Women’s lives are represented by the roles they either choose or have imposed on them. This is evident in the play Medea by Euripides through the characters of Medea and the nurse. During the time period which Medea is set women have very limited social power and no political power at all, although a women’s maternal and domestic power was respected in the privacy of the home, “Our lives depend on how his lordship feels”. The limited power these women were given is different to modern society yet roles are still imposed on women to conform and be a dutiful wife. Women have always been disempowered due to their gender in modern and ancient times alike. In Corinth they are expected to run the household and conform to social expectations of a dutiful wife. Medea, being an immortal and descendant from the gods has a certain power in intelligence and sly cleverness. Being a foreigner, Medea’s wayward irrational behavior was expected in this play as she was not born in Greece and was seen as an exotic creature. She comes across to the audience as a powerful female character in terms of violence. Some of Medea’s reactions and choices appear to be blown out of proportion as authors generally make characters seem larger than life; this creates a better understanding of the text and the issues which are developed through the characters. 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. The concept of gender is based on the locality of power present in M... ... middle of paper ... ...al housewife is still expected by many cultures in today’s society. Medea is not as innocent as she claims to be. She questions the inequality of women in patriarchal society and she challenges the stereotype given to herself and other women that they are weak and passive, which we know clearly Medea is not. Her disregard of gender relations is also evident in the way she ignores motherhood and commits inhumane crimes against her own children in spite and for simple revenge. Culture creates difference in gender through social issues such as marriage, education, childbearing and employment. Women in many of today’s cultures are represented by the roles they choose rather than have imposed on them, although sexism is an ongoing issue presented in everyday life. Medea has little choice on her represented role due to society in that period of time. She uses her manipulative ability and cleverness to get what she wants. Her life is made difficult due to society’s restrictions and is stereotyped into many things in which she is not. This clearly shows that women’s lives are represented by the roles they either choose regarding social restrictions or the roles they have imposed on them.
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
In Medea, the society is similar when it comes to men versus women. Barlow states that the “[h]usband have complete physical control of their wives,” which is similar to the society in Bacchae (Barlow 159). Medea is mistreated by almost all the men that she encounters within the play. Jason betrays her and leaves her to marry Creon’s daughter. Creon wants to banish Medea and her two sons from his land (Medea 272-273). When Creon is banishing Medea from his land he has no h...
Euripides shows his views on female power through Medea. As a writer of the marginalized in society, Medea is the prime example of minorities of the age. She is a single mother, with 2 illegitimate children, in a foreign place. Despite all these disadvantages, Medea is the cleverest character in the story. Medea is a warning to the consequences that follow when society underestimates the
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.
As the audience finished the play from the beginning to end, they could see the importance of the role of women. Unlike the protagonist, they were suppressed and didn’t have any authority. Medea’s characteristics were in opposition to the Corinthian women. Medea was the ultimate uncommon woman portrayed in the Greek theater. She was not an ordinary house wife because she killed her children and caused many other dreadful events. In the end, Euripide was showing a side of a woman that was different from the stereotypical role that women during the time was suppose to play.
Most people would define a great female protagonist as intelligent, strong minded and willing to fight for what she believes in. Both Bernarda Alba from Federico Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba and Medea by Euripides fit this description. One is a tyrannical mother who imposes her choices on her five daughters, the other is arguably the strongest non-Olympian woman in all of Greek mythology. If we take a closer look, we notice that these two characters have many things in common. From their positions of strength, to the masculine aspects of their personalities; from the way they deal with situations to the part they play in the deaths of their children. In this essay we will attempt to seek out their similarities, as well as discover how two playwrights, who wrote for distinct audiences millennia apart, could have created two women so alike.
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 harm on 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 play, Medea is able to get many people on her side. At the very least, she is able to make most people feel sorry for her right away, and recognize her as a pitiful character.
In ancient Greece women were viewed as many things. They were not viewed as equivalent to males by any means. Women were portrayed usually as submissive domestic, and controlled. They played supporting or secondary roles in life to men, who tended to be demanding of their wives, but expected them to adhere to their wishes. In the tragedy Medea, written by Euripides, Medea plays the major role in this story, unlike most Greek stories with women playing only minor roles, but she also demonstrates many behavioral and psychological patterns unlike any other Greek women. In Euripides’ Medea the main character, Medea, Displays many traits that breakdown traditional Athenian misogyny by displaying her as proactive in taking her revenge, having cruel and savage passions, and being a very manipulative women.
As she is "Faced with her husband's cold pragmatism, Medea responds according to her nature." Euripides really stresses the "otherness" of Medea's nature: she is "of a different kind", described in terms of nature and animals: she is "a rock or wave of the sea'", "like a wild bull", "a tiger". Yes, she is a little dangerous, but she is driven by her hear; that vital force which distinguishes the body from the corpse and has been crushed by Jason's betrayal.
... takes matters into her own hands and doesn’t wait for a man to handle things for her. Also, her internal conflict that is visible throughout the entire play signify that she actually thinks for herself, and is strong enough to need to make serious decisions on her own, regardless of her gender. All of this goes back on the traditional Greek society, and helps make Medea into a play that is ahead of its time. With Euripides challenging the notion of misogyny, he creates Medea to show how powerful and dangerous a woman can be in a story, even though it was never heard of in the modern eras.
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...
Medea was a very diverse character who possesses several characteristics which were unlike the average woman during her time. As a result of these characteristics she was treated differently by members of the society. Media was a different woman for several reasons; she possessed super natural powers , she was manipulative, vindictive, and she was driven by revenge. The life that Medea lived and the situations she encountered, (one could say) were partly responsible for these characteristics and her actions.
Medea is a Greek tragedy about a women who is faced with an unpleasant situation involving her husband, Jason. She gave up her family and previous life to be with him; in the process she did horrid things to allow it to work in his favor as well. In return, all Jason does is plan to remarry a younger princess that he can gain more power from being with. After being told that her and her children were going to be exiled Medea came up with a grand plan of manipulation in her favor to get her revenge towards Jason.
Medea is a tragedy of a woman who feels that her husband has betrayed her with another woman and the jealousy that consumes her. She is the protagonist who arouses sympathy and admiration because of how her desperate situation is. I thought I was going to feel sorry for Medea, but that quickly changed as soon as I saw her true colors. I understand that her emotions were all over the place. First, she was angry, then cold and conniving. The lower she sinks the more terrible revenge she wants to reap on Jason.