Euripides is famous for his numerus plays. Many of those plays presented the audience with a dilemma. We’re not talking about whether or not you should have a hot dog or hamburger at a barbeque, but a moral dilemma. In the play Medea, Euripides gives his audience many different dilemmas to consider. One of those dilemma’s concerns Medea’s state of mind Throughout the play the audience is forced to ask, “Did Medea act out of mad reckless rage or with sane, well thought-out plans.” In the very beginning of the play we are introduced to our first character, the nurse, and in a monologue she bewails the dire situation of her mistress Medea. In this monologue we hear how furious and upset Medea has been acting. The nurse is even fearful for the …show more content…
For the common man and woman, they care about their children and the safety thereof. If Medea is considering to harm her children, the audience could ask themselves if Medea is in the right state of mind. As an audience member, a natural instinct within us could trigger at this point. How could a mother say those words about her own offspring. We could begin to rationalize within ourselves that she must be so mad and full of anger and she will soon come to and have remember her love for her children. Medea herself says how she is a hateful mother. By suggesting to the audience crazy Medea is from the very beginning makes this thought stay with the audience throughout the entire …show more content…
With the progression of the play, Euripides suggests Medea knows fully well what she is doing and is she is thinking with a clear mind. Medea seems to have considered every possible outcome and she tries to compensate for each negative result. She schemes up the foulest way to hurt her former husband with well thought-out plans to accomplish her evil goals. Medea involves her and Jason’s children to murder Jason’s soon to be bride and the king of Corinth, the bride’s father. Soon after commits the act of murder upon own her children. Followed by the cold-blooded murder of her children she shows the children’s bodies to their father. It can become questionable to still think Medea is in her right mind after plotting and caring out her hurtful of murder. It could be said that these plans were more extravagant than a mad woman could
Euripedes tugs and pulls at our emotions from every angle throughout The Medea. He compels us to feel sympathy for the characters abused by Medea, yet still feel sympathy for Medea as well. These conflicting feelings build a sense of confusion and anxiety about the unfolding plot. In the beginning, the Nurse reveals the recent background events that have caused Medea so much torment: "She herself helped Jason in every way" (13) and now he "has taken a royal wife to his bed" (18). Right away we are angry with Jason for breaking his wedding vows, and we are building up sympathy for Medea as the Nurse describes her acts of suffering. When we first see Medea, she speaks passionately to the women of Corinth and convinces them to side with her. She evokes their sympathy by drawing further attention to her suffering and speaking in terms that bring them all to common ground. Aegeus becomes Medea’s first victim when he, unknowingly, provides the final building block in her plan for revenge against Jason. We sympathize for Aegeus in his ignorance. Medea now has confidence in her plan, so she reveals it to the women of Corinth. She is going to send her children to Jason’s bride with a poisoned dress that will make her die in agony. We are still compelled to sympathize with Medea at this point because she has justified her reasons for seeking revenge. However, the princess is oblivious to Medea’s plot; she will accept the gift for its beauty then meet an unexpected, agonized death. The image of pain and agony elicits our sympathy as well. Medea presents her most perverse speech when she explains how she will kill her own children then flee Corinth. Alone, these acts provoke pure disgust, but Euripides has developed Medea’s character as a coercive force; we still sympathize with her for her plight, yet we also hate her for her decisions. The women of Corinth try to persuade her away from this morbid choice, but their arguments are ineffective. Euripides employs stichomythia in the exchange between the women and Medea to show Medea breaking down boundaries between self and other, which prevent sympathy (811-819). Euripedes focuses on suffering, ignorance, and rhetoric to leave us torn in our sympathy for every character.
Medea's first public statement, a sort of "protest speech," is one of the best parts of the play and demonstrates a complex, at times even contradictory, representation of gender. Medea's calm and reasoning tone, especially after her following out bursts of despair and hatred, provides the first display of her ability to gather herself together in the middle of crisis and pursue her hidden agenda with a great determination. This split in her personality is to a certain degree gender bias. The lack of emotional restraint is "typical" of women, and the strong attention to moral action is a common trait of heroes. Medea actually uses both of these traits so that her wild emotions fuel her ideals, thus producing a character that fails to fit into a clear mold.
