Analysis Of ' Medea And The Bacchae '

Euripides’s plays often featured uncanny insight into the human condition and the struggle that his characters bore due to their expected roles within society.

Once he began manipulating Medea, this made him realize, that he can manipulate anyone he chooses to. After he had captured the Golden Fleece, he abandoned Medea and married the princess of Corinth hoping to stable his wealth and gain more power. He, in turn, manipulated the royal family only to have the consistent power he needed and desired. This had then begun to escalate. Jason is now displaying a pattern of his manipulation. As Jason begins to free himself from his “evil” ex-wife, Jason manipulates the past into a lie and much bigger problem from his side of the story. His dishonesty makes his side of the story more believable and by doing so, his manipulation skills had become more deceivable. Jason is in denial of the many things Medea had done for him and when he told his story, he used omission in order to deceive his listeners. Jason then says, “Dark threats cast out against the majesties/ of Corinth, count as veriest gain thy path of exile.” (27). He then blames Medea and having Creon ban her from Corinth.

Another popular example of a binary opposition in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is the contrast of life and death. We encounter this binary opposition when Romeo utters “Do I live dead.” (Act 1 Scene 1 l 220). Again Shakespeare lures us into this opposition to read between the lines thus making sense of this statement. One would come to a realisation that to live does not mean you’re alive in other words – ‘live dead’, which tries to depict that one must live their life, enjoy it and feel alive rather than drowning in sorrow and misery. (Lori Shaller;

Euripides’ Medea and Seneca’s Medea are the two surviving ancient tragedies of Medea. Both versions are drastically different and contrast in several aspects. Euripides portrays Medea as more human. She is the epitome of the oppressed housewife and only after her suffering is she capable of the crimes she committed. Seneca’s Medea is even more vengeful than Euripides’ and she is angry from the very beginning. Seneca’s version also portrays Medea as a vengeful sorceress whereas in Euripides’ version, though she is known to be a witch and have remarkable skill in poisons and potions, that aspect is not as crucial and significant as in Seneca’s Medea. The two poets offer contrasting depictions and characterizations of Medea, the most

When arguing the statement, the character of Pentheus in the Bacchae is portrayed as earning his fate, whereas the character of Hippolytus in the Hippolytus is portrayed as an innocent victim of the god, I must both, agree and disagree with it. I would definitely agree with it on a shallow point of view, but would have to disagree with it upon dissecting both the stories. The stories tell of Hippolytus being killed for something he did not do, while Pentheus was killed for not accepting the god Dionysus. But when you look deep into the meaning of each story, the apparent black and white assumptions of innocents and guilt change from definitive to doubt to say the least.

One of the most famous tragedy was The Bacchae from the Athenian playwright Euripides. The Bacchae won first prize when it premiered at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC, and is known as Euripides greatest work. This tragedy represents the two opposite sides of a man's nature: the rational and civilized side, which is represented by the character of Pentheus, the King of Thebes, and then there is the instinctive side, which is represented by Dionysus. This side feels a connection between man and beast and it’s a potential source of divinity and spiritual power. It’s believed that The Bacchae implies that it’s dangerous to deny this instinctive human nature; those who accept it find spiritual power, and those who suppress the desire in themselves

Pentheus and Dionysus represent a factor of duality. For example, they both battle against each other to prove their point as leaders. Pentheus has just become the new king of Thebes and would like to gain power of his people. He seeks to rule over with rationality and social order. Whereas Dionysus is the youngest of all Olympians and wishes to prove to the world that he is an all-powerful god. However, he is also known as the god of wine and believes that everyone should wind down once in a while and celebrate with self-intoxication. His irrational ideas and objectives are the opposite of Pentheus. The ultimate conflict between the two characters is that Pentheus is in denial of Dionysus’ existence because he refuses to believe in irrationality. For example in lines 471-480 in the Bacchae, Pentheus is speaking to Dionysus about Dionysus and is in denial of his existence. Pentheus is so oblivious that he does not even recognize his presence. This relates to duality because Dionysus is the opposite force working against Pentheus or vice versa. Pentheus is devoted to living with

Euripides created a two-headed character in this classical tragedy. Medea begins her marriage as the ideal loving wife who sacrificed much for her husband's safety. At the peak of the reading, she becomes a murderous villain that demands respect and even some sympathy. By the end, the husband and wife are left devoid of love and purpose as the tragedy closes.

In the play Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare utilizes opposites in both the thoughts and actions of the characters in Romeo and Juliet. Outlined are contrasts of crime and violence versus peace and law, love versus hate, and young versus old.

Euripides’s play Medea and Sophocles’ play Antigone both describe a woman who faces many hardships throughout the play. The arguments between the characters in both of the plays justify their actions regarding what they did in response to what happens. In the play Antigone, the main character faces hardships because she broke the king’s law regarding the burial of her brother Polyneices, which eventually led to multiple deaths of because Antigone’s. On the other hand, in the Play Medea, the character Medea was a powerful sorceress who was tricked into loving Jason with the help of Aphrodite, and used her just to get power.

The conflict between the rational and the irrational is present in every person or situation. In Greek tragedies, this conflict is constantly present within the characters’ actions and decisions. Usually, there is always one character that will act rationally compared to the others and would try to fix the conflict. Both The Eumenides and The Bacchae depict the conflict between the rational and the irrational, yet the act and solution are presented differently. Whereas The Eumenides portrays it through killing the family by committing matricide and homicide, The Bacchae portrays it through killing the family by committing unconscious homicide driven by the desire of the forbidden.

Antigone by Sophocles and Medea by Euripides are two plays whose main characters are their namesakes. Antigone is a play based on Antigone’s response to the death of her brothers and Medea is a play based on Medea’s response to her husband Jason leaving her to marry the daughter of a king. Both Antigone and Medea are women fighting against oppression by directly disobeying the law. However, they use different tactics in their battles, and they have different reasons for fighting. In the end, both make their point by bringing down the royal households. These women effectively fight oppression in their own ways.

The first person point of view can be found in the beginning of the work, for example, when Medea says “I hate this life…” (Puchner, pg. 532, line 150). By Euripides using the second person point of view, it allows the readers to connect to the characters on a more personal basis for example, Medea says “… you’ve made threats…” (Puchner, pg. 536, line 294). An example of the third person point of view is Medea telling Jason that “he’s such an idiot” (Puchner, pg. 537, line 379). By there being multiple narrators, it allows each character to serve as an individual narrator telling their views to the readers. The work also has monologues and soliloquies like when the nurse informs the readers about what’s happened to Medea (Puchner,

Marriage – the amalgamation of two imperfect souls to form an affectionate and beautiful relationship – is exceptionally intricate and delicate. Two different people with different insights come together to form a harmonious relationship. Power, or control, is a chief concept that can “make or break” the relationship. Distribution of the ruling is frequently divided into males versus females. This partition leads to many conflicts and tribulations. In the catastrophic Greek play Medea, by Euripides, the liaison between Medea and Jason demonstrates how both males and females assert power in the relationship and how incorrect usage of this supremacy leads to dilemmas.

What did you contribute to the class? Specifically, what did you do? How did you make Medea a better place for all the students here?