Unspectacularly, the Jeffers adaptation of Medea is quite a disappointment painting Medea as an animal with no “reason” or human-like thought in regards to her decisions. “QUOTE”. Consistently compared to animals, Medea rarely gains the respect as the incredibly intelligent human-being that Medea should have. On countless occasions, Medea remains seen as an animal, including, “I shall not die perhaps as a pigeon does. Nor like an innocent lamb, that feels a hand on its head and looks up from the knife to the man’s face and dies – No, like some yellow-eyed beast that has killed its hunters let me lie down” (Jeffers, 28.)
Thus Ward is able to address the double edge sword that presents females in stories as “weak” or built upon the “wrath of a woman.” The inclusion of the universality that is associated with Greek mythology allows Ward to shed off the label of blackness from her work. With China, Esch and Katrina all carrying some traits of Medea, it allows the reader to see all aspects of being female from being vulnerable, brave, nurturing and protective. Moreover, Ward insinuates that women should be presented as empowering to one another and through Medea paralleling story Ward articulates her
This paper will discuss the well-published work of, Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Schocken, 1975. Print. Sarah B. Pomeroy uses this book to educate others about the role women have played throughout ancient history. Pomeroy uses a timeline to go through each role, starting with mythological women, who were called Goddesses.
This patriarchal system that oppresses women for their actions, including shunning them for being deceptive, reveals the double standard in society, but also reveals the social statuses in this time period that oppressed women and bound them from being able to change the overall epic. The approval of the gods and their succor was all the Greeks wanted at the time;
This is Medea wielding the knife. This is Medea cutting” (Ward 203-204). Furious and depressed, like her Greek idol, Esch’s heartbreak culminates in bloodshed. She is able to understand and relate to Medea’s often overshadowed tenderness in the wake of despair, betrayal, and
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.
“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.
In the early 400s B.C., two works, the first Medea by Euripides and the second, Antigone by Sophocles, entered Greek culture, exposing its anxieties through the roles of women. Both authors presented the lives of women in light of a prestigious society in order to make a point concerning the way others falsely viewed women. Specifically, in the narratives, Medea and Antigone respond to conflict in an assertive fashion, rather than submissively. This characteristic which, according to societal standards, ought not to be known to women, causes others to view them as foolish, impulsive women; regardless of the societal pressures and judgements, they relentlessly pursued their goals.
Medea is also known as a first tragedy where the murderer is not punished and she is part of victim’s family. Cruelness was usual phenomenon in the Greek society, but cruelness of mother killing her own children just as a part of her revenge shocked the public of the Classical Greece period. Thus the tragedy of Euripides took the last part in competition. However, Medea
Gender inequities in Antigone: A closer look at Athenian society Introduction Sophocles adroitly rendered the gender conflict between Creon and Antigone in his renowned play Antigone, as the two characters rigidly defend their beliefs on burying Polynices, the traitor of Thebes and Antigone’s brother. His disdain for women emerges in various passages of the play, as Creon learns that Antigone attempted to bury Polynices against his orders and, as his son Haemon opposes his decision to lock Antigone in a tomb for her disobedience. The gender discrimination in Antigone illustrates Athenian society’s view of women as inferior to men, a threat to man’s pride, and sexual object with little significance. Moreover, Sophocles could be suggesting a subliminal message that women are capable of devise logical and rational decisions during times of conflicts.
Lady Macbeth and Medea are therefore considered tragic heros because they put their loyalty above their own self-worth. Ultimately, this ideal encompasses how femininity is controlled by men, because the actions of the Macbeth and Jason were the cause for Lady Macbeth and Medea’s
Can the murderess, Medea, be justified for the killing of her own offspring? Medea is a play written by Euripides in the year 431 B.C. and basically is a tragic Greek mythological play that deals with themes such as love, marriage, betrayal and revenge. Summing it up, this play specifically is about how Medea is sent into exile due to Creon (the king) feeling threatened by her. He is feeling threatened by her because Jason (Medea’s husband) took another bride to bed which happened to be the king’s daughter.
Sophocles play “Antigone” introduces a lot of debatable topics such as Human law vs Divine laws, pride, but most importantly the topic of woman’s movement for empowerment. Long before 442 B.C.E, women were belittled because of their gender however, after the birth of “Antigone” it demonstrated a strong outreach towards women and their roles in society ”Antigone, a woman who defines King Creon’s edict without any fear, doubts, or regrets. This courageous woman, the fruit of incest, has fascinated philosophers in the nineteenth century, inspired playwrights in the twentieth century, and intrigued feminist thinkers and activists for decades” (Söderbäck). Birth from a respected bloodline, Antigone doesn’t feel respected at all within her town, especially from her uncle Creon who became entitled as the King after Antigone’s blood
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.
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.
