Prologue

 The word prologue comes from the Greek word πρόλογος (prólogos), which is a compound of pro, “before” and lógos, “word.”

It is the opening to a story, or outside of literature to a piece of music, that comes before the first page or chapter. 

The prologue is often used to establish the context and provide background details to the story and the characters involved in it, which is to come. 

Sometimes the prologue is more critical to the text than other times. It may or may not contain information that’s necessary to understanding the rest of the story. 

 Prologue on the Greek Stage

Greek prologos was more like a preface – an introduction to a literary work provided by a dramatist, to tell how the idea of the story developed. 

Therefore, in Greek dramas, prologue was a complete episode, or the first act, which was succeeded by the remaining acts of a play.

The invention of prologue is attributed to Euripides. 

He prefixed a prologue to his plays as an explanatory first act in order to make the upcoming events in a play comprehensible for his audience.

During the classical period, the prologue usually conformed to one of four different formats :The sustatikos, epitimetikos, dramatikos, and the mixtos. 

The first involved praising the play or poet before the performance, the second gave thanks to the audience, the third dealt with an explanation of the plot and the fourth was a mix of all the these. 

In the Middle Ages, the homily was introduced. This short expert began various compositions of the time period. 

Prologue on the Latin Stage

Plautus, a Latin playwright, has written examples of prologues in his plays that were more elaborate than Greek prologues. 

His prologues were admired for their romantic quality, and were usually performed by characters that did not make an appearance in the play.

Prologue on the Elizabethan Stage

The early English dramatists were influenced by the traditions of prologues in Greek and Latin plays. 

Even the early forms of drama, mystery, and morality plays always began with a Homily, which was a religious commentary on the biblical story that was to be performed in those plays. 

Elizabethan dramatists took inspiration from the Greek and Latin tradition of prologue, holding it as a compulsory ingredient of their plays.

In 1562, Thomas Norton, and Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset wrote Gorboduc, which is believed to be the first English play. 

He prepared a pantomime that acted as a prologue for his play. Later, he wrote Induction, which was a prologue to his Miscellany of short romantic epics.

A prologue to Elizabethan plays usually served to quieten and settle down an audience before the commencement of a play. 

It then introduced the themes of the play and other particulars to the audience, making them mentally prepared for the events they were to witness in the performance. Also, it was considered necessary to beg their leniency for any error that might occur in the writing of the play, or in the performances of actors on stage.

Usually, the character who uttered the prologue was dressed in black, in order to differentiate him from the rest of the actors who wore colorful costumes during their performances.