Euripides and Women

1. Euripides and Women • By examining the treatment of women, Euripides points out the injustices of his society and attempts to make a point about this injustice. • Euripides recognizes that many of the works of his time defamed women’s character and that they reinforced male-dominated order by teaching women to accept (and even enjoy) subordination

2. Elevating the Status of the Oppressed • Women and servants are represented in a way that defies traditional Ancient Greek values • The Nurse and Tutor express their views (even when their views, if known, could cause them harm) • The Tutor is privy to information that the protagonist does not yet have

3. Giving a Voice to the Oppressed • The Chorus of Corinthian Women, the Nurse, and Medea all express their opinion of Medea’s situation with Jason (this opinion defies the norms of Ancient Greek society) • All female characters are seen in public, without the representation of a male • Medea inspires fear within a male, who is also a king • Medea is more clever than the males in the story (she successfully manipulates Creon, Jason, and Aegeus)

4. Euripides and Medea • Medea is clearly presented as a self-centered, fiercely proud, ruthless woman • Her force, intellect, and strength of will all exceed her place in society • Her ruthlessness, cunning, power, and brilliance would all be admirable traits in a male; but her position of weakness, not ruler or warrior, warp these qualities. • Having a female anti-hero in Ancient Greece was unheard of

5. Euripides and Jason • Euripides takes Jason, a known hero of Greek stories, and creates in him an unremarkable, despicable person. • He is portrayed as opportunistic, shallow, smug, and condescending. • Virtually everyone feels for Medea’s situation, which in turn reveals their judgment against Jason.

6. The Importance of Oaths and Vows • Zeus is a protector of oaths, so Jason will have to face his wrath (this is how the Chorus of Corinthian women try to reason with Medea) • The Chorus of Corinthian women are bound by their promise to Medea to keep her plans of betrayal secret • Medea uses the power of the oath to manipulate Aegeus; he must allow her to live with him as well as protect her from her enemies, if she can find a way to Athens

7. The Main Point • By granting unlimited self-absorption and ruthlessness to a woman, Euripides exposes the traits for what they really are. • Euripides does not give a tragedy where our heroine learns a lesson from a downfall. No redeeming transformation will take place, there is no epiphany, merely emotional release through the alter ego.

8. Contemporary Psychology and Medea • The Alter-Ego: Medea also speaks of our own desires to seek revenge to the fullest. She taps into our secret unfulfilled fantasies, and perhaps, this is why her story remains one of the most popular today. • The Medea Complex: Psychologically Murderous hatred by a mother for her child or children, arising from a desire for revenge on her husband

9. Medea’s rescue by Helios (Titan Sun God) is an example of Deus Ex Machina • The idea is centered around savior by an unseen force • Aristotle, “It is obvious that the solutions of plots too should come about as a result of the plot itself, and not from a contrivance, as in Medea." Deus Ex Machina Defined as “God from the Machine” Comes from the use of the “machine” on stage Aristotle  Spectacle

10. Medea marries Aegeus, has son named Medus Tries to poison Aegeus’ first son Theseus (fails; is banished) Goes back to Colchis, helps father get kingdom back, Medus eventually becomes King of Colchis Eventually becomes immortal Jason dies alone, in obscurity The God’s anger causes a piece of his own ship to fall on him After the Play

11. Final thoughts • It has been suggested that by scholars that Medea often speaks with Euripides’ rage. His works were not received well by his contemporaries. A man too clever for those around him, as Medea was too clever for those around her. It’s possible that Medea’s unbridled revenge is Euripides’ unbridled revenge against his contemporaries.