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Euripides 'Medea': Questions About Women And Femininity

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Medea: Questions About Women and Femininity
Euripides’ play, Medea, is an ambiguous narrative relating to feminism. Depending on one’s viewpoint, the eponymous character can either be one of the most unconventional delegates of women’s rights or an oblivious saboteur willing to undermine the cause. I believe the former, holding the opinion that Medea was a pioneer for feminism, being the original driving force behind breaking the stereotypes assigned to women. Although I also hold the stance that her impact is short-term due to the fact that her surrounding actions have overshadowed her ambitious acts. …show more content…

The act of murder is abhorrent in itself, although even more so when it’s your own children. Medea demonstrated through these killings that she greatly lacks a sense of morality. The Nurse often commented on Medea’s practicality and logic throughout the Greek tragedy in quotes such as “[Medea] hates her sons […] I dread to think of what is hatching in her mind. (1)” and “Why make the sons share in their father 's guilt? (20-21)”. The Nurse acquired the sensibility that Medea lacked. Even if Medea’s actions can be somewhat rationalized or explained, murdering the aforesaid kids is unjustifiable. Although it can be argued that Medea wasn’t the only character with a damaged moral compass. Jason used Medea for his own personal gain and shortly disowned her which is a large transgression. Both the characters committed horrible acts or transgressions that contributed to the downfall of others. Through Euripides’ writing, both Jason and Medea projected the concept that each sex is capable of being equally inhuman. This further supports the notion that no gender is triumphant over the …show more content…

Early in the story, Medea states “Of all creatures that can feel and think, we women are the worst treated things alive (31)”. As a woman, she has been used, put down and discriminated against by the men in society. These various forms of disregard and contempt all have come from the basis of her gender. Due to Medea being female, she’s seen as inferior to the male’s around her. This isn’t helped by the fact that she is also the only foreigner in Corinth. Although, Medea is able to overcome all the prejudices she is met with by asserting her power (without taking any morality into question). This can be implemented to women today in that they are still being oppressed and discriminated against by the opposite sex. Whether it’s suffrage, job opportunities or comparable worth, women have had a prolonged fight against men for equal rights. Aside from economic discrimination, women in modern times are also discriminated against socially. Medea claims “We [women] bid the highest price in dowries just to buy some man to be dictator of our bodies […] How that compounds the wrong! (31)”. This can roughly translate to mean that women were practically bought and sold into marriages, which can make them comparable to property. Women today are faced with similar discrimination more so in underdeveloped countries

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In Greek epics, tragedies, and mythology women are portrayed in various ways. Women are mainly considered to be weak and less important than men, but there are some women who are shown to be strong and heroic, despite the reputation that was placed onto them in Ancient Greek civilizations. There were two particular women that were strong and took the roles of their husbands while the men left to fight in the Trojan War. These two women were Penelope, wife of Odysseus, and Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon. These two women were different in how they chose to rule while their husbands were at war and how they acted once they got back.

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I want Medea to be justified in her actions, but I want this to be something that could happen to anyone. I don’t want her actions to be considered ‘what women do.’ There is also this theme of feminism and standing up for women in general. She criticizes men while using her wit to maneuver the situation properly. Medea is a cunning woman confined to this world dominated by men.

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In Euripides’ text The Medea, Medea can easily be painted as the villian. She is a woman who killed her own children in an attempt to spite her husband. But, by examining the text, we can see that she deserves some sympathy. She has little to no control over her own life and has to rely on the will of men. And as a foreigner in Corinth abandoned by her husband, she faces even more challenges than the native women of Corinth did.

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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.

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The author Richards of "Review/Theater; Amid Pain and Din, A Mighty Medea," describes the male characters as arrogant, condescending and egotistical. During the play Medea, the males are characterized as only interested in what will give them power and they are not concerned with the feelings of the women or Medea in the play. “The male characters in "Medea" don 't come off well. But then they never have, and Alistair Elliot 's stripped-for-action translation of the play further emphasizes [Euripides] ' feminist sympathies. Either the men are smug and patronizing (like John Turner 's Creon) or else they 're smug and self-serving (like Mr. [Tim Oliver Woodward] 's Jason).

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“While seeking revenge, dig two graves- one for yourself,” quoted by Douglas Horton. This quote highlights the fact that revenge takes away from the person who seeks it as much, if not more, than the person who did them harm. Medea is entitled to be upset but her quest for revenge leaves her worse than she started. While trying to crumble Jason’s life, Medea ultimately demolishes her own, and she has no one to blame but herself. All throughout Medea by Euripides, Medea tries to get back at her ex-husband and father of her children, Jason, after he left her for a younger woman.

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WORLD LITERATURE ESSAY Euripedes’ portrayal of the theme and significance of marriage in Medea. Euripedes portrays the central conflict between Medea and Jason as a resultant of Jason’s betrayal of his marriage to Medea, breaking the marriage vows and rejecting the sanctity of her nuptial bed for the politically motivated marriage with Creon’s daughter. The play, Medea, can be interpreted as a searing indictment of the institution of marriage. It is the desecration of this sacred institution by Jason that infuriates Medea and causes her to unleash her wrath upon Jason by committing filicide so as to leave him without sons to carry his family forward.

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Paul Vu Dr. Elizabeth C. Ramírez THTR 475A.03 2 May 2017 Macbeth and Medea: Breaking Expectations Macbeth by William Shakespeare and Medea by Euripides are known for their powerful critiques on the social expectations of women. Women during the time of Elizabethan and Greek theatre were often stereotyped and considered the weaker sex. Men were depicted as strong individuals who supported and protected women. However, both Shakespeare and Euripides broke expectations by portraying strong and iconic female characters in their respective plays. The idea of a strong female character was often unheard of during the time of Elizabethan and Greek Theatre.

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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!

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This is why Medea, according to the Greek gods, was in her right to take such severe consequences upon Jason and in this essay we will analyze Medea’s position and decide upon a conclusion whether her actions are justifiable or

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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. The feeling of being left by someone you love is truly painful hence, Medea expressed her emotions as much as she can and mourned for her lost. It is true that women can be sensitive and emotional so there was Medea portraying a usual woman in an unusual manner.

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Revenge can cause more damage than the original injury. Even in old Greek days people used revenge to hurt one another. In the ancient Greek tragedy Medea, a young woman named Medea gave up her family, home and country to be with a man named Jason. As they moved on in life, Jason then decided that he would leave her and his children for the princess, a royal bed. This caused Medea to be vengeful and go out on a rampage.

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Medea: The Revengeful “Let death destroy Jason and Jason’s children! Let the whole ancestry of Jason be destroyed!” (Fredrick, 2015 , p. 18) Studying the case of Medea, effects of PTSD made her commit Spouse revenge filicide because she wanted to punish her husband, Jason, for betraying her and breaking the oath he took. In his article, Combat Trauma and physiological injury, Brian Lush uses the same method Jonathan Shay used to interpret Achilles’s actions in the Iliad for Medea’s situation.

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However, this was clearly not his intention because he did nothing to prevent his children being kicked out into the wild. Unsurprisingly, Medea became enraged and sought to obtain the justice she was not able to obtain. She wanted to judge Jason based on his inexplicable actions. He abandoned his paternal duties and were willing to start a new life, while she and their children were left to

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Medea has already lost her husband and her home so this decision is an obvious one for her. She wants to leave everyone in the same misery that she has been experienced and continues to experience. After this, she even plans to murder her own children just to distress Jason further. Medea knows that she will live in regret and misery by doing so, but her need to sadden Jason trumps her own future feelings. The murder of her sons also symbolizes the death of her marriage with Jason.

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