Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Media portrayal of relationships
Ancient greek sexuality
Ancient greek sexuality
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Media portrayal of relationships
Passionate instincts can overtake us, guilty feelings will wash over us, and paranoia will take control of us. Our body and mind propel us on a lustful, exciting, frightening bender as we take that one risk that could destroy everything. Since the beginning of man, humans have caved in to our polygamous nature through the act of infidelity, and men and woman have cheated on each other throughout history (Zur 2). However, different time periods and cultures have contrasting perceptions on adultery often depending on gender. Presently, when a socialite cheats on her partner, the news barely mentions the affair or focuses on her family life; in contrast, if an athlete partakes in extramarital activities with a mistress, the media will print it as the front page story. Yet, a person should learn life has not always been that way; as empires rise and fall, wars erupt, and civilizations die, society has changed their perceptions of social and cultural norms. A good way to see how culture changes over time is to read works from different eras since playwrights garner inspiration from their society and how people lived the bygone times. In ancient Greece, Medea, the sorceress, seeks revenge on her lover, Jason, who betrayed her when he married the princess of Corinth, Glauce; however, all the characters, excluding the chorus and Medea, behave nonchalantly about his infidelity because of their culture (Galens and Spampinato 180-181). Throughout his masterpiece, Medea, Euripides accurately depicts the ancient civilization's contrasting attitudes towards men's and women's adultery that differs from the present position of Western society.
With their sexual endeavors, many Greek spouses destroyed the foundation of their marriages; y...
... middle of paper ...
...ed the princess of Corinth; however, the characters, excluding the chorus, behave nonchalantly about his infidelity because they have been numbed by adultery in their culture. If Jason cheated on Medea in modern Manhattan with one of the richest socialites, modern society would respond very differently. Society would repeatedly chastise Jason much like they did with Tiger Woods and John Edwards, and Jason's heroic status would quickly diminish. Candidly, men and woman partaking in extramarital sexual rendezvous have never been a generational issues; the only change is the civilization’s view on adultery. Infidelity will constantly occur as humans pretend our species are supposed to be monogamous (Zur 2). We will have to fight our own natural instincts that attempt to take us on a shameful, exciting, frighting ride that could exterminate everything we own and love.
Through the readings of the Odyssey and “Medea,” I have recognized parallel patterns in both the marriages between Penelope and Odysseus and Medea and Jason. Odysseus left Penelope with a newborn child while he went off to war. During this time, many eligible suitors, ready to prove their standing and take Odysseus’ place as husband, congregated in the palace constantly. Medea was abandoned and left for another women of higher standing. The way Medea and Penelope carry out deception and trickery differ. Medea and Penelope, both wives whose husbands left them, turned into women consumed with deception, trickery, and cleverness, while differing in their way of implementing their desires, one through murder and the other through mind games.
In the plays female sexuality is not expressed variously through courtship, pregnancy, childbearing, and remarriage, as it is in the period. Instead it is narrowly defined and contained by the conventions of Petrarchan love and cuckoldry. The first idealizes women as a catalyst to male virtue, insisting on their absolute purity. The second fears and mistrusts them for their (usually fantasized) infidelity, an infidelity that requires their actual or temporary elimination from the world of men, which then re-forms [sic] itself around the certainty of men’s shared victimization (Neely 127).
The use of offstage action is effective in constructing Medea’s authoritative persona. “Fe-oo! Fee-oo! Weep. Pity me.” These lamentations are passionate and emotional, exactly what many men of Ancient Greek society would expect of a woman. Suspense is built and the audience’s attention captured, focusing it on Medea and the moment of her on-stage arrival. However, when Medea does appear on stage she is calm and composed, dispelling the notion of a “wild woman”. “Ladies, Corinthians, I’m here./ Don’t think ill of me. Call others proud.” The Medea character has the power to command the audience through this presentation of her dual natures; she can be defined within the typical female gender role as emotional and passionate, yet she usurps masculine traits of rationality, resourcefulness and int...
