In society, men and women are defined by gender roles throughout their activities and occupations. A doctor is typically portrayed as a man while most women are associated with the household and children. Although still in existence, today these roles are less defined but tend to have similar essence when compared to the past. In today’s society, females work, take part in the government and have a say in public and private decisions. Compared to ancient Greece, women suffered great tribulations and these current activities are unimaginable for a woman under the complete supervision of a male husband. In the play Medea by Euripides, the main characters Jason and Medea are atypical characters in many ways. Medea defies perceptions of the normal attitudes of men and women by overcoming her female emotions and performed acts that the Greeks considered unfeminine.
Medea has many untraditional characteristics for a woman who lived in the time of antient Greek. Medea’s is very headstrong and opinionated these aspects are none traditional in Greek standards. Women are only being incorporated into two roles: mothers and wives, nothing more. She defies her gender by exhibiting both male and female characteristics. Her ability to separate herself from her “womanly” emotions at times and perform acts that society does not see women capable of doing, further prove her ability to adapt to different situations. After marriage, women no longer have any control over their property. Therefore, any property those women possessed immediately had to be turned over to their husbands. However, because Medea got sent away
Upon first reading this play, emotions of anger, disappointment, and relief swirled to the surface. The fact that Medea was to escape without any consequences angered me so much, but as I thought about it more, my emotions began to shift. It wasn’t as if Medea murdering her children was something she wanted to do. She had to have gone through so much to push her to that point. How can I better justify her actions and relate it to a 21st century audience?
In Antigone and Medea , the women are ruled by their emotions. Due to this, they make impromptu decisions which leave them in a vulnerable state. Medea feels betrayed by Jason, and her heartbroken hearts fills with rage for him. She becomes so irate she makes an deathly decision, “oh, what misery! Cursed sons, and a mother for cursing! Death take you all – you and your father” (Euripides 20). Her irrational decision is caused by the misery she is in, and it overrules her rational thinking. The threatening tone she gives her children helps illustrate the fact that she plans to have death take her children & Jason, due to Jason’s betrayal to her. Even her children are endangered due to her irate state of mind. Furthermore, this connects to
ha! Father, daughter, and my husband.” (57) By having Medea commit such despicable and heinous acts in her lust for vengeance, Euripides shows us how committing revenge lowers the person who orchestrates it more than the one who wronged them in the first place. Medea is defended by many as a wronged mother and faithful wife who is justified in her actions for filicide, but she acts and appears more like the “evil witch” (742) trope, cursing and killing anyone in her way. Medea is also unquestionably blinded by her wrath, and she annihilates Glauke, Creon and worst of all, the blood of her blood, her two children. These atrocities
Under Homer’s supposed ‘Hero Ethic’, it can be understood that an individual should support one’s friends and harm one’s enemies. This system leaves little to no room for forgiveness or for mercy. Jason has become her enemy by abandoning Medea and their children. He justifies this by pointing out that he has given her “more than [she] deserve[s]” as Medea now lives in “the center of the world.” However, Medea views him as “A brutal man whom [she] once loved [that] has smashed [her]/in the face so hard [she] wear[s] the face of death.”Medea is portrayed as reacting to Jason’s betrayal by “doing what other heroes before her had done...when confronted with an enemy. She schemes, she tricks, she deceives,” and she seeks revenge on those who have harmed her. Medea enforces this notion that she is merely doing what any self-respecting man, Greek, or Hero would do when she scoffs at Creon's concern over her type, stating: “A woman like me!
Medea was an absolute lunatic. Before moving to Corinth Medea killed her brother by chopping him up and throwing him in the ocean. She then tricks the king’s daughters into cutting him up and boiling him. Once in Corinth Medea finds out that her husband, Jason, is marrying the daughter of Creon. This infuriates Medea and she has to have her revenge. After talking Creon into letting her and her sons stay in Corinth for another day this is when Medea begins to plot out her revenge. It is shown that she has gone a bit crazy when she says, “Medea: [Creon] lets me stay one extra day, to make three enemies corpses:ha! father, daughter, and my husband” (50). Medea starts her murderous rampage by killing Creon and his daughter by giving them cursed gifts. She then argues with herself debating whether or not she should kill her own children. She decides that it is necessary that they die and slaughters them. This was all done just because her husband decided to marry another woman.
In response to Medea, I feel nothing but sadness for her life and what prolonged her to tormenting herself. However, with the way Medea chose to handle that grief into revenge is something I don’t agree with and didn’t feel like that alone justified her actions.These cruel acts of fate
In The Medea, Medea definitely breaks out of her traditionally feminine role as mother and wife, killing her children to avenge her desertion at Jason’s hands. In breaking out of her role as a submissive female, Medea challenges the order of Greek society the gods seem to have ordained, committing evil upon evil, ostensibly horrible because she is not obeying the seemingly god-decreed social customs. In The Medea, though, Euripides questions the very order that condemns Medea. Although Medea commits horrendous evils, Euripides casts doubt on the idea that the gods call into place the dominant Greek culture; he asks his audience to question its assumptions about Medea’s revenge. By calling into question the very line to the gods men purportedly
In Medea, it highlights the inequalities of women in Greek society. Medea is set in a male dominated society. Through Jason's betrayal of Medea, by marrying another Greek women, Medea becomes enraged and starts to question her place in society as well as the position of women in the patriarchal
One of the most famous ancient Greek tragedies is Medea. Medea is most widely known for killing her children. According to Wikipedia, Medea killed her children in order to get vengeance on her husband, Jason, for cheating on her. However, I do not believe that Wikipedia gives all the motives behind Medea’s “ultimate sin.” Wikipedia should be inclusive of all possible forces that may have caused Medea to kill her children in order for readers’ to get the most accurate depiction of events. Since, Wikipedia was not inclusive of other motives, I will explore some popular alternatives to show the complexity of the situation.
In Greek mythology Medea ( sources ) is play about a young women who gotten her heart broken by her husban. Jason had betrayed Medea by marrying another woman to improve his social status, he underestimates how jealous Medea is and he lets her stay one day to pack up
“Surely, of all creatures that have life and will, we women/ Are the most wretched” (Euripides 229-230).
Euripides created an unusual art work that left people mouth-opened. It was criticized and dissed during its time since the audience witnessed a very odd ending. The fact that Medea was really clever and powerful made it different as well. During those times, women had no role in the society. Women were just supposed to serve their husbands and take good care of the children. Euripides created a modern day woman who seeks justice and revenge with her cleverness and power. Medea acted as a feminine heroine who established that women can also be as strong as men.
“Let death destroy Jason and Jason’s children! Let the whole ancestry of Jason be destroyed!” (Fredrick, 2015 , p. 18)