Category: CLOSED-Thought (Idea)

I’m hoping that this is the sort of summary that you were looking for Walter… Amy and I were a little bit unclear when we were emailing each other about it last night, but I’m being very brief because all of the needed supporting information can be found in either of our posts.

 1. Things stated by the characters in plain words: Feminist Ideas/Unjust Gender Roles, Burning Desire for Revenge/Struggle for Power.

2. From the action; not the interpretation: All of the aforementioned ideas can be found directly in the text, explictly stated in one fashion or another (see our actual posts for supporting information)

3. The themes of Medea are very similar to those of Euripides other major plays.  There is much supporting information, from other author’s, in Amy’s second post to back up this claim.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything Amy has thus far said about the idea of gender roles in Medea, but there are a few other thoughts/ideas that recur throughout the play as well:

 Another main thought/idea of Medea is that of the ‘torn nuclear family.’  This all begins right at the beginning of the play, in the first 16 lines, when Jason decides to abandon Medea and his first two children to remarry Glauce.  Ultimately this decision comes down to a quest for power by Jason, and this becomes more evident as the play goes on.  This thought is Euripides comment on how he thinks people often act in Greek society.

 Another prevalent thought that goes hand-in-hand with the familial problems is that of how to handle revenge.  Early on in the play, the Nurse becomes afraid of Medea and her thirst for revenge against Jason, because it is becoming all consuming.  Medea even discusses wanting to go so far as to hurt her own children just so that she can get back at Jason for the pain he has caused her.  Euripides wants to show the idea that someone going through intense emotional stress doesn’t just turn against the cause, but rather against the entire world around them (evidenced in lines 95-96, and 110-114).  Under normal circumstances, any loving mother, no matter how angry, would never want to hurt her own children for an act of revenge.

This line of thought continues in lines 659-660 as the Chorus curses men for unlocking female desire and then “disowning” it.  Which shows that a person’s anger for revenge affects even other people and has them thinking ill thoughts about others (ie: Medea desiring revenge on Jason so badly that some of that anger rubs off on the Chorus until they too begin to dislike men, more).

In lines 796-797 Euripides shows just how strong and overwhelming the desire for revenge can be to a person.  Medea is quoted as saying, “Yes, I can endure guilt, however horrible; the laughter of my enemies I will not endure.”  At this point, her desire for revenge on Jason is so intense that she sees nothing but her ultimate goal.  Medea is so blinded by her desire for revenge that nothing else in her world takes precedence over that thought.  And, it is also known that it is a conscious decision by Medea to feel this way, because she says that she “will not endure.”  Had she said “can not endure,” it would mean that she had no choice, but the use of ‘will’ means that she is making the decision to deal with the guilt about killing her own children if it serves her ultimate goal.

Another place where Medea almost openly admits to giving in to her desire for revenge is in line 1076, where she says “Anger, the spring of all life’s horror, masters my resolve.”  This is the point where Medea has completely given herself to her desires for revenge.  In line 1053 Medea even goes so far as to call her own children a “sacrifice.”

All of these thoughts/ideas stem directly from things that Medea herself says to different other characters in the play.  Euripides is not 100% clear about his personal thoughts on the desire for revenge, but I think that he feels that revenge is something that is dealt with on a day to day basis in Greek society, for a multitude of reasons, but the struggle for power would be the most prominent.  The thought/idea of a burning desire for revenge takes a back seat to Euripides thoughts/ideas on feminism (Medea’s main focal point), but none-the-less is still a prominent idea within the play, and worth considering because it still has much relevance today.

In modern times, Medea can be interpreted as a play with main ideas in support of feminism and the breaking down of traditional gender roles. But after completing further research, it is clear that the main ideas in Medea are actually rooted in staunch misogyny. Through examination of Euripides's other major works, Hippolytus and Iphigenia in Tauris, greater insight is gained into the misogynistic messages contained within the play.

