Binary Opposition
In Greek tragedy there are many themes that are contrasted with each other. This is known as binary opposition, which s defined as a contrast of themes that are the opposite poles of each other. There are many conflicts in Euripides’ Medea and Bacchae: perhaps the three most conspicuous oppositions are rational versus irrational, foreigner versus natives, and stereotypical dichotomy of female and male.
The first binary opposite in Euripides plays are rational versus irrational thinking, his characters are changing constantly within the plays; there are a couple of characters that stays in a rational thinking which they do not favor any side of the conflict. In Medea, Euripides showed rational thinking through the Chorus, who are married Corinthian women; they lend Medea support in time of need and gives advice as a friend and not as foe, when she would talk and act irrationally (Medea 173-82). The Chorus does agree that “[Jason] wrongs and betrays” Medea by breaking their oath of marriage (Medea 131-42; 208, MLA unit 6 info from). But they do not take it to the extreme thinking as Medea does and explains to her that if she does go through with her plans of revenge that “no city, no friend, will pity [Medea’s] pain” (Medea 657-58). The Chorus even advises her that killing her children and her enemies is wrong and just to “give up [her] plan[s]” (Medea 813).
In the same way, Euripides’ play the Bacchae has rational and irrational thinkers, they are Cadmus the old king and Tiresias the prophet, and on the contrary of rational is the irrational thinkers who are Pentheus the current king and Dionysus the god. Cadmus and Tiresias are the only two men who stay rational throughout the play. They agree that there is ...
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...ety. In Euripides play Medea, she uses the stereotype of woman to gain trust, an extra day in Corinth, and what is expected of the men and women in society. The conversation between Creon and Medea, “[he] orders [her] to go from this land,” but Medea starts to use the submissive woman on the king as to gain a day. She told the king” not to be afraid of me, Creon, I haven’t the means to do harm to men who are the rulers,” and manipulating king to let her stay one more day in Corinth because of her children to “have pity on them!” (271-356). In fact, Medea manipulates Jason by asking him to take the kids and not allowing them to be exiled out of Corinth’s. Medea uses that even gifts “persuades the gods and that gold is stronger than gold,” to trust her in giving a gift to his new bride as “[the] spirit of luck is with her… [to] grow her fortune more” (947-975).
Shirley Barlow centralizes her article, Stereotype and Reversal in Euripedes’ Medea, on the idea that Medea goes back and forth between the normal social stereotypes of a Greek man and woman. Medea holds very heroic qualities, qualities of which are supposed to belong to a man. Barlow makes a point in the article that even though Medea is exposed to the same environment and circumstances, the way in which she thinks and carries out action is completely different than that of a normal Greek woman. While trying to convince the reader of Medea’s unusual heroic characteristics, Barlow points out that she Medea also holds the feelings of a mother who has love for her children. Barlow
In classic works being a strong woman seems to run hand in hand with being manipulative. Medea lied and cheated friends to try to acquire time in order to get what she wants. In this case what she wants is revenge agents her ex-husband. She tricks a friend to give her asylum in Athens after she has committed her insane task. Medea even goes so far as to be able to con Kreon, the king himself into giving her an extra day. This unwittingly gives her exactly what she needs. Antigone tries her hand at manipulation but is not as successful as Medea. Antigone tries, with no avail, to persuade her sister, Ismene, to help her give their brother Polyneices a proper burial. In this way they are more like foxes, cunning but not always getting it right. Their deceitful nature is their strength.
Throughout Antigone, Electra, and Medea, many double standards between men and women surface. These become obvious when one selects a hero from these plays, for upon choosing, then one must rationalize his or her choice. The question then arises as to what characteristics make up the hero. How does the character win fame? What exactly is excellent about that character? These questions must be answered in order to choose a hero in these Greek tragedies.
In Medea, the ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides, the main character Medea is shown as a double personality character in this tragedy. Upon reading Medea, one finds that Medea has many untraditional characteristics for a woman. Medea started her marriage as the perfect loving wife who gave and sacrificed so much for her husband. After Medea’s husband betrays her by marrying another woman, Medea accumulate so much hatred against Jason and every one involved with him. Half-way into the reading Medea becomes a villainous murderer that demands respect and sympathy even after all she has done. By the end of the play, Medea has killed every one that has crossed her
Aeschylus, was a master dramatist - he liked to portray conflict between persons, human or divine, or between principles.1 His trilogy of plays, the Oresteia, develops many conflicts that must be resolved during the action of the Eumenides, the concluding play of the trilogy. The central theme of the Oresteia is justice (dike) and in dealing with questions of justice, Aeschylus at every stage involves the gods.2 The Oresteia's climactic conflict in the Eumenides revolves around justice and the gods - opposing conceptions of justice and conflicting classes of gods. This essay will describe and discuss these conflicts and, more importantly, the manner in which they are resolved so that the play, and indeed the entire trilogy, might reach a satisfactory conclusion.
The tragic play Medea is a struggle between reason and violence. Medea is deliberately portrayed as not a ‘normal woman’, but excessive in her passions. Medea is a torment to herself and to others; that is why Euripides shows her blazing her way through life leaving wreckage behind her. Euripides has presented Medea as a figure previously thought of exclusively as a male- hero. Her balance of character is a combination of the outstanding qualities of Achilles and Odysseus.
