The ancient Greek culture greatly emphasized strength, both as of physical body and of mental sharpness. It also highlighted gender specific roles and specific actions to the men and women living in that society. When examining some of the great works of literature, we come across Euripides Medea translated by Rex Warner and Homer’s The Odyssey translated by Richmond Lattimore. The main characters of these novels, Medea and Odysseus respectively, show character traits and skills that make them stand out. Although their differences in conforming to gender roles, both Odysseus and Medea display heroic assets when attempting to take control over their fate.
Medea attempts to gain control over her fate, although her actions may not be acceptable
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to the society, she surely proves to be a tragic hero to this day. Medea, the granddaughter of Helios- the sun god, brutally kills her brother and deceives her father to ensure safety of her former lover- Jason. Jason who previously swore promises to the gods for remaining loyal to Medea, now openly breaks his oath. Medea feels as if she had been dishonored that her husband is divorcing her to marry a princess, since she has suffered much and made many sacrifices for him. So, without putting her hands on her lap and let Jason decide what happens to her, she decides to take control of her fate through revenge. Thus adding to her anger, Creon, king of Ioclos, fearing her sorcery that she will use to harm him and his daughter, decides to banish her and her children.
Medea’s violent resistance symbolizes the struggles of women in the male-dominated Greek society. Here, her masculine traits once again appear. Her skillful use of rhetoric, her cunning and deceit, willpower and self-sacrifice are all motivated by revenge. It is these qualities that are required to carry out her actions, thus setting Medea apart from the ideal feminine and near masculinity as heroic …show more content…
figure. Medea skillfully uses rhetoric to take control over both men and women that allows her to fulfill all her tasks. This is evident when she pleads with the king to give her an extra day so she can find herself and her children a place to live to which the king agrees. In reality she uses that time frame to implement her plan to destroy him and his daughter. She cleverly takes sympathy from the Chorus to justify her further plans of action. She also opportunistically persuades Aegeus to provide her with shelter at Athens in exchange for her remedies to cure his sterility. During that time period persuasiveness and oratory represented male qualities which Medea now skilled at, uses for her own benefit. Medea through her cunning and deceit, gets others to do what she wants from them.
When she goes to Jason for the first time at the palace, she expresses extreme anger and wishes bad for the future of Jason and her to be wife. Upon Jason’s contribution of money and a safe place to stay, Medea instantly refuses any of his help. This attitude of Medea opposes the current day behavior of any helpless woman- self suffice. Medea uses Creon’s order of exile and an extra day for her own advantage. Now when she approaches Jason again, but now to convince him that she feels remorse over her attitude and justifies his thought of women being emotional and obsessive. She later glories her accomplishment in terms of manipulation, a heroic feature, when she says, “he’s not so clever after all”. After a while to get permission for the children to remain in the city with their father, Medea sends some gifts for the princess by her children. Her extreme desire of revenge is accomplished through her poisoned gifts that take the lives of the princess and Creon into its wrath. Revenge is surely a motive force associated with men as heroic figures which Medea takes upon
herself. Another important trait of Medea which can be considered heroic is her extent of will power and self-sacrifice. Deciding then actually executing such a horrific plan must have consumed much of Medea’s willpower. Apart from killing the king and his daughter to give Jason the worst of revenge, Medea must kill her own children so that when Jason is in the state of misery, he has no one to relieve his sorrows. Medea at one moment realizes how much she loves her children, and killing them would hurt her much more than it would hurt Jason. She finally overcomes the feelings of love and care and decides that she has to kill them so her plan may succeed. Although this act is definitely not morally justified but it indeed adheres to a heroic code. So she sticks to her resolve and finally completes what she planned of. The fact that Medea goes till the end to accomplish her task proves her determination and a strong figure.
Odysseus ' principles and characteristics are a prototype of an ideal Homeric Greek leader. Odysseus is noble, clever and loyal. Through his distress and blunders, he gains knowledge that was not only crucial for his survival but for his companions too. Odysseus’s cleverness constantly allowed him to avoid death because he relied on trickery, rhetoric and disguise. “The society depicted in The Odyssey is one where male values were dominant and where all socially relevant transactions took place between the male members of the community”. (Whittaker 39) While males’ dominance takes the forefront in society, their principles are continuously being challenged by the allurement of women. In The Odyssey, many instances of such seduction reveals
For the Greeks, Homer's Odyssey was much more than just an entertaining tale of gods, monsters, and men, it served as cultural paradigm from which every important role and relationship could be defined. This book, much more so than its counter part The Iliad, gives an eclectic view of the Achean's peacetime civilization. Through Odyssey, we gain an understanding of what is proper or improper in relationships between father and son, god and mortal, servant and master, guest and host, and--importantly--man and woman. Women play a vital role in the movement of this narrative. Unlike in The Iliad, where they are chiefly prizes to be won, bereft of identity, the women of Odyssey are unique in their personality, intentions, and relationship towards men. Yet, despite the fact that no two women in this epic are alike, each--through her vices or virtues-- helps to delineate the role of the ideal woman. Below, we will show the importance of Circe, Calypso, Nausicaa, Clytaemestra, and Penelope in terms of the movement of the narrative and in defining social roles for the Ancient Greeks.
