A Friendly Enemy Essay

     An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen is a theatrical drama which portrays important characteristics such as honesty, integrity, and courage. All of which could be seen as hazardous to European politics at the time. Dr. Thomas Stockmann is a common man who attempts to create a revolution in his town. With the help of his naturally defiant personality the doctor makes a discovery that he hopes will better the town. This discovery was meant to lead a change in the physical structure of the water source. Instead it created a waterfall of political disaster. Despite numerous stabs in the back and lack of free-thinking, Dr. Stockmann stood tall and never backed down from what he believed in.

Superficially, Medea is a critique of relations between men and women, the struggle between Jason and Medea; then the struggle between Creon and Medea. However at the deeper level, Medea is a critique of the quality and state of the contemporary culture of Euripides (Arrowsmith 361). The unique symbolism is that

Medea’s conflict with Jason proves to be the main conflict in the play, which really sheds light into the fact that Euripides created this play to challenge the notion of feminism. After Jason’s betrayal, Medea decides to take control. It is evident in the way she manipulates other characters within the play, and how she handles situations she is in, that she is quite intelligent. Her motivation and will to accomplish her own goals, portrays Medea as the complete opposite of a typical patriarchal woman who embodies the norms of patriarchy in Greek society. In the play, Jason says, “I married you, chose hatred and murder for my wife – no woman, but a tiger…” (1. 1343-44) This quote shows the misogyny with Jason, because he is saying that him and the society have made Medea this way. But maybe Medea started acting

Furthermore, the disputed topic of the chorus supporting her, illustrates the ‘justice’ a society has. When the gods are pleaded to and do not take action against Medea’s acts of infanticide, it questions our morals on what we powerless humans can do to change a difficult situation. This concept portrays a system which lacks in authority which leads to doubt that surrounds the idea of ‘wild justice.’ The gods have a small role which plays in the part of revenge as a wild justice. It was always the goddess of love who obtained Medea’s help on Jason’s behalf. The Chorus had always believed that her actions were due her nature for loving Jason and sympathised her emotions as she was only a woman. “We were born women – useless for honest purposes, But in all kinds of evil skilled practitioners.” This ideally would have additionally been a reason for Medea to pursue a reason of right for women, which could have been a valid reason for a wild justice.

<br>Medea dwells in self-pity until contriving a scheme that will avenge her hurt. Wallowing in self contempt is generally a quality attributed to women by society. Medea is so unhappy with herself after her marriage with Jason ended that she wanted to die.

Medea’s version of justice is taking matters into her owns hands. She wants to take revenge on Jason by murdering his fiancee and his children. Medea killed her children to make Jason pay for his wrongdoing. Though she did feel regret, she still carried on and committed sacrilege against her children. Her actions was not justified in the court of law and in the eyes of men and women. She also not only killed her children, she killed Jason’s fiancee. The Corinthian princess, Glauce, died a brutal death by the gifts that Medea had given her. “She changed colour, staggered back and sideways, trembling, then fell into her chair again, almost collapsing on the floor” (Euripides 43). The messenger who went to Medea gave in full detail, a vivid description of the what happened to the princess of Corinth. Medea held no remorse for Glauce or the

Once she learns that Jason has married another woman, Medea's personality turns completely around. The strong loving wife turns into a barbarian huntress in search of revenge. After plotting and changing the course of her revenge a few times, she perpetrates an attack that will certainly kill the new bride. Her method is focused on the woman, but it may or may not affect others around her target. Medea knows that the poisoned dress and head adornment will be lethal to Jason's bride, but she cannot possibly know what will come of Jason, their children, or the king. Her rage knows no bounds and she sends Antigone and Ismene on with the poisoned gifts. Weigel describes the revenge of Medea in his critique of the writing: "Jason becomes entangled with a force that crushes his dignity and detachment, that tears his successes to tatters. At the end he is in exactly the same position as Medea. Both are bereaved of mate, children, and friends. Both are free to grow old without comfort. And both are utterly empty inside, except that Jason is now filled with the same burning hatred that possessed Medea" (Weigel 1391).

Ever since she found out she had been betrayed by Jason, she has had “no pleasure left” in living. The only purpose left in her “cruel” and “accursed” life is to “strike dead” Jason, Creon and Glauce. Medea ends up killing Creon and his daughter but doesn’t make any attempt to kill Jason. To “perish his whole house” and “work revenge on Jason for his wrongs to [Medea]”, Medea plans to kill her two son as “it is the supreme way to hurt [her] husband”. Although Medea feels sad as shown by her “dewy eyes” and “these tears”, the audience are positioned to feel less sympathetic towards Medea due to her murderous actions towards her “own little

Euripides also carefully reveals the elements of Medea's past that demonstrate her readiness to violate solidarity of family ties in order to pursue her intractable will; Jason and Medea's original tryst, for example, required that she kill her own brother, thus choosing marriage ties over blood ties. Secondly, Medea's selfishness provides power to her fatal flaw. Medea's selfishness and lack of humanity is displayed through the act of killing her own two sons. Medea understands that the slaying of her children will make Jason miserable. During this time, the chorus recognizes her self-worship and states, “But can you have the heart to kill your flesh and blood” (Euripides, The Medea, 816)? Medea does not stop to think what pain she may cause to herself by murdering them. She is only concerned about her happiness that will be derived from Jason's grieving. Medea comes to the conclusion that it is worth the suffering just to see her ex-husband unhappy. Medea states, “Yes, for this is the best way to wound my husband” (Euripides, The Medea, 817). This exhibits Medea's selfishness by the slaying of her sons just to cause sorrow to Jason for her own pleasure. Medea's rage also leads to her fatal flaw of excessive passion. Her excessive passion, fed by rage, leads Medea to do uncalled-for acts of violence and murder.

