Medea, by Euripides - Constructing Medea’s Compelling Persona
In the play Medea, by Euripides, many techniques are incorporated to augment the compelling persona of the protagonist, Medea. She has an overpowering presence, which is fashioned through the use of imagery, offstage action and language. Dramatic suspense, employment of the chorus and Deus Ex Machina also serve to enhance the intense persona assumed by Medea.
Medea is frequently associated with images of violence and rage. “She’s wild. Hate’s in her blood. /She feeds her rage…Stormclouds of anger.” These images suggest hatred, and anger, they are powerful and present a strong, illustration of Medea’s persona. Like nature, Medea is constructed as commanding and yet also
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The “Are we women not the wretchedness?” diatribe on the oppression of women is powerful and commanding. It is delivered early on in the play and has the potential to stun the audience with the passion contained within the words. The notions behind this speech are vital to the play and the vigour of it is essential in presenting the compelling Medea persona. Medea’s employment of language is crucial to the construction of her powerful presence. “I realise you were right/What’s good for you, is good for us,” Medea humours Jason in order to gain what she requires and carry out her treacherous plan. The language is soft with little punctuation, creating a “safe” feeling. “My sons! Your mother! /My sons! Your father!” these two lines are short and implement exclamation marks. This type of language is harsh to hear and suggests tension. The juxtaposition of soft and harsh language, both from Medea’s mouth, gives her an authoritative presence, demonstrating her control and thus her power.
Dramatic irony is a technique, vital to the assembly of Medea’s compelling persona. While Jason is oblivious to Medea’s true intentions the audience is aware of what she plans to do, giving a sense of collusion. Medea appears to be the leader of a “feminist movement” with the chorus and audience as followers, thus placing her on a pedestal, higher than a normal human being. Dramatic suspense is utilised throughout the play to draw interest to Medea’s persona. There is the
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
Medea’s strength is portrayed as her madness as she takes control and decides the fate of her enemies. She is a strong character and Euripides allows Medea to have a voice by allowing the audience to witness her break from the norm of what a woman of her time is expected to do. After giving up her family and former life to be with her husband, Jason, he decides to marry a younger princess while still married to Medea. Medea realizes that women are left to face the most miserable situations and says, “We women are the most unfortunate creatures” (229). Jason feels that Medea is to be grateful for what he is doing by marrying into royalty as it will afford all of them a better life. The representation of Medea by Euripides is powerful, manipulative, and extremely smart, yet because she is a woman she has limited social power.
In Medea, Euripides uses irony to convey the fact that the female protagonist is strong in the androcentric society and the male protagonist is weak. In the article “Male Medea,” Nancy Rabinowitz describes the protagonist as “the transgressive woman, [or man] inside the woman's body, and her story gives the lie to the gender story--of the woman as victim” (16). Medea, the female protagonist, has the power to control and manipulate any character in the play. This is proven when the Tutor says “Madam, your sons do not have to go into exile; the royal bride gladly took the gifts in her hands; there’s peace now, with her and the children” (1001-3). This represents irony because the sons do not go into exile, but are instead killed by their masculine,
Euripides was interested in how culture affected things. He was not the typical writer and his characters confirm this. In Medea, Euripides wanted his characters to participate in a culture that was under extreme stress, perhaps the same stress that his culture was experiencing. He exhibited this by writing as if his characters were transplanted into a different culture, unique from their own, as if to use the unfamiliarity as psychological strain. Therefore the strain would immortalize or distort them. The way in which Medea meditates the murder of her children is much admired, however Euripides' interest is in the collapse or derangement of culture that makes the murder both possible and necessary (Arrowsmith 357).
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
Her act of revenge is supported by the Chorus who feel that “to punish Jason will be just.” Significantly, this notion of support encourages Medea to believe she is correct in punishing Jason and continues to believe her operation of revenge is justice. Each murder that emerges within Medea conveys the true nature of her behaviour. The theme of violence is continually repeated thus it depicts how consumed she is by revenge.
Making Medea plot against the king represents the female group as rebellious and unsubmissive to authority. She vows to kill her children and this causes the chorus to be afraid of her. That was a big thing. The Chorus in Greek theater “represented with wonderful truth the Greek inquisitive crowd, and was essentially Athenian in conduct and in spirit” (Lauchlan 13-17). So to have the Chorus afraid of this “evil” woman portrays the general public’s feelings towards Medea. Therefore, the fear of the other characters due to Medea’s immense desire and actions for bloodshed and revenge shows how women are portrayed as crazy and murderous with no sense of empathy. Now, the killing of her children is an interesting strategy that Euripides used to show his misogynistic values. By adding this to the plot and making Medea come up with this plan all by herself shows how Euripides “constructed his character in such a way that the audience will be encouraged to perceive female sexuality and language as… a threat to male offspring” (Rabinowitz 126). This is a genius ultimate blow to feminism seeing that women, through Medea, are portrayed as a threat to not only men but to their offspring.
Medea questions the firmly held belief in Greek society that women are weak and passive. Wanting revenge on Jason for his betrayal of her, Medea must take control of the situation, a stereotypical masculine quality. Though she cannot become a man or take power like a man, she perceives her
The literary device of irony is strategically used throughout the entire play. The irony within the text works in Medea because the audience understands Medea’s thoughts and plans while the characters within the play do not. For instance, Jason says, “I will not carry on this quarrel any longer. But if you want to take me up on my offer of money for the children or your own exile say so, I am ready to be generous to you…” (Medea, 610). What Jason does not
Commonly considered one of Euripides greatest pieces, Medea is an insightful depiction of how a woman’s love for her husband, churns into a gruesome revenge scheme against him. This tragedy illustrates a tale of a woman who challenges Greek societal norms. In the era that the story takes place; women are often seen in submissive roles. However, the play’s main character, Medea, challenges their customs through her actions against the Kingdom of Corinth and Jason.
In the beginning of the play, the nurse discusses the horrible deeds Medea delivers to her own family in the following lines “my mistress Medea would not have sailed for the towers of the land of Iolcus, her heart on fire with passionate love for Jason; nor would she have persuaded the daughters of Pelias to kill their father, and now be living here in Corinth with her husband and children” (1). Ironically, before Jason leaves Medea, he needs her help in a great mission. By admitting that he needs her help, Jason falls short of the idea that a man is in control of the situation.
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
In ‘Medea’, Euripides shows Medea in a new light, as a scorned woman that the audience sympathises with to a certain extent, but also views as a monster due to her act of killing her own children. The protagonist of a tragedy, known as the Tragic Hero is supposed to have certain characteristics which cause the audience to sympathise with them and get emotionally involved with the plot. The two main characters, Medea and Jason, each have certain qualities of the Tragic Hero, but neither has them all. This makes them more like the common man that is neither completely good nor evil, but is caught in the middle and forced to make difficult decisions.
Euripides Medea is a play that largely embodies themes of sex and gender within Greek life, marriage and society. Lars Von Trier, Danish Screen writer, controversially took on and altered Euripides' classic Medea in the form of film. Although complex and compelling, Von Trier's film fails to capture major themes and qualities presented in the text version of the infamous Medea and relay them to an audience. Through the use of close reading and comparison, it can be proved that Lars Von Trier's film depiction of Euripides' Medea does not allow an audience to see the complexity and major themes of gender and masculinity that Euripides originally portrays to his audience, but rather depicts a story of lost love and femininity within the protagonist.
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