Slapšak notes that Njegoš was born into a culture with an almost exclusively oral storytelling tradition, where the only written works were of a religious nature or recounted the history of Montenegro. Describing his mastery of the traditional oral epic, she asserts that it was the "only adequate, literary genre of his age", one that allowed him "to interpret community for the world and for himself in the language of poetry." Multiple scholars have also noted similarities between the chorus of Ancient Greek tragedies and that of "Gorski vijenac" (the "kolo", which represents the collective voice of Montenegro's inhabitants, reflecting their hopes, fears and desires.) The epic also features similar character roles, such as that of the pensive ruler (Danilo), the hero (Vuk Mandušić), the blind prophetic monk ("iguman" Stefan) and the lamenting woman (Batrić's sister).