4-ii epilogue that it’s given by a dancer. The last line is: “My tongue is weary; when my legs are too, I will bid you good night.” ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-word-theatrical-old-english/88710/20 "2001-10-23T12:49:15Z")
Just thought of another example of both a prologue and a dance at the end: the rude mechanics’ play in _Midsummer Night’s Dream_, of course. There is a Prologue to their play, and the stage direction reads: “Enter the Prologue (Quince)” and gives “Pro.” as the direction for his speeches. All the directions are without square brackets, so I assume they come from the original texts. Their play is also an example of a dance at the end, as Bottom says: “Will it please you to see the Epilogue, or to hear a Bergomask dance between two of our company?” Theseus wisely chooses the dance. 😉