Examples Of Femininity In Medea

In her speech, Medea uses her gender as a ploy to seek sympathy amongst the chorus, ultimately portraying herself as a struggling woman overcome by insurmountable grief and crippled by gender roles in order to gain the support of the fellow women in the crowd and coax them into assisting her with her plan of revenge. In this excerpt, Medea preys on the pity of these women while appealing to their overarching views of femininity in Ancient Greek life. Medea is a master manipulator, meaning she knows exactly how to address her audience to get what she wants. She first begins by saying that all joy is lost from her life and she would rather be dead (239). Immediately she attempts to tug on the heartstrings of these women, but rather than just

We see this in ancient times where women really had no social standing or any role in public life (Kennedy). Medea expresses that even after ceding their freedoms, their future is not secure. Their husbands can find satisfaction elsewhere to which Medea responds, "I'd rather stand there three times in battle holding up my shield than give birth once” (268). Here she explains how much of a disparity there is between sexes. To summarize, Medea claims men could never endure the hardships women are put through. In fact, women fight harder ‘battles’ behind the closed doors of their own homes than men face in the social sphere. Medea lays the final nail in the coffin by suggesting that there is no denying women have persisted through harrowing experiences, but she has it even worse than all of them: “But I'm alone. I have no city, and I'm being abused by my own husband (272-273).” On top of all of their collective strife via male oppression, she has no husband or home; she has been betrayed and abandoned. With the chorus undertaken by her plea for empathy, she can finally reveal her agenda. She admits she must punish Jason for his injustices against her after abusing his male privilege and only expanding the gender