Her hatred toward Greek women continues as she discusses the fact that she should not have to bear children or have a strong maternal instinct in order to be considered a woman of societal worth. Women should be as important in battle as men are, as she states on page 195 when she says “They say that we have a safe life at home, whereas men must go to war. Nonsense! I had rather fight three battles than bear one child. But be that as it may, you and I are not in the same case.” The gender imbalance in the ancient Greek civilization is greatly upsetting to Medea, creating her mindset that Greek women are weak and simple minded while Greek men are oppressive and inequitable. Medea shares
With no husband, no country to turn to, and no one she can really depend on for rescue, Medea is trapped by her circumstances. Instead of becoming crushed, however, Medea turns it against those she hate. She attacks the weaknesses in her enemies’ character. Knowing Jason would feel guilty about his abandonment, Medea sent her own children to deliver the poisoned gifts, despite the certain death her children would face being involved in such a plot. Knowing the princess would not resist flashy gifts, she cursed the dress and crown. Knowing the king’s love for his daughter would cause him to rush to her aid, Medea formulated the curse to spread to those who touched the daughter as well. As each facet of her plan had to be executed perfectly to succeed, Medea demonstrated the full potential of her capabilities. She proves that when a society completely scorns and devalues women, everyone will pay as women are incredibly strong.
Women play an influential role in The Odyssey. Women appear throughout the story, as goddesses, wives, princesses, or servants. The women in “The Odyssey” dictate the direction of the epic. Homer the blind creator may have contrived the story with the aim to depict a story of a male heroism; but the story if looked at from a different angles shows the power women have over men. The Sirens and women that posses the power of seduction when ever they are encountered take the men off their course, and lead many to their death. The power women in the Epic pose can be seen from the goddess all to the wives. From The nymph Calypso who enslaves Odysseus for many years posses all the way back to Penelope who many argue is of equal importance to
The theme of women in the Odyssey is essential in establishing one of the if not the main message in the poem. The paradoxical messages give insights into the lives of the characters and generalizations into the reader's lives. Although this theme would have a noticeable affect on the poem in its absence, it is odd that in a story about war and adventure that they hold such dominating roles. In the setting of the Odyssey, women did not have a status that measured up to that of a man. However, whether seen as demonic or angelic they still hold in the example of Odysseus a significant role in the determination of the final fate of a man.
Medea and Lysistrata are two Greek literatures that depict the power which women are driven to achieve in an aim to defy gender inequality. In The Medea, Medea is battling against her husband Jason whom she hates. On the other hand, in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the protagonist Lysistrata plotted to convince and organize the female gender to protest against the stubbornness of men. In terms of defining the purpose of these two literatures, it is apparent that Euripedes and Aristophanes created characters that demonstrate resistance against the domination of men in the society.
The tragic play Medea is a struggle between reason and violence. Medea is deliberately portrayed as not a ‘normal woman’, but excessive in her passions. Medea is a torment to herself and to others; that is why Euripides shows her blazing her way through life leaving wreckage behind her. Euripides has presented Medea as a figure previously thought of exclusively as a male- hero. Her balance of character is a combination of the outstanding qualities of Achilles and Odysseus.
Because of Medea’s strange way of thinking, the reader is able to identify with her. Although she wishes to harm Jason, Medea does not care who else gets hurt along the way. “Ah, lost in my sufferings, I wish, I wish I might die,” (pg. 692, line 97-8). She is able to convince the reader with her first line that her suffering has been so awful, that there is no longer any point in living. Before truly understanding what is going on in the game, Medea is able to get many people on her side.
Medea’s illegitimate marriage and the betrayal of Jason drive Medea to extreme revenge. Medea chooses to act with her immortal self and commit inhumane acts of murder rather than rationalize the outcomes of her actions. Medea see’s this option as her only resort as she has been banished and has nowhere to go, “stripped of her place”. To create sympathy for Medea, Euripides plays down Medea’s supernatural powers until the end of the play. Throughout the play Medea represents all characteristics found in individual women put together, including; love, passion, betrayal and revenge. Medea’s portrayal of human flaws creates empathetic emotions from the audience. The audience commiserates with Medea’s human flaws as they recognize them in themselves. Medea plays the major role in this play as she demonstrates many behavioral and psychological patterns unlike any of the other Greek women in the play; this draws the audience’s attention to Medea for sympathy and respect.
Later in the story, our sympathy transfers from Medea to Jason. Her revenge turns immoral, leaving readers with a sense of uneasiness. It is not so much the fact that she kills Creon and his daughter, but the fact that she slays her children in cold-blood.
Internal conflicts within Medea shed light on her true character and her difficulties to make decisions. Throughout the play, there are many cases of Medea contemplating her decisions and this is done so the readers can see that Medea thinks for herself, and doesn’t let any male control her life. In the play, Medea states, “I had rather stand three times in the front line than bear one child” (1. 249-50). This shows that her internal conflict with not wanting to go through childbirth again is proof that her character is a little bit of a “masculine” woman. In the quote she is saying she’d rather battle than give birth. In a way, it is an example of Medea’ rejection of the foundation of the typical role of woman. Another example of Medea having an
Ironically, Medea’s actions are similar to a man when she takes charge of her marriage, living situation, and family life when she devices a plan to engulf her husband with grief. With this in mind, Medea had accepts her place in a man’s world unti...
When Medea Jason discovers Jason’s plans to marry Creon’s daughter she was hurt deeply. But when Creon tells her that she was being exiled we see her hurt turn into vengeance. Because Medea was a manipulative person she was only needed one day to plan and execute her plan to destroy Jason.
Medea's plan was set into motion. She has nothing to loose. She is even angrier because she betrayed her own father and her people for him. She even bears the burden of having Pelias killed by his daughters for Jason. She decides to take revenge out on Jason's bride and poisons her. She also doesn't want Jason to take the children from her. She decides to kill them, but agonizes over this decision before killing them. Some critics view this as a pathetic attempt at motherhood. I know there is a certain bond between mother and child. She just wants to hurt Jason as much as she has been hurt. "She first secures a place of refuge, and seems almost on the point of bespeaking a new connection. Medea abandoned by the entire world, was still sufficient for herself." (blackmask).