In Medea an essential character is the chorus of Corinthian women. They help obtain Euripides' truly genius paradox of achieving empathy from the readers for a mother who sheds her own children's blood. One of the major turning points in the play is when Medea asks for the chorus of women's silence as she contrives an evil plot to gain revenge. They agree immediately and are henceforth wrapped up in the play and the malicious plot. "This I promise. You are right, Medea, / In paying your husband back. I am not surprised at you / For being sad" (265 - 266). Through stasimons throughout the play they embody everywoman and represent the feelings of the female Greek world.
The first stasimon is a plea for all women to unite in the face of a greater enemy - men. The chorus takes the voice of everywoman and unites with Medea in agreement that the oppression they undergo is wrong and must be stopped. "And let the world's great order be reversed. / It is the thoughts of men that are deceitful" (408 - 409). They represent the general feeling of Greece at this time. Earlier in the play they agree with Medea's grieving about the sorrows of womanhood. It is not a happy life - even if one is lucky enough to have "bought" a husband. A woman of that time is forced to stay at home and tend to the children, never having the chance to go out and interact with a friend of their own age. The chorus shows that Medea is not odd in being unsatisfied with her life, but that it was a common sentiment.
The second stasimon is still in the voice of every woman but perhaps earlier in life, as a yet unmarried woman. The chorus speaks of the hope that they will not be struck with such desire for a man, for surly no good can co...
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...r engage in such rash behavior in a way they admire Medea for her ruthlessness in obtain the revenge she believes she deserves, otherwise they would have most certainly stopper her. It speaks a lot that although they do not agree with Medea, they do not break their vow of absolute loyalty.
One of the major themes of Medea is the position of women. Medea herself constantly gripes about the treatment of her gender. Athens, the setting of this story and a city that prided itself as free, was nonetheless a city that depended on slave labor and the oppression of women. Medea is a woman who has suffered and has become cruel due to her suffering. The chorus of women, who too are being oppressed, join in on complaining and inevitably take part in the evil. Medea becomes not just a fight for a particular female, but as revenge for the whole gender.
Shirley Barlow centralizes her article, Stereotype and Reversal in Euripedes’ Medea, on the idea that Medea goes back and forth between the normal social stereotypes of a Greek man and woman. Medea holds very heroic qualities, qualities of which are supposed to belong to a man. Barlow makes a point in the article that even though Medea is exposed to the same environment and circumstances, the way in which she thinks and carries out action is completely different than that of a normal Greek woman. While trying to convince the reader of Medea’s unusual heroic characteristics, Barlow points out that she Medea also holds the feelings of a mother who has love for her children. Barlow
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.
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.
... powerful, manipulative, and extremely smart, yet because she is a woman she has limited social power. She has no chance of being a hero because she acts out of hurt in her marriage and love turned to hate. In Aeschylus’ Oresteia, Agamemnon also kills his child, although it is not praised, he is still considered a hero after his death. Medea is portrayed as being a selfish and ruthless woman, making her unnatural. Nevertheless, the audience finds themselves uncomfortably admiring Medea and her strength as a woman. Medea’s madness portrays how one’s emotions can lead to detrimental results rather than using reason. She is driven by her desire for revenge and will stop at nothing to burn her husband Jason as he did her.
In Medea we have the Women of Corinth; more complicated women who act only as the Chorus and have little power to alter plot. They flock around Medea, pleading and sympathizing with her. They stay inactive and only speak with emotions and ideals fitting superficial levels of their status as women and wives. At the beginning, when Medea was only a wronged woman, they chastise Jason (as it would be proper to do if a man committed adultery): “Still I think... You have betrayed your wife and are acting badly.” (Euripides, 19). However, later in the play, when Medea discloses her plan to kill her children they simply plead with her: “I both wish to help you and support the normal Ways of ma...
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 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.
One of the things she does to help their cause is bring about the death of her own brother. Certainly this is a woman who would sacrifice anything for her husband. Weigel records the fierceness of Medea's passion in his critique: "As a woman of passion, Medea is wholly committed to Jason as the object of her emotional life, whether in love or hate. When she loved Jason she did not hesitate to kill her brother, betray her father and country, or instigate Pelias' murder for Jason's sake" (Weigel 1391).
... knowing the ironic truth, and when he asks her why, she replies, "I'm their mother." She grieves for what she will lose in seeing them grow up, seeing them "[become] prosperous. I shall never see your brides, adorn your bridal beds, and hold the torches high." Through all this it is evident that the loving aspect of the Great Mother is still present in the drama. Though this loving characteristic is present, it is the persuasive and manipulative facet of Medea that is most important in terms of plot. If Medea had not been so able to persuade the other characters, then she would not have been able to stay in Corinth for the day it took her to carry out her plan, and would not have had a refuge in Athens. Thus, the Great Mother's manipulative aspect was the propelling factor in Medea and all else sprung from the effects of this manifestation of the Great Mother.
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.
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.
This mutual suffering between Medea and the Chorus raises issues such as the treatment of women at the time when this play was written. When Medea married Jason, she married herself to him for life. She was expected to be totally obedient and to accept whatever her husband willed. For her to look upon another man other than her husband would have been totally unacceptable. Whereas Jason marries another woman while he...
... 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.
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.
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.