Medea Women Empowerment Analysis

The Lack of Empowerment in Women

Is it acceptable for anyone to underestimate women and assume the feelings and attitude women feel in order to display them as weak? In the play Medea, The author Euripides does exactly that. All women are different and have contrasting emotions. They also act in different ways. Medea, for example, is very emotional and has trouble controlling her anger. She, along with the chorus of women, are underestimated and made to look worthless. Also with the emotions Medea portrays, she appears out of control. Meanwhile, the chorus seems to be afraid and helpless when it comes to important situations. It is not right to assume all women are incapable of controlling their emotions and providing help when it is needed.

Some might argue that the way Euripides does not empower women is invalid because Medea does manipulate Jason as well as her children to achieve her ultimate goal of murdering them. Euripides does not empower women because throughout his writing, he uses concepts of anti-feminism to imply that Medea, as well as the chorus, are weak and unavailing.
First, when Medea is explaining how she saved Jason from the bulls that breath fire and helped him get the golden fleece, Jason thinks otherwise. He says to Medea “‘It would be better far for men/ To have gotten their children in some other way, and women/ Not to have existed. Then life would have been good’” (Euripides 18). It is obvious that Jason wishes that Medea, along with all women, were nonexistent. Euripides makes women out to be worthless except for the fact that the produce babies. He also uses anti-feminism by implying that men should be the only ones on earth, and if women did not exist, then everyone’s lives would be better. It is not a coincidence Medea acted with an outrageous and uncontrollable attitude by killing four males and one female. Conclusions can be drawn that Medea could have harmed mostly men as a result of being told women are of no importance. She could have potentially been trying to prove a point because she does not feel empowered. Also, When Medea takes her children into the house to carry out her plan of murder, the chorus says “‘Do you hear the cry, do you hear the children’s cry?/ O you hard heart, O woman fated for evil!...Shall I enter the house? Oh, surely I should/ Defend the children from murder’ ‘O help us, in God’s name, for we need/ Your help./ Now, now we are close to it. We are trapped by the sword’” (Euripides 41). As the children cry out for help, the chorus contemplates whether or not they should enter the house and assist the children. They spend so much time deciding yes or no that soon enough time is out, and both boys are dead. They also realize that what Medea is doing is wrong and refer to her as a “woman fated for evil” and a “hard heart”. Euripides does not empower the chorus of women because they are made to look helpless and have no control over the situation. He uses anti-feminism in the sense that women have the weaker hand in most situations.
In this play, women are not empowered by the author, Euripides, because they are recognized as inferior and ineffectual.

Those who are against the idea that women are not empowered in Medea might say that because Medea pulls through as a “hero” at the end of the play, she is empowered. However, this point of view is incorrect because those who agree with it are not establishing the fact the Euripides uses anti-feminism against Medea. He does this to depict Men as being a higher rank than women. Medea describes women as “‘Of all things which are living and can form a judgment/ We women are the most unfortunate creatures’” (Euripides 8). Euripides uses Medea to express his opinions. He agrees with the statement that women are unfortunate, and for this time period, it was common for women to feel this way due to their lack of rights. There are only two living things that can form a judgment, and those would include men and women. Women are assumed to be the weaker of the two and do not get to express their opinions. Therefore, women of that era, are victims of anti-feminism. Another example is before medea is to be exiled, she says to the chorus “‘For in other ways a woman/ Is full of fear, defenseless, dreads the sight of cold/ Steel; but, when once she is wronged in the matter of love,/ No other soul can hold so many thoughts of blood’” (Euripides 9). It is clear that Euripides describes women as being full of fear, which applies to the chorus, and defenseless which applies

Medea. Medea is left defenseless when she is blindsided by Jason’s act of leaving her for King Creon’s daughter. This is true because when she first found out about the news, all she did was cry and complain about how he treated her. The chorus is “full of fear” because they truly are afraid to act out in important circumstances.
To conclude, Women are not empowered by Euripides because he uses anti-feminism to display them as defenseless and delicate. Medea’s emotions get the best of her and make her out to be emotionally unstable. The chorus seems to be afraid of their own shadow the way they were represented through Euripides use of dialog. Since Euripides is a man, he can only assume the emotions and feelings of women. Through his writing and word choice, women are characterized as a lower rank in society. When being put in these categories, women have no other option other than remain there. Since they have no rights, they cannot speak out against it. If Euripides would have considered the mental emotions of women, then his play would have given women an opportunity to feel empowered.