In novels and play writes such as Barbara Kingsolver’s, The Poisonwood Bible and Euripides, Medea, the theme Role of women arises: women in many societies are subjugated and displayed as the inferior gender, when they are truly the strongest; they carry all the pain and suffering of society, the wars and the deaths; thus they are the pedestal that keeps everyone up. In order to reveal theme Kingsolver and Euripides make use of literary devices such as symbolism, imagery and diction. Using all three literary devices Kingsolver reveals that women such as Orleana believe that they are just rag dolls that are pulled, pushed and just there, even so realize how strong they really are; that if it was not for them their children would not be able to live. Medea on the other hand represents all the pains and struggles of women and is attempting to inform all women that they have the power and must stand up for themselves.…
Euripides constructs Medea to be a powerful voice in a world of silent women. All women of the time were treated the same way, and they weren’t valued. Medea was a King’s daughter, sorceress and Apollo’s granddaughter, so just those factors made her different. Medea was not herself when she was with Jason, she changed when she became Jason’s wife living as a foreigner in a ‘civilised’ land far from her native home. As “an exile,” Medea has been self-contained and submissive, she has “won a warm welcome from her new fellow citizens” and has been “complete support” to her husband. Despite this, Jason shows “criminal behavior” and leaves Medea for a “princess’ bed” in order to further his own social position. As Medea reminds Jason, he “owes his life” to her; she has helped him gain the Golden Fleece, even killing her own brother to ensure their escape and then tricking Pelias’ daughters into killing their father the King. Medea’s sense of betrayal is then amplified when Jason tries to convince Medea that he did it for…
Medea is driven mad by her love and hatred for her husband, Jason. In the story, Medea plans to kill Jason, Creon, and Creon’s daughter who Jason plans to marry. She wants to kill him because he betrays her love; Jason is in love with the power he could possess once he marries the new bride. Medea vows to make Jason suffer the same pain she had suffered. In three particular instances of the play, Medea could have stopped her ploy for revenge, but she chose not to.…
One of the reasons as to why Medea is such a compelling character is because she does not have one particular tragic flaw. Her tragic condition is the result of a convergence of flaws. I think that these can be summarized by the idea of Medea not recognizing any balance in her emotions. She fled her father's home with an intensity of emotions invested in Jason that were never calculated nor any type of deliberation present. This same abandon is seen when Medea kills her brother. It is also evident when Medea cannot accept that Jason has stopped loving her and loves another. While Medea does consider the implications of killing her own children, it is to no avail as the intensity of her emotions overcomes all reason. When the Nurse understands…
The speech itself highlights women's subordinate status in ancient Greek society, especially in the public eye." When Medea points out that women, especially "foreign" women, "require some knowledge of magic and other covert arts to exert influence over their husbands in the bedroom," she argues for a kind of alternative power that women can enjoy. A power that remains invisible to men and unknown by society, yet sways each with unquestionable force. Medea also supplies a method for interpreting her own character towards the end of her speech (lines 251-257): we should read her history of exile as a metaphoric exaggeration of all women's alienation; in fact, her whole predicament, past and yet to come, can be read as an allegory of women's suffering and the heights of tragedy it may unleash if left unattended. Under this model of interpretation, Medea portrays the rebellion of women against their "wretchedness." Such a transparent social allegory may seem forced or clichéd in our own contemporary setting, but in Euripides' time it would have been revolutionary, as tragedy generally spoke to the sufferings of a generic (perhaps idealized) individual, rather than a group. It would be a mistake, however,…
However, they are incorrect because the Nurse and Chorus’s compassion is presented several times, where they try helping her and offering her advice. Medea, being the crazy woman she is, is considerably expected to behave in the manner she did. To take revenge against Jason, and in reference to killing the kids and new bride, Medea says, “To make you feel pain.” (p. 46) She is explaining how she wants to make him feel pain emotionally and mentally rather than physically. Jason says about himself at the end of the play, “...who will get no pleasure from my newly wedded love, /And the boys whom I begot and brought up, never/ Shall I speak to them alive. Oh, my life is over.” (p 44) It hurts Medea enormously that she killed her kids, but only did it for revenge. The Chorus, towards the end of the story, tries helping Medea and giving her advice, but she does not…
9. Medea asks if the chorus will help her exact retribution for the crimes of her husband against the creon, Jason, and the princess.…