Medea is the tragic story of a woman desperate for revenge upon her husband, after he betrayed her for another woman’s bed. It was written by Euripides, a Greek playwright, in 431 B.C. Throughout the play each character shows us their inconsistent and contradicting personalities, in particular, Jason and Medea. The play opens with the Nurse expressing her anxiety about Jason betraying and leaving Medea for another, wealthier, woman. Our initial reaction is to feel empathetic towards Medea, who has been abandoned so conveniently. But towards the end of the play, when Medea takes revenge on

However, once again though, we see this sharpness behind her veil of weakness ("no bloodier spirit"). With this said though, it is not a murderous, maniacal rage. She makes clear reference to the fact that she is part of the group of wretched women and that she is simply striking back as a woman "scorned". When Creon comes on the stage, she continues with the pitiable appearance, begging ("I kneel to you, I beseech you"). She tries to persuade Creon that he has no threat from her, using the fact that she is a woman to make him disregard her power ("I'm in no position - a woman - to wrong a king"). However, after this scene is where the image of Medea as a feeble woman ends. The Chorus indicate their pity and that Medea's plight "touches our hearts". But at this point, Medea becomes the murderous and dangerous woman that will kill her children and cackle with glee at the thought of Glauce's death. She declares that she manipulated Creon, fawning on him "to gain my purpose". She still holds our pity but not in the same intensity (until eventually she finally loses pity almost completely in her double-infanticide).

revenge on Jason by any means possible. Euripides voiced the fear of her cunning mind through Kreon when he said "I am afraid of you [...] Afraid that you may injure my daughter mortally. [...] You are a clever woman, versed in evil arts, and are angry at having lost your husband's love." (280-284, pg 622) The fact that a male character would say something of this caliber says something about the roles of women during this time. Even though they are still seen as second class citizens to the men, a smart woman is feared. Ultimately Medea's strength is tested and she becomes crazed with

Medea was a troubled soul once Jason left her for a younger princess. When the nurse says “Rulers are fierce in their temperament; somehow, they will not be governed;”, it rings very true of Medea (Puchner 531). Someone so accustomed to getting her way will by no means let anyone, including her beloved Jason, treat her with any disrespect. She not only felt dejected by Jason, but she felt she could do nothing to change her circumstance but take out deadly vengeance against those that committed such a hiatus act towards her. With all things considered, Medea felt Jason took everything from her when he left. Jason became her everything. When she

In addition to the interactions between Medea and the Greek Chorus, it is important to explore the scenes preceding the tirade. The nurse’s opening monologue offers great insight into Medea’s state of characterization prior to her newfound interactions. The nurse anaphorically describes Medea’s actions towards Jason. The Nurse begins, “She wouldn’t have made the daughters of Pelias kill him, she wouldn’t have had to flee to Corinth here, she wouldn’t have done all that she did for Jason, She wouldn’t have been so darned complaisant to Jason” (311). Euripides’ use of anaphora creates emphasis on everything Medea has done for Jason. The Nurse believes that upon meeting Jason, “she wouldn’t have” fallen in love with Jason. Medea’s motivation was a clear passion to woo Jason. Formerly, Medea completes Jason’s task of achieving the Golden Fleece, originally a man’s task. With her cunningness, she uses her witch supremacies to her advantage, acting on her desire for Jason. Furthermore, the Nurse foreshadows Medea’s shift in characterization from anguish to dexterity in her

Moreover, Euripides incorporates Medea into the relationship to convey the idea that females also possess a dominant role in the struggle over dominance, but their power form is different compared to males. Medea elucidates that even in the arduous times, she assisted Jason and supported their union. In a direct conversation with Jason, she tells him, “…after I’ve done all this to help you, you brute, you betray me…” (27). She explains that although she took care of Jason and supported him whenever he needed her help, he used his massive quantity of power to overpower her and abandon her. Even after Jason abandons Medea, she thinks day and night of him. Medea demonstrates that the power females possess is not physical and totalitarian like the males, but is emotional and mental. She tries to keep the family together and in trying to do so, she does whatever Jason asks her to do. She is the important woman behind every successful man. Without her command, Jason would not be the person he is. Therefore, she can destroy Jason whenever he desires with her power. She can be a femme fatale and reduce Jason’s life into rubble. Similarly, after Medea finds out she was being cheated on, she quickly creates and evil plan and destroys Jason. She murders his new