The Duty Of Women In Medea By Euripides

To make things worse, if a woman tries to leave the husband, “then she loses her virtuous reputation.” Meanwhile, a man can change his mind whenever he wants to and do as he pleases. A man can find comfort in his friends while women have to rely on themselves. Medea is suffering so much living in a society like this that she even goes to say that even though men are seen as the protectors of women by battling while women “lead safe, untroubled lives at home,” she would much rather have a man’s role rather than a woman’s role in such society.

Centuries of traditions has enabled men and women to define gender roles in society. Although some critics declare gender roles do not exist today, others believe they do. In society, men and women are defined by gender roles throughout their activities and emotions. A doctor is typically portrayed by a male while women rear the children and cook for the men. However, although still in existence, today these roles are less obvious but tend to have similar meaning when compared to the past. In ancient Greece, women suffered great hardships. Currently, females work, vote, and run for office. In comparison to ancient Greece, these activities are a phenomenal leap from being under the direct supervision of a male husband.

Ancient Epics tend to portray women in a negative light; women are usually either vulnerable creatures who can’t fend for themselves, they wreak havoc on their male counterparts or both. In The Aeneid, Dido is portrayed as a dramatic woman because of the actions she took after her heartbreak. In The Ramayana, Sita is a loyal and supportive wife with just that as her sole purpose throughout the book. Both of these women, to an extent, are representative of Eastern and Western culture respectively and they represent realistic portrayals of females even if their priorities seem a bit outdated.

In “Stereotype and Reversal In Euripides’ Medea,” Shirley Barlow addresses the idea that women in Euripides’ Greek tragedy are stereotyped to be docile and weak-minded towards men; Medea is combative towards those stereotypes throughout the play.

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.

Medea by Euripides’ challenges the pre-conceived views of women in the patriarchal society of Ancient Greece. Women were expected to be subservient to men and conform to the expectations of being an obedient and dutiful wives and nurturing mothers, this is evident when the nurse details that Medea is “all obedience” and “accepts her husbands will”, which reflects the Greeks belief that in a healthy marriage men had all the power. After being betrayed by her husband, Medea laments about the injustices that fall upon women declaring that “we women are the most unfortunate”. In her monologue, she examines the inequalities of women claiming that they are the “most wretched” as they must purchase their husbands for an “extravagant sum” and then

Not everyone can be the brave warrior that slays a beast and saves the city. Then again, not everyone had the opportunity to. Women in ancient Greece lacked the equality they have today, and were often depicted as inferior to men. The treatment of women in Greek mythology expresses the inherent expectations of women and the idea that regardless of a womans attributes or accomplishments, she will always lack the superior status of a man. A prime example of this prejudice against women is shown in Medea.

Even though thousands of years divide the Golden Age of Greece from the modern day, the same issues prevail. While the treatment of women and foreigners are just two examples of modern and controversial topics, these same themes were also represented on the stage in Ancient Greece. Euripides, a famous Greek playwright, addressed these issues in his play Medea, where he analyzes the tragic ending of the relationship between the Greek hero, Jason, and his foreign wife, Medea. This play illustrates Medea’s treacherous scheme to exact true revenge through the murder of Jason’s new wife and father-in-law, as well as her own children, in order to establish her power in a society that oppresses both women and foreigners. After listening to Medea’s grievances about his remarriage to a Greek princess, Jason attempts to counter her compelling claims that she has been wronged. By utilizing vivid imagery and irony throughout Jason’s speech in Medea, Euripides emphasizes the themes of the value placed on women, the conflict between passion and reason, and the difference between civilization and barbarity.

The article’s main focus is on how Euripides has both justified and the reprimanded murder of children by Medea. Beginning the article by describing that only a madwomen would commit such a crime, the writer moves on to somewhat justify Medea’s actions later on. It also talks about the fact that Medea is the granddaughter has no theological significance but only symbolizes her heroic identity and also motivates the final scene. This article also talks about how Euripides manipulates the story to take Medea seriously despite of her monstrous criminal record. In

A Greek Tragedy, Medea, by Euripides gives a backstory on the life of an adventurer and a woman madly in love. Previous Greek tragedies state that Jason, the love of Medea’s life only loves her in order to retrieve the Golden Fleece to retain his rightful throne. His encounter with Medea results to him agreeing to marry her so that she could assist him in his journey. Medea holds great power and judgement as a sorceress. The beginning of the play told by the nurse synopsizes the story of Medea’s melodramatic situation. Euripides illustrates her differently as a woman in her society during her time of era. They may be seen as victims, heroes, and villains.

Throughout the femme fatale theme, we constantly see women play the role of helping a hero with his quest. This, I think, reduces the role of women in Greco-Roman cultures. The hero has this big, important quest to finish and usually needs the help of a woman to get it done, but without giving her the credit she deserves. It is because of the lack of acknowledgement that the typical femme fatale is rebellious in nature. She refuses to follow the norm anymore and realizes that she ended up with the short end of the stick. In many ways, Medea and Dido are alike. They both fall deep in love with a man and they are both ultimately left abandoned. They were both under the impression that they have been left with nothing. Even though their situations

Euripides’ Medea is different from most Greek plays due to the characterization of Medea, who offers a paradox between men and women, and more specifically, Medea and Greek women. The playwright himself opposes traditional Greek mythology through his progressive anti-war, pro women and anti religious ideas. The play is based in a male dominated society, allowing Jason and Creon to casually yet brutally throw Medea aside. Women, in Greek culture, lack authority amongst the men who believe they solely belong in the motherly role.

Through this play the topics of Killing of children and playing on gender roles is presented, an example of playing on gender roles is how Euripides has portrayed the character of Medea throughout the play, she is portrayed as a woman that through her pain has become strong, cold and in control of her emotions and this has resulted in her transforming into a dangerous woman who would do the unthinkable. Euripides played on the perspective of a woman being in complete control over herself, in contrast to how the society that Euripides lived in, that perceived a woman to be less than a man. ‘Greek women had virtually no political rights of any kind and were controlled by men at nearly every stage of their lives’ ‘Colum’ (2002) http://www.penn.museum/sites/Greek_World/women.html

The epic genre of literature is notoriously male-dominated. Most traditional “heroes” are male, while female characters are relegated to the background, serving, for example, as villains for the hero to defeat or love interests for him to protect. Vergil’s Aeneid is no exception to this concept - written between 29 and 19 B.C, the portrayal of women in the piece is obviously based in ancient stereotypes and archaic gender roles, which come across to the modern reader as fairly worn out. By nature, the Aeneid tends to minimize the roles of these characters, notably the goddess Juno and Queen Dido of Carthage, and often focuses on how they impact the protagonist, Aeneas, rather than truly exploring the characters themselves. Therefore, from

In Greek society, it seems that men had the power to marry many wives but, for women they didn't have the same rights which causes the women to become grief and unfairness for the women. In the beginning of the play, Medea is heartbroken by Jason because of his marriage with the princess. “But now her world has turned to enmity, and wounds her Where her affection’s deepest. Jason has betrayed His own sons, and my mistress, for a royal bed…” (Euripides 17-18). It is shown that men in general having the privilege to be able to marry whomever they want and have multiple wives. Jason is mistreating Medea, “ It’s not for the sake of any woman that I have made This royal marriage, but, as I’ve already said, to ensure your future…” (Euripides 35).