From studying Euripides's other heroines, it is clear that the female protagonist in Greek drama has a combination of both masculine and feminine traits that would have strongly affected the audience's interpretation of the play during the time in which it was written.  In the eyes of an ancient Athenian audience, Medea possesses the anger, passion, and desire for revenge that male warriors are meant to exhibit, but still maintains the role of successful housewife and loving mother. Her nurse even proclaims Medea's maternal devotion to the audience in one of the first monologues "a refugee who's won respect, admired, stable, domestic – supporting her husband as she should" (lines 10-12). So initially, Medea is painted for the audience as being a character the audience should sympathize with, or merely pity. Most scholars agree that Euripides describes the most "humanized" Medea, who is thought to be the "stereotypically perfect female within the male power structure," her position as a foreigner as well as her marriage to Jason impairs her from representing "Everywoman" (Durham, 55).

In Athens at the time, there was a great sense of nationalism and pride in Athenian citizenship. However since Medea is clearly, as stated, "a refugee," she would have faced a good deal of bias from the audience. The play also concerns the ideas of love and passion, and it would be incorrect to ignore these emotions when analyzing the character of Medea. In her marriage to Jason, she is set apart from typical Athenian wives in the fact that her marriage is based on passion. Wives in Athens would have been given in marriage by their fathers, "passing from the authority of one man to another" (Nimis, 403). This unique feature of her marriage then sets her apart from the position of normal women as well, and also introduces the overall theme of "warning against the consequences of unbridled passion" (Spranger, 4). And it is Medea's actions as a result of said passion that truly sets her apart from her role as a representation of the ideal feminine, and introduces the opposing side of her personality and emotion: the masculine or heroic side.

It is not simply the violent killings of Glauce, Creon, and her two sons that allow Medea to be classified as "masculine" but it is also the intelligence and power she has over men through her speech. Her masculine and feminine traits allow her to relate well to both sexes, and consequently give her a heavier hand in negotiations with both. Classical studies professor, Judith Fletcher, notes that "Medea uses this remarkable ability to co-opt a speech act use to create alliances between men within a civic context in order to dupe and bind her victims for her own personal vendetta" (Fletcher, 33). Examples of this can be found when Medea persuades Creon to let her stay an extra day, which gives her time to ultimately kill him and his daughter. It is also how she is able to persuade Aegeus to shelter her in Athens at the end of the play, in return for remedying his sterility. Consequently, it can be stated then that persuasiveness and speaking ability were considered masculine traits because they were so closely related to intelligence.

However this type of masculinity is not only found in Medea, but also in two other plays by Euripides, Hippolytus and Iphigenia in Tauris. Euripides's play, Hippolytus, follows the story of a character by the same name. Basically, Hippolytus upsets the goddess Aphrodite when he worships the goddess of chastity, Artemis, instead of her. The actions are mostly dictated by a series of oaths that are negotiated by Aphrodite (in an attempt to get back at Hippolytus for his dismissal of her) or other female characters in the play. Professor Fletcher again notes the similarities of the females' commanding tendencies within this script.

"The oath, its performance unseen by the audience has its consequences are unseen by Hippolytus, fulfills the same function in the sequence of speech acts as the blind oath of Aegeus to Medea€¦By letting a woman of servile status gain power over a king's son, Euripides' second version reworks the supplication/oath combination with even more emphasis on the oath's ability to skew the patriarchal power structure" (Fletcher, 37).

Iphigenia in Tauris follows the story of Iphigenia, who is supposed to be a virgin sacrifice to the gods, but instead, escapes. Iphigenia's escape is only made possible through the deception of a male who is bound by a promise made to a female. Although for the most part, these agreements made by males with females seem mostly deceptive and manipulative on behalf of the women, this deception is still attributed to intelligence, again, a masculine trait. Consequently, these tactics which are predominately employed by men are what allow the women in Greek tragedy to be so strong. "It is abundantly clear that when a powerful linguistic instrument, the oath, is exploited by an otherwise disempowered social group, it becomes an effective means of sabotaging the fundamental elements of a male hegemony" (Fletcher, 43). With this idea in mind, it is clear that although Euripides was conveying a strong woman in his writings, it was not meant in a positive light.

