Medea Gender Roles

Alexandra McAllister

Great Books of the Western World

Term Paper

Fall 2014

Medea and Gender Roles

Medea is a play from Classical Greek Mythology that was written as a play by Euripides in 4th century BC. The story has been derived from a collection of many of the takes that were being passed on through oral tradition. The audience that was coming to see the play were already familiar with the story and its characters. The play begins with Jason having already abandoned Medea, his wife, as well as their two children. Jason has left Medea with the intention of marrying Glauce, the daughter of Creon, the king of Corinth, which would ultimately advance Jason's social and political position. We learn from a nurse some of the events that have

preceded this. Both Jason and Medea had been exiled from their homeland and then took refuge in Corinth, where they began their family and were able to establish some fame and respectability. Feeling like she's given Jason the best of her, Medea is particularly crushed that Jason has left her. She begins to curse herself as well as her children. Once Creon gets word of this, he then banishes Medea, as well as her children, from Corinth. Medea pleads with him and she allotted one more day in the city. Medea decides to use this day the seek revenge.

She originally plans to kill Creon, Glaunce and Jason. Jason visits Medea and tells her that she is endangering the lives of their children by being so outspoken.It is at

this point where Jason also tells her that his actions were in the best interest of the entire family.
Medea runs into Aegues, who is the King of Athens. He offers Medea sanctuary in Athens in exchange for drugs that will cure his sterility. Medea then begins to extract her plot of revenge on Jason. She pretends to sympathize with him and offers gifts for his new wife, a dress and coronet. This gifts have actually been laced with poison which causes Glaunce's death. Creon is so distraught by the death of his daughter that he then embraces her to absurd the poison himself and die by her side. Medea then murders he children and flees in a dragon pulled chariot that has been provided for her by her grandfather, the Sun God. Jason is left alone with everything that was of value to him lost through death.

In the first scene of Medea when the nurse is describing the background of Jason and Medea it's quite obvious that she is on Medea's side because she repeats "Poor Medea" twice in the speech (lines 19 and 32), and again when Medea is heard crying from inside of the house (line 114). The nurse explains that Medea loved Jason so deeply that she was content with being the submissive homemaker if it would make Jason happy, she even states that "while to Jason she is all obedience, and in marriage that's the saving thing, when a wife obediently accepts her husband's will" (lines 12-15). Upon Jason betraying Medea, however, she loses her feminine behaviors and starts the act in a more masculine way. When Medea speaks about her plots of revenge against Jason she talks as if he is an enemy to be defeated. "If I can find a way to work revenge on Jason for his wrongs to me" (lines 258-259) implies Medea is looking for the ultimate punishment against Jason.

When Medea is crying over Jason she is considered to possess more feminine traits "she lies collapsed in agony, dissolving the long hours in tears", (lines 23-24), but she does so privately within the confines of her own home.

The Chorus of Corinthian women hear Medea's distress and say "I heard that unhappy woman from Colchis still crying, not calm yet" (lines 30-32), which also makes me believe that they sympathize with her, but then they are surprised that Jason's betray is upsetting her so much. In Ancient Greek culture it is normal for men to be unfaithful and much more accepted. "If your husband is won to a new love, the thing is common; why let it anger you?" (lines 55-56). As if the loss of love is no big deal and Medea should just be ok with it.

Once Medea regains her composure and leaves the house, she explains to the Corinthians how Jason's actions have made her feel. She explains the demands placed on a woman once they are married "we must..accept him as possessor of our body, will the man be bad or good. For women, divorce is not respectable; to repel the man, not possible" (lines 229-237). She goes on to say how unfair it is that men can look elsewhere for sexual relations when they tire of their wives, but women are expected to be faithful, " if a man grows tired of the company at home, he can go

out, and find a cure for tediousness. We wives are forced to look

to
one man only". (lines 244-247).

Euripides has portrayed a woman who had feminine qualities while married to Jason, but upon being hurt and having her marriage fail apart she begins to display more masculine traits. Medea does feminine charms tin order to convince Creon, to allow her to stay in Corinth for one day, after he has banished her, and therefore he allows her time to plan her revenge. Creon is looked at as a coward for allowing her to manipulate him in this way, and he even expresses that he is afraid of her when she is displaying her more masculine personality traits. "I fear you.I fear that you may do my daughter some irreparable harm" (lines 282-283).

The roles of women have varied from century to century. In ancient Greece, however, the roles of women were pretty clear cut. Women stayed home to care for children and do housework while men left to work, this is what was expected, and the only chance a woman had at advancing her social status would be through marriage. This much like the hunter gatherer concept where women would tend to household chores and look after the children and the men hunted during the day and would be doted on by their wives upon their return. Interestingly enough, while women held customary submissive role, it was often a more multifaceted role in society as juxtaposed with the rather simple role men played. While men where always viewed as a provider, women could be portrayed as the temptress or take on the submissive role. Morals for the two were also different, as men could do things that were considered unacceptable for a woman to even think of doing.

It was quite acceptable for a man to commit adultery but if a woman was to do so she would be chastised. The only acceptable reason for a woman to commit an act of adultery, would be if it was with a god . So it was perfectly ok for a man to go out and sleep with anyone he wishes, while a woman's body could only be reserved for her husband or a god. I also saw this present while reading the Odyssey. Odysseus the "hero" is granted many women of his choosing, meanwhile, Penelope, his wife is expected to remain faithful and fend off all the suitors at home. Upon Odysseus' return, Penelope is so happy that she leaps into his arms without question. This reaction is the epitome of the unbalanced Greek morals. Although Penelope had a but more luck than Medea did, at least her husband did return to her. Jason has left Medea, leaving her feeling helpless and alone. While it was rather simple for jason to take a new bride, Medea is already older and has children. Even if she was to get over this tragic loss of her husband, what are the chances of her finding love again? So Medea changes, she is no longer the sweet and victimized housewife. This also implies that it is not only the mortal women who are vindictive, but it is the very nature of womankind to be passively wicked.

As an Art History major, I have taken a class on Greek and Roman Art which required additional reading on Greek mythology. One of the tales that caught my attention was the story of Herakles and Hyppolyte, the Amazon Queen. The Amazons were a race of mythical warrior women who were completely self sufficient. They would even go as far as burning off one of their breasts to make archery easier, and played a dominate role over what men were in their society. Often their male children would be killed off and the female babies would be kept. But regardless of how independent they were,they too were eventually defeated by a man. Herakles was assigned twelve labors, one of which was to fetch the girdle of the Amazon Queen. He seduced the Queen and she handed the girdle over to him without question, which eventually lead to her death. So even these strong female characters succumbed to a man.

Many of the Greek myths show this idea of male superiority. In the myth of Cupid and Psyche, it is Psyche's feminine curiosity, which eventually drives Cupid away. It is only after enduring hardships that Psyche allowed to be reunited with Cupid even though it was Cupid who drove Psyche to look into who her husband was. This myth implies that women must not question their men even if what they do isn't right or doesn't make sense. Sophocles investigates this further in the play Antigone. Antigone, is punished just for trying to give her brother a burial. This was the only decent thing that she could do for her brother yet she was still denied of doing so. Because of this she commits suicide as does her fiancée the king's son. Antigone is a woman who insists on doing what she believes is right which she gets punished for, which basically relays a message to the Greek women of that time period that they will suffer a punishment for disobedience. But on the other hand, Ismene, who is submissive and scared, ultimately suffers also. In other words, no matter what a woman does, she will suffer.