The Role Of Revenge In 'The Medea' By Euripides

The Medea

In “The Medea” by Euripides, a classical tragedy written in 431 B.C.E, the playwright shows that one 's cleverness and need for revenge can lead to disaster. Medea leaves her family and her homeland, Colchis, with her husband, Jason, to Corinth. Jason then takes another woman to bed, and Medea begins to regret the past decisions she has made and what she has given up for him. Medea is then exiled from Corinth, because Creon, the king, knows the potential she has to do the most unimaginable things. Medea is very upset, but her cleverness and thrive for revenge keeps her going. In “The Medea”, Euripides effectively uses many aspects of the time period and personal experiences to portray the theme of revenge.

The theme of “The Medea”

Today, women have just as many rights as men, so we don’t take into consideration how they were treated before. Women’s right in Athenian society were dramatically different from today. Women had little to no rights in ancient times. Knowing this information helps the reader to understand why the Chorus backed up Medea. The role of the Chorus in The Medea is to communicate the destructive actions between Jason and Medea. In many ways, the Chorus is just like the reader, and they too are being persuaded to be on Medea 's side. Since the Chorus is made up of Corinthian women, they connect with Medea and feel extremely bad for her husband cheating on her. The Chorus tells the nurse, “My willingness to help her will never Be wanting to my friends” (pg. 288). They understand that she can legally do nothing. When hearing Medea 's side when she comes out to talk to them, they say, "And let the world 's great order be reversed. It is the thoughts of men that are deceitful, Their pledges that are loose. Story shall now turn my condition to a fair one, Women are paid their due" (pg. 293). Also, the audience learns early in “The Medea” that Medea is Jason’s wife. The reader see’s that Jason and Medea both refer to each other as husband and wife, yet he just abandoned her and married the Princess of Corinth. In the Athenian society, this what not a big deal. Marriage with a foreign

For example, in World Literature, I am introduced to many different types of art and history. I have learned a lot about history and previous wars through the class readings, giving me a head start in my World History classes along with my Art History classes. Euripides works will also help me in other classes. For instance, in his works, Euripides calls attention to the strangeness of tragedies, and he gives serious attention to the status of women, unlike his timer period did (pg. 281). His ability to look at the side of things that weren’t important or relevant to his culture at all is somewhat inspiring. I could use this technique in other classes, like Psychology, to open up more broad