Euripides Medea Synthesis Essay

Euripedes’ Medea is often regarding as one of the most groundbreaking and innovative Greek tragedies. Elements such as feminine power and familial betrayal shocked the audience when the play was performed, as Greeks were used to a common threads of male authority and innocence of children within their plays. Euripides chooses to craft his female protagonist as someone who defies gender roles, acts in a more masculine way, is a feared outsider, and shows integrity. This alone would have been considered shocking to contemporaries, as women were normally submissive, delicate characters who served little purpose within the plot. Introduced as “luckless Medea”, she perseveres through adversities and social conventions on a journey to seek vengeance
He explains that Euripides uses two main themes in order to elicit an emotional response from the
Her soliloquy to the chorus would allow the audience a chance to sympathize with Medea, as she address the “social disabilities” (50) of women and an explanation for her deeds. But even though revenge was accepted by the Greeks, they would have found it morally wrong to involve her children, who are innocent of her misery, in her retaliation. After this speech, Euripides does not provide any other evidence to blame Medea’s actions on alienation from society. Lawrence compares her interactions with Jason to that of famous Greek hero from legends with which the audience would have been familiar. Her deceitfulness, cunningness, and sorceress-like methods put her on a platform that would have been way above women of her time. The audience would have been shocked that both they would have been deceived right along with Jason by a woman who has been illustrated as a barbarian. This is one of the main emotional turning points in the play for the audience, as any refuge in gender stereotypes has now been cast aside. But even after