Nick Fox
Professor Farr
World Lit
11/3/11
Medea: A Piece in History Greek culture and theater provide many examples of the human condition as well as human nature. Among the authors best known from this time are Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Aristophanes. Euripides’s works have outlasted many of his contemporaries. In his play Medea, Euripides uses Medea’s character as a metaphor for women’s changing roles their taking a stand, their breaking the status quo hence overcoming the mandates of Greek culture. The play Medea by Euripides first appears in 431 B.C., the same year that the Peloponnesian war begins. Athens, ruled by Pericles from 447- 341 B.C. always made large amounts of money available for the festivals that include dramatic productions. Since theater was such an important part of the Athenian’s life, of course, it was at the center of the social and political facets as well. Thousands upon thousands of people would come to watch these productions. The festivals were very competitive, like a contest, and the results are permanently placed in the public records. Medea is now known as one of Euripides’ most famous plays, though it isn’t highly regarded in the history of the festival competitions mainly because of how the play contradicted the normal values of female’s roles in the Greek society. Women in Greek society have basically no rights at all. It was the male or husband that had all the rights in the family (Lawall 693). Few women in ancient Athens could read or write, and most were expected just to obey their fathers or husbands. Most women married at a young age and begin the role of taking care of the house, cooking, and raising the children. They were always expected to do what their husband said, without question. In the play, Medea goes against the norms of society and plans revenge on her husband. “ But I shall beg that my children may remain here: Not that I would live in a country that hates me Children of mine to feel their enemies’ insults, But that by a trick I may kill the king’s daughter” ( Euripides 711). The fact that she doesn’t sit back and do nothing after her husband leaves her in the play definitely shocks the people of Athens. Also going on during this time period is the introduction of new philosophical ideas. Psychology of the normal man is starting to be studied ("Medea: Introduction"). Socrates was one of the better known teachers of the time, and one can see how he has an influence on Euripides, by the way he wrote his dramas. Major studies at that time are showing that of psychological motivations behind a person’s actions. This fits right along with Medea and her plan. In the play Medea kills her two children to insure revenge on her ex-husband, which brings up the question, why would anyone kill his/her own kids? Provoking questions like that is one of the reasons why Medea is such a powerful piece of writing. Born in Salamis in the year 480 B.C. Euripides is considered the youngest of the three great tragedians. Euripides was the most creative of the tragedians and helped build a new structure of the Greek tragedy by having his characters as strong females, as well as having an intelligent serving class in his plays. What made his plays unique was the focus on the psychological motives of his characters. He often used strong female characters in his plays as seen in Medea or in many of his other plays, characters that would question authority and norms of the society (“Euripides”). This didn’t make Euripides popular among leaders and people in the community. This could be a reason he only won the festival competitions four times. Although not the most popular then, of all his contemporaries including Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Aristophanes, more of his dramas are still studied today. Though he challenges the culture of ancient Greece he refuses to be afraid of revealing the world behind the shield of the social and cultural advancement. Looking back on his work, the reader sees that Euripides’s tragedies present current roles that come way after his time. In his play Medea, a woman Medea is deserted by her husband for a princess. However, no one would expect a king to be afraid of just one female. “I am afraid of you, why should I dissemble it? Afraid that you may injure my daughter mortally. Many things accumulate to support my feeling, you are a clever woman, versed in evil arts, and are angry at having lost your husband’s love. I hear that you are threatening, so they tell me, to do something against my daughter and Jason and me, too” (Euripides 701).
The power Euripides gives to this one girl in his play definitely contradicts the norms of the Greek culture and shows the power he feels with his play. The themes portrayed throughout Medea are pretty clear to the audience. One theme that is seen throughout the play is love, but not just romance. A kind of love that is so intense it drives Medea to do crazy things. She feels such great love for Jason, by doing extreme things on his behalf. “Where am I to go? to my father’s? him I betrayed and his land when I came with you.to Pelias’ wretched daughters? What a fine welcome they would prepare for me who murdered their father!”(Euripides 705). Her love turns into a feeling of extreme revenge. She begins to plan ways gain retribution from Jason, not by killing him but by causing him pain through hurting the ones he cares about the most. She murders his new wife, and then to make him suffer more, she does the unthinkable “Come, children, give me your hands, give your mother your hands to kiss them. O the dear hands and O how dear are these lips to me, and the generous eyes and the bearing of my children! What is here your father took. O how good to hold you! How delicate the skin, how sweet the breath of children! Go! Go! I am no longer able to look upon you. I am overcome by sorrow” (Euripides 717). Then she kills both of her children to make Jason suffer. To consider the level of love and desire for revenge a mother must feel to kill her own children take it to the next level. Another theme in the play is freedom from status quo for women. Euripides uses Medea to respond in a totally new way from other women. In ancient Greek culture the norms for women is not to take a stand or try and change their roles. Medea is betrayed by her husband, and even though she takes her methods of revenge to an extreme, she does take a stand against her husband. Which is a revolutionary action for the time. This theme didn’t go unnoticed, for many people and critics weren’t pleased with his doing this. However, Medea has stood throughout the ages and is an important piece of literature. Medea has outlived most all of the other plays of its time. Euripides used his play to contradict the social norms of the roles women had. Medea takes a stand against her husband cheating by not just lying down and letting herself become just another victim. Right or wrong, she did something. In the closing scene of the play Medea says to Jason, Long would be the answer which I might have made to these words of yours, if Zeus the father did not know how I have treated you and what you did to me. No it was not to be that you should scorn my love, and pleasantly live your life through laughing at me; nor would the princess, nor he who offered the match, Kreon, drive me away without paying for it (Euripides 723). Another reason why Medea has lasted this long and is in anthologies today is involves the extremes Euripides uses to present his story, and the powerful way he portrays the meanings of his play. No one would ever think of a mother murdering her own children. It is an extreme action that is what catches people’s attention and easily conveys his point. With all the murders and revenge throughout the play, Euripides uses the power behind these extremes to present his meaning of the play. “The children are dead. I say this to make you suffer” (Euripides 723) Lines like these show how Medea takes the love for Jason and turned it into pure hatred. Some later play writer writes, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” How true this seems for Medea. The startling images and powerful story make this a great read. Hence, it should appear in most World Literature courses. Medea by Euripides is and has been a powerful, important piece of literature in our world.

Works Cited Euripides. Medea. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Sarah Lawall. New York: W.W Norton and Co., 2002. 695 Print. " Euripides." 2011. Biography.com. Web. 04 Nov 2011, http://www.biography.com/people/euripides-9289335 Lawall, Sarah. The Norton Anthology of world Literature. New York: W.W Norton and Co., 2002. 693 Print "Medea: Introduction." Drama for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 1. Detroit: eNotes.com. Web. 14 November 2011, http://www.enotes.com/medea/introduction.