In the play Medea, the main character Medea is extreme on seeking revenge on her ex-husband, Jason. Jason has left her and their two sons Creon and Creusa for the daughter of the Cornith King. Medea is livid with this action from Jason. Since Jason and the Cornith King(Ceron) are frightened by Medea they decide that her and the children are to be banished from the kingdom. This just makes Medea even more furious towards Jason. The nurse characterizes Medea as being in pain and anguish that she is suffering through the terrible time of Jason leaving her. She also says how Medea is so angry with Jason and his betrayal she is treacherous. This is shown to be true when she plans to kill Ceron and Creusa to punish Jason for betraying her. Heartlessly she kills them to seek revenge on him. She thought hurting Jason meant more to her than her children did even though she loved them. Her plan was to seek retribution upon Jason as she did. Her seeking revenge hurt everyone even though she was proud that she had accomplished making Jason hurt, she had and domestic conflict killing her own children whom she loved very much.…
of the character of the chorus and the character of Medea, and thus a variety of topics which…
The chorus members fully sympathize with Medea's plight, excepting her eventual decision to murder her own children.…
When Leunig proclaims “It is the supreme way to hurt my husband,” she reveals to the audience her inability to concede defeat, ultimately leading to the destruction of Jason’s happiness and the City of Corinth’s order. On the surface, it may appear that Medea’s actions are driven by her homelessness and hereditary ties; she faces being left vulnerable with no “native land” to take her back. Yet, ultimately it is Medea’s pride which leads to her exacting revenge. Through her language and character development, Euripides paints the picture of a scorned woman, who must make others share in her own suffering to feel at peace. Medea will ignore the advice and pleas of the Chorus and Nurse, seeing her revenge out until the bitter end.…
Both plays begin with providing the audience with the history and the consequences of certain situations that the characters were involved in. It also brings the audience to the present time, in which the play occurs. This enables the audience to have a clear and refreshed image of what aspect of the legend the play emphasizes or if any alterations were made. In Medea, the nurse is the first character who enters the play and reminds the audience of the legend of the Golden Fleece, and the love between Jason and Medea, from beginning to the end. She also brings them to the present state Medea is in, which is of complete despair and depression after Jason remarried. “And she hates her children now, and feels no joy at seeing them.” (Oates, 292). In Antigone, one of the purposes of the chorus is to provide history to the audience. Although, Sophocles did change the structure a little. The first to enter the play are Antigone and Ismene, who are engaging in conversation over defying the edict forbidding their brothers burial, which brings the audience to the present time. Shortly after, the chorus enters and recounts the reasons for the battle and death of Polyneices and Eteocles, brothers to Antigone and Ismene. The chorus appears every scene to serve as the voice of the culture, and counsels to the characters. “…Save those two of cruel fate, who, born of one sire and one mother, set against each other their twain conquering spears, and sharers in a common death.” (Oates, 192).…
As the Nurse at the beginning of the story tells, Medea gave up everything she had to be with Jason. She left her family, and even killed her own brother to be able to run away with him. Medea, who has been dishonestly betrayed by her husband, uses revenge to punish him for his deeds and to seek the rewards which it offers to ones pride. The reader begins to feel pity for the main character and even excuse her actions. That is a result of identification with Medea, as a cheated spouse. In any kind of relationship during life, people expect fidelity, so they clearly understand why she wanted revenge.…
First, the all-female chorus held many representations in the play. When they sang and said what they felt, no actions were taken to help them. That represents how women were feeling suppressed. In my copy, Medea enters from the house and offers a speech from (213-265). Medea’s thesis is that the reputation women have achieved came from poor choices made by society. The women were stuck…
Medea communicates with the chorus in a rash way in the Jeffers adaptation. Furthermore, instead of being cunning and well spoken, she uses fear to provoke the response she desires from the women. In fact, her speeches do not seem well-thought out in this version, they just appear to say what is on her mind at the moment. Consequently, the speeches of this version are significantly shorter than her speeches in the Norton version. She quickly says what she wants to say and quickly gets to the next point she is about to produce. “I did not surely know it: loathing is all. This flesh he has touched and fouled. These hands that wrought for him, these knees that ran his errands” (Page 37). Her efforts to garner pity from the women, is by telling…