What is most interesting though about Euripides heroines is that they were not uncommon in the times of Ancient Greece. In the tale of Lysistrata, written by Aristophanes, the women of Sparta withhold sex from their husbands in order to end the Peloponnesian War. In the play there is an extensive exchange between the women and their husbands, bargaining and negotiating the females' terms. Although the play was written as a comedy, and the dialogue serves for humorous affect, the idea of the play is still based from the strong female character for which the play is titled.

Overall, the central idea of Medea, like most of Euripides's other plays, is one of warning. Medea is portrayed as "the other" to an audience of exclusively male citizens in a male-dominated society. Although initially her feminine traits allow her to be pitied, her masculine traits (which ultimately overpower the men within the play) cause her to be feared. Ultimately she is seen as an enemy of Greek society, the entire Athenian state, as she has easily manipulated men and succeeded with multiple killings. Consequently, the play is highly misogynistic as Euripides prevents his title character from being a hero. Instead he lets the men know what happens when a woman gains power, and that is breaking the gender roles of the society. Not only does this throw any familial normalcy out the window, but it also ruins the patriarchal supremacy, which is clearly seen as a threat.

Sources Cited:

Durham, Carolyn. “Hero or Heroine?” Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies. 8.1. (1984) 54-59.

Fletcher, Judith. “Women and Oaths in Euripides.” Theatre Journal. 55.1. (2003) 30-46.

Nimis, Steven. “Autochthony, Misogyny, and Harmony: Medea.”  Arethusa. 40.3. (2007) 397-420.

Spranger, J.A. “The Attitude of Euripides Towards Love and Marriage.” The Classical Review. 24.1. (1910) 4-5.

In Medea, an idea that cannot be ignored in the text is that of the gender roles in place in Greek society. By looking directly at the text, one can find numerous instances where the gender roles are stated by the characters, and it is difficult to ignore the main idea that the position of women in Greek society was unjust. For example, in her opening monologue of the play, the nurse tells the audience that Medea is "a refugee who's won respect, admired, stable, domestic – supporting her husband as she should" (line 10-12). Not only is this idea supported by the nurse, but also the chorus of all females who serve as her neighbors who come to support her and sympathize with her as she emotes.

In today's society these ideas are clearly "old fashioned" and can be titled masochistic. In fact, Medea seems the only one with enough foresight to see her own mistreatment. In her first monologue to the audience, the audience hears her worldview that strongly opposes that of the chorus and the nurse.

"What other creatures are bred so exquisitely and purposefully for mistreatment as women are?…Bad enough to have no choice in servitude – try refusing the arrangement, or later petition for divorce – the first is impossible while the second is like admitting you're a whore" (lines 241-250).

This admittance familiarizes today's audience with the adversity and dilemma Medea faces, and it raises the stakes in terms of the plot line. Making the circumstances all the more dire is when the male characters come into the picture, and the converse attitudes are witnessed by the audience.

Jason: "€¦you'd admire what I've done if sex wasn't your obsession. It's folly that women measure their happiness with the pleasures of the bed, but they do. And when the pleasure cools or their man goes missing, all they once lived for turns dark and hateful€¦" (line 575).

This is only one of many instances where Medea is berated for her emotionality and her rage toward Jason by one of the other characters, through statements.  However the actions in the play also work against Medea, and enforce the idea of gender roles. The conflict in the play begins when Jason accepts Creon's offering of his daughter's hand in marriage to Jason. Although Jason states that he is marrying Glauce to better his family, there is no consideration for Medea's wants, needs, or emotions and is simply accused of acting irrationally. However Medea stands against this adversity of course through the killings of Glauce, Creon, and her two sons. The main idea that the treatment of women or position of women in Grecian society is unjust then is supported by the final scene. Throughout the play Zeus's sense of justice is referred to, so when Medea is carried away on a God's chariot it is clear that the Gods thought that her actions were justified.