Medea Quote Analysis

Greek Mythology is notoriously anti-female revolution. From Aeschylus’s depiction of Clytemnestra’s thirst for power to one’s own Euripides’ depiction of Medea’s rampage of revenge, Greek mythology is terrified of powerful women. The Bacchae by Euripides makes no exception and continues stifling female empowerment; however, Euripides adds his own unique spin on terrifying female depiction. Instead of just representing women in power as monsters to fear, he instead blames femininity as the culprit. He uses the Bacchae, Dionysus, and Pentheus as examples of the danger in accessing one’s own femininity. The Bacchae’s own control of their sexuality, as Pentheus describes “They creep off one by one to lonely spots to have sex with men”, and their feminine features, as their breasts swell and their hair cascades, creates an example of women gone wild with power over themselves

Medea is a tragedy of a woman who feels that her husband has betrayed her with another woman and the jealousy that engrosses her. She is the principle who provokes sympathy because of how her desperate she is. Her emotions start of as anger, then cold and conspiring. “He let me stay one day, 
 a day when I'll turn three of my enemies
 to corpses—father, daughter, and my husband.” Cited from line 441, Madea. This quote shows madea’s Vengeance

This is an ironic statement as Medea is actually planning to kill her children, a fact which the audience does not yet know about. Jason uses another form of rhetorical stretching, which includes his plea that leaving his wife and children was a ‘wise move’, and that the decision was made with Medea’s best interests at heart, as much an attempt to convince himself as much as the audience. The chorus is quick to point out that ‘You have betrayed your wife and are acting badly.’ The Nurse is our first instance of anagnorisis during the play. Though an ancient Greek audience would well be in tune with the stories in Greek mythology, the Nurse’s role would still have proved important, as she was a tool Euripides used to transport the audience

Medea surpassed the regulations by murdering her family and the ones with higher status. Jason degraded his status by not being able to obey the regulations that were placed on him. He was unsuccessful in taking care of his family and understanding his wife and children. It is extremely shocking and unforgivable if a woman took revenge on her husband through murder in a society where women were always looked down upon. But the whole society overlooked Jason’s actions of betraying his own family and blood in secrecy. According to the society, revenge was more sinful especially when a woman committed it, but there is no sin of breaking one’s love especially when men are permitted to do whatever they wish. In the end, Medea’s action will always be unforgivable since she committed murders of the innocent in the eyes of Greek society, but what about Jason’s deeds? No one has clearly defined his errors because he is a man who will always be

Medea uses Ethos, the persuasion through ethical arguments, to appeal to the female Chorus who live in a patriarchal land. Medea and the women of Corinth both share, to a different extent, the experience of being unfairly categorized as the caretaker of the family, which aids Medea in persuasion because she can be trusted as a woman to speak on the patriarchal society. She continues as ‘’of all creatures that have life and reason we women are the sorriest lot’’ (229-230) of all the living things Medea describes women as the ‘’sorriest’’ which suggests that women are pitied and helps Medea to allure the Chorus to be on her side. Medea suggests to the Chorus that Females ‘’must at a great expenditure of money buy a husband and even take on a master over our body: this evil is more galling than the first.’’(231-233) Medea is arguing that women must sacrifice a ‘’great’’ amount of money to ‘’buy’’ their partners. This conveys the patriarchal community in Corinth.

Medea was treated unfairly in the patriarchal society that she lived in and due to the circumstances she was forced to abide by, she sought to achieve her own form of justice. Women were mistreated and regarded as inferior to men. In fact, Medea mentioned how women were like foreigners forced to abide by their husband’s laws and remain subservient. Essentially, women were treated as outsiders and were thought to need constant protection from male figures. So, when the King of Corinth kicked her and her children out of Corinth and Jason left them, she wanted revenge since she felt she had been wronged. Thus, she formulated a systematic plan to achieve her agenda and to rectify the injustice that had occurred. Essentially, the King of Corinth

The unfair treatment of women is discussed often in Euripides’ play, Medea. The play is set in ancient Greece, where society was completely ruled by men. During this time, women were seen and treated as second-class citizens whose sole purpose in life is to bear children. They had almost no rights, and were seen as inferior. The writer, Euripides, disputes the once widely-held belief that women are not equal to

In various ways, women either subtly or directly argue against double standards or mistreatments to which they are subjected. The gods are disgruntled over the idea of a goddess taking a mortal man for a husband but have countless times taken mortal women as lovers. Her outspoken nature express the idea that women were fed up with having to act as second-class citizens to the men of their world. They saw the unfairness positioned against them and demanded that it end. One particularly strong demonstration of this sentiment would be when Calypso was being directed to allow Odysseus to continue on his way home by Hermes and her response, “‘You unrivaled lords of jealousy- scandalized when goddesses sleep with mortals, openly, even when one has made the man her husband. So when Dawn with her rose-red fingers took Orion, you gods in your everlasting ease were horrified till chaste Artemis throned in gold attacked them…. So now at last, you gods, you train your spite on me for keeping a mortal man beside me. The man I saved…” (Fagles 156). Calypso was arguing the clear double-standards the gods placed on something as trivial as relationships represented to audiences the idea that she had begun to demand equality from the men of the world. By expressing this anger regarding the inequity placed upon all

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?

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!

The Geek society had may guidelines concerning the way men and women were treated and the roles they played within society. “The concept of gender was an integral aspect of this social hierarchy; power was not evenly distributed and only men were allowed to participate in prestige activities such as politics, law, or the military” (“The Ure Museum”). The values of gender roles within the Greek society are expressed in the play Medea by Euripides. Though Euripides tried to show the disparities of how women are treated compared to men, he still uses some of the same stereotypes exhibited within Greek society. Some issues that will be discussed are the way the women are portrayed in Greek society. Explaining why the women are being treated unfairly and the outcomes that can happen to women in the Greek society. How men are portrayed in Greek society. Explaining why men have different expectations than women and the political aspects of the male gender role in Greek society. The effects of the non-traditional roles the men and women played in the Medea play. Also, discuss the

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.

This text shows how women, sick of their submissive and powerless position in the political scenario of Athens and Sparta, come on the scene and, through a smart stratagem, achieve their expected result. Women’s power in the play contrasts the real women life’s conditions in Greece in 500/400 b.C.

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 the ancient era was the theater plays and a very central part of the future society. Usually written the dramas and love stories. A classic piece of antiquity is Medea, written by Euripides. The play 's fable is that a woman who learns that her husband has been cheating on her. Her ultimate revenge is to kill their own children. The theme is revenge because the whole play is about how Medea 's anger leads to her murder their own children to avenge her husband.