"The Taming of the Shrew" is a great example of Shakespear's use of women. Shakespeare indeed does transcend the stereotypes of his own time.
In the classical age, women were expected to be meek and powerless creatures, and when they were not they were usually considered to be hysterical. Medea’s strength is portrayed as her madness as she takes control and decides the fate of her enemies. Medea breaks that rule in the manifestation of the madness that poisons her mind. Medea has left everything to be with Jason, she has even gone as far as forsaking her father and murdering her brother in order to leave with Jason, “Oh, my father! Oh my country! In what dishonor / I left you, killing my own brother for it” (164-65). This perhaps should have been a red flag for Jason in realizing how she killed her own flesh and blood and should have been an indicator for the evil that resided within her. Medea is in Jason’s turf and here she is considered a foreigner, she now defines herself via her marriage to Jason. Ultimately, when she loses him to a younger bride, she also loses her ability to be rational in her thinking. Euripides allows Medea to have a voice, and thus, gives insight into how what is happening affects her psyche.
In ancient Greece women were viewed as many things. They were not viewed as equivalent to males by any means. Women were portrayed usually as submissive domestic, and controlled. They played supporting or secondary roles in life to men, who tended to be demanding of their wives, but expected them to adhere to their wishes. In the tragedy Medea, written by Euripides, Medea plays the major role in this story, unlike most Greek stories with women playing only minor roles, but she also demonstrates many behavioral and psychological patterns unlike any other Greek women. In Euripides’ Medea the main character, Medea, Displays many traits that breakdown traditional Athenian misogyny by displaying her as proactive in taking her revenge, having cruel and savage passions, and being a very manipulative women.
In the plays Medea and Hippolytus, both by Euripides, the female psyche is a point of focus that is not explored in many other Greek tragedies. Through these plays, we can discover the way women were viewed in Ancient Greek society, as well as their concerns. We can also pay attention to how women are portrayed differently between the two plays. In Medea and Hippolytus, the women we spend the most time with are Medea and Phaedra. These women have vastly different values, but the cunning and determination they use to get their way are not as different as one may believe.
For an example, it was quite acceptable for a man to commit adultery- however a woman was to remain chaste. The only exception to this was if the lover in question was a god. For some odd reason, it seemed that men were allowed to be philanderers while their wives stayed at home. This is evidenced in the Odyssey quite well- Odysseus the ?hero? is free to sample all the pretty ladies he cares to, whereareas Penelope his wife is expected to fend off all the suitors at home. Predictably, Penelope melts into his arms when she realizes it is her long lost husband without pausing to consider what he has done in his absence. This reaction portrays the unequal morals of Greek society regarding gender. Euripides?s Medea portrays women who are not quite as lucky as Penelope:
Charlotte Bronte once said, “Women are supposed to be very calm generally, but women feel just as men feel. They need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do. They suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow minded in their more privileged fellow creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags” (Bronte). In the play Medea, Euripides diverged from the traditional role of Greek women through Medea’s characteristics and response to her plight. In delineating the role of women, Medea was unlike any other Greek character. Medea was portrayed as capable and resilient woman who would refuse to back down no matter the obstacles. Nevertheless, women in the Greek culture had very few rights. Housework and bearing children were their main obligations. They were basically no better than slaves. In the ancient Greek society, Medea would not fit well among fellow Greek women. Her role as a woman in the play was downtrodden. However, her determination and courage caused people to fear her. She was a woman who turned her back on her family and killed her own brother in order to help her husband.
Medea and Lysistrata are two Greek literatures that depict the power which women are driven to achieve in an aim to defy gender inequality. In The Medea, Medea is battling against her husband Jason whom she hates. On the other hand, in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the protagonist Lysistrata plotted to convince and organize the female gender to protest against the stubbornness of men. In terms of defining the purpose of these two literatures, it is apparent that Euripedes and Aristophanes created characters that demonstrate resistance against the domination of men in the society.
Women have always been disempowered due to their gender in modern and ancient times alike. In Corinth they are expected to run the household and conform to social expectations of a dutiful wife. Medea, being an immortal and descendant from the gods has a certain power in intelligence and sly cleverness. Being a foreigner, Medea’s wayward irrational behavior was expected in this play as she was not born in Greece and was seen as an exotic creature. She comes across to the audience as a powerful female character in terms of violence. Some of Medea’s reactions and choices appear to be blown out of proportion as authors generally make characters seem larger than life; this creates a better understanding of the text and the issues which are developed through the characters.
In Medea, by Euripides, conflicts play a major role in the creation of the play. Some examples of these conflicts are with Medea and Jason, Medea and herself, and Medea and Creon. Medea is shown to be a strong, independent woman who does what she wants as well as doesn’t let anything stand in her way. She shares qualities of a traditional male at the time, and the qualities of a traditional female. Euripides makes this clear in the play by creating conflicts to prove women can be a powerful character and that the play in general challenges the idea of misogyny.