Euripides' Depiction of Medea's Problems Relating to Her Status as a Foreign Woman in Athens
Surabhi Yadav
English (Hons) 2B
Roll No.231
Assignment Question:- Critically comment on Euripides’ depiction of Medea’s problems as relating to her status as a foreign woman in Athens.
Medea is a play about the subaltern, the Other, the misfit, the stranger, the woman who is “deserted, a refugee, thought nothing of”. It is a play about the barbarian’s powerful ability to restore her own dignity and achieve justice. Seen as such the play can function on a different level. It is a “radical” play because it uproots traditional beliefs related to gender, politics and culture which lay at the heart of Athenian society of the fifth century BC.
Athenians were vividly conscious that the establishment and growth of civilized values in a barbarous world lay with them alone as leaders of Hellenic culture. Athenians claimed to be the champions of the Greek way of life, its “democratic” ideals and firm opponents of “barbarianism”. They were extremely cautious of their superior achievements in art, architecture ant their naval and commercial supremacy.
This xenophobic attitude is most prominently evident in Jason, who used her for his own purpose. His mission to seek and bring home the treasure from the Barbarians can be seen as the ultimate symbol of the imperial dream which lasted throughout the centuries to the present day. On the one hand there is reference to the myth which has Medea hacking her own brother to pieces in order to assist Jason in his escape with the Golden Fleece from Colchis. On the other hand she shows her tenderness by “cradling” the body of the brother that she herself had slain. This unusual association places her and her brother together as victims of imperialism, facing Jason as the appropriator of the cultural heritage of Colchis and therefore the imperialist coloniser. Medea has served Jason in his quest for power, fame and posterity, in other words she has succumbed to the attractions of the culture of the coloniser and has
English (Hons) 2B
Roll No.231
Assignment Question:- Critically comment on Euripides’ depiction of Medea’s problems as relating to her status as a foreign woman in Athens.
Medea is a play about the subaltern, the Other, the misfit, the stranger, the woman who is “deserted, a refugee, thought nothing of”. It is a play about the barbarian’s powerful ability to restore her own dignity and achieve justice. Seen as such the play can function on a different level. It is a “radical” play because it uproots traditional beliefs related to gender, politics and culture which lay at the heart of Athenian society of the fifth century BC.
Athenians were vividly conscious that the establishment and growth of civilized values in a barbarous world lay with them alone as leaders of Hellenic culture. Athenians claimed to be the champions of the Greek way of life, its “democratic” ideals and firm opponents of “barbarianism”. They were extremely cautious of their superior achievements in art, architecture ant their naval and commercial supremacy.
This xenophobic attitude is most prominently evident in Jason, who used her for his own purpose. His mission to seek and bring home the treasure from the Barbarians can be seen as the ultimate symbol of the imperial dream which lasted throughout the centuries to the present day. On the one hand there is reference to the myth which has Medea hacking her own brother to pieces in order to assist Jason in his escape with the Golden Fleece from Colchis. On the other hand she shows her tenderness by “cradling” the body of the brother that she herself had slain. This unusual association places her and her brother together as victims of imperialism, facing Jason as the appropriator of the cultural heritage of Colchis and therefore the imperialist coloniser. Medea has served Jason in his quest for power, fame and posterity, in other words she has succumbed to the attractions of the culture of the coloniser and has