Medea is a tragedy written by acclaimed Greek playwright Euripides.fortunately, had the opportunity to view last night's performance. Euripides cleverly uncovers the reality of Ancient Greek society, shining a light on the treatment of women and the emotions and thoughts that provoked during their time in society. As they were voiceless, Euripides acted as a voice. The scene is set during a male- dominated society, Medea the protagonist challenges the views and chooses to ignore the normality of civilisation. Treated as an outsider her passion for revenge conquers the motherly instincts she possesses, provoking a deep hatred and sparking revenge towards her once loved family.
This quote performs to show the reader the internal struggle that is absorbing Medea’s beyond distressed mind. Norton’s version makes it clear that Medea is not acting on animalistic urges, but is fighting amongst her own thoughts on whether or not to kill her children. “…do not weaken, don’t remember that you love your children dearly, that you gave them life. For one short day forget your children.” (Norton, 776).
When Jason left Medea to marry Glauce, Medea was plagued with sadness and then with anger. The man she loved, the man that she gave up her life for, had betrayed her. In the patriarchal society that Medea lived in, it was not acceptable for a woman to protest any decision made by her husband. Medea went against all social standards and took revenge on Jason for the wrongs that he had committed. She was willing to take any chance and sacrifice even her most valued possessions. Medea knew that the best way to avenge the wrongs of Jason was to kill Glauce and the children. It was a huge sacrifice for Medea to kill the children that she loved, but she allowed herself to look past that love and only see her hate and contempt for Jason. Medea was willing to go against every rule that society set, so that her husband wouldn't get away with leaving her for political reasons.
In Medea, a play by Euripides, Jason possesses many traits that lead to his downfall. After Medea assists Jason in his quest to get the Golden Fleece, killing her brother and disgracing her father and her native land in the process, Jason finds a new bride despite swearing an oath of fidelity to Medea. Medea is devastated when she finds out that Jason left her for another woman after two children and now wants to banish her. Medea plots revenge on Jason after he gives her one day to leave. Medea later acts peculiarly as a subservient woman to Jason who is oblivious to the evil that will be unleashed and lets the children remain in Corinth. The children later deliver a poisoned gown to Jason’s new bride that also kills the King of Corinth. Medea then kills the children. Later, she refuses to let Jason bury the bodies or say goodbye to the dead children he now loves so dearly. Jason is cursed with many catastrophic flaws that lead to his downfall and that of others around him.
The problem set at the beginning of the play is that Jason has decided to marry another wife, Glauce. Medea is angered and will not let Jason off without punishment. The loss of Jason is not only a matter of passion; Medea has been completely humiliated by Jason's decision to take a new bride. Her pride shows again when she refuses Jason's aid. Though her situation is difficult, she would rather destroy all than accept help from one who has wronged her so horribly. Living as a barbarian among Greeks has made her more defensive, more full of hurt pride. To punish Jason, Medea had her children deliver poisoned gifts to the new bride, to kill her children, Glauce, and Creon. . Medea is not without feeling, nor is she a sociopath. She comprehends the difference between right and wrong, but chooses to follow the dictates of rage.
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.
Throughout the whole story, you are torn with emotions between the characters. At first, you feel sorry for Medea. Her husband, who she has saved from death, has left her for another woman. She has been "all/obediant" their entire marriage, transforming herself into the sort of wife required by society. You can't help but sympathize with her.
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...
Although Medea killed and did things that people felt were wrong it is evident that through out the play that along with her other characteristics, she was a caring and loving person. The first time we are shown this is when we discover everything she did for Jason. If she did not love him she would not have done those things. We are also shown that Medea can be a caring person by the love that she had for her children. Although she killed them in the end during the play she was a mother to her children, she showed affection to them, and she did think twice before she killed them. It is because Medea was a caring and loving person that she did what she did. Her feelings were hurt and her heart was broken; and she did what she felt she had to do to hurt Jason for hurting her.
She poisoned the king and his daughter, murdered her sons, and brought her ex-husband’s life crashing to piece, then rides to the safety of Athens on a chariot drawn by dragons (stage direction at line 1317). She has guaranteed her safety in Athens (lines 752-753) and leaves behind the havoc she has wrought in Corinth. Her methods of revenge are extreme, though they are justifiable. Jason took everything from her, effectively manipulating her love for his own gain, for no one would in their right mind destroy their connection to their homeland and family. Medea was manipulated into murdering her brother and betraying her father so that Jason could have his glory.
... the Chorus, they condemn her for it, but, they can see and understand the reasons behind why Medea did what she did. For this reason at the end of the play the audience still has some sympathy for Medea, although severely diminished from that at the beginning of the play.
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).