Medea, a barbarian woman who once complied with Jason to acquire the Golden Fleece betrays her country by killing her brother and father to run in exile to Corinth. Jason takes Medea, who is not from a Greek background to Greece, a male-dominated society, where he then betrays her for a royal bed. This causes Medea to seek revenge and kill individuals around Jason including her own children. Medea is considered a tragic drama where the protagonist, Medea, atrociously murders innocent individuals in order to get revenge on Jason who betrayed her by marrying a princess. Although Jason’s betrayal causes Medea sorrow, there is overwhelming evidence throughout the play of characters who heard Medea’s evil plans of revenge towards innocent victims, therefore, her immoral actions shall be given a trial in Corinth where
In Medea, a play by Euripides, Jason possesses many traits that lead to his downfall. After Medea assists Jason in his quest to get the Golden Fleece, killing her brother and disgracing her father and her native land in the process, Jason finds a new bride despite swearing an oath of fidelity to Medea. Medea is devastated when she finds out that Jason left her for another woman after two children and now wants to banish her. Medea plots revenge on Jason after he gives her one day to leave. Medea later acts peculiarly as a subservient woman to Jason who is oblivious to the evil that will be unleashed and lets the children remain in Corinth. The children later deliver a poisoned gown to Jason’s new bride that also kills the King of Corinth. Medea then kills the children. Later, she refuses to let Jason bury the bodies or say goodbye to the dead children he now loves so dearly. Jason is cursed with many catastrophic flaws that lead to his downfall and that of others around him.
In “Euripides Madea”, the main character Medea is depicted as a villain, who uses evil polypharmakas to seek revenge on her ex-husband. Medea was once happily married, to her husband Jason who abandoned her and their two children for another woman. This event shook Madea to the core, so much that it drove her to curse her own existence. Medea’s plan to seek revenge on her husband involved killing her two kids, and her husband’s new wife. She uses polypharmakas to commit the murders and seek revenge. This drama depicts polypharmakas as a tool that is only used for evil. It also continues the trend of negatively depicting the practice of witchcraft, which happens to be a common theme throughout history. Dramas like Homers Odyssey and Euripides Madea only help to further the gap between understanding and misunderstanding the practice of witchcraft.
“Medea,” a play by Euripides, depicts the difficulties that befall women and how their suffering from mistreatment, turned her to commit violent and terrible transgressions. Medea’s display of ceaseless demoralized actions lead to the death of nearly her entire family. The text depicts powerless women that live under the rule of their husbands in a male dominated society. Medea rises against societal norms during this time by her strong belief in her own ideas, she rises to power, and begins to challenge the idea of a strong, heroic character.
In the story of Medea, the author, Euripides, addresses the topics of foreignism and female roles in the ancient Greek society. In the play, Medea, a foreign born woman, marries Jason, a Greek man, and moves to Greece to be with him after leaving her homeland with death and devastation. Then, when their marriage fails, Medea lashes out against Jason, causing her own exile and murdering her children, to which she has no love connection, and Jason’s new wife in the process. The main character, Medea, confirms many of the alleged Greek prejudices against foreigners and creates some prejudices of her own in return. Medea’s foreign roots and misconceptions, as well as her familial and societal atrocities,
"Medea" by Euripides is a play that was written and performed in 431 B.C. It is based on the Greek myth of Medea and Jason. When Jason betrays Medea by marrying a Corinthian princess, Medea plots and takes her revenge, destroying everyone her husband holds dear. "Medea" is an interesting, yet sad.it shows that she’ll do anything to bring him down
Even in today’s society, gender roles play a part in how people view the world. Although more important than the gender roles are the emotions that antagonize the psyche of the human. Medea shows how jealousy can lead to revenge and influence bad decisions and ruin or even end lives. Ironically, the decisions she makes to kill her children, leaves Jason helpless much like a Greek wife during this time. She removes the opportunity for him to voice his opinions, needs, and desires. This flip of traditional gender roles shows how gender roles are not a reliable way to view a society.
Despite the contrast in the characters of Euripedes' Medea and Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the two playwrights depicted how gender inequality can start a fire. As with Medea and Jason, the battle between the two lead to former's madness, leading to the death of the enemies she considered, and, unfortunately, leading as well to the death of her own children. Medea felt betrayed and left behind by her husband Jason, as well as continuously aggravated by Creon despite the fact that i...
Euripides created a two-headed character in this classical tragedy. Medea begins her marriage as the ideal loving wife who sacrificed much for her husband's safety. At the peak of the reading, she becomes a murderous villain that demands respect and even some sympathy. By the end, the husband and wife are left devoid of love and purpose as the tragedy closes.
Medea’s illegitimate marriage and the betrayal of Jason drive Medea to extreme revenge. Medea chooses to act with her immortal self and commit inhumane acts of murder rather than rationalize the outcomes of her actions. Medea see’s this option as her only resort as she has been banished and has nowhere to go, “stripped of her place”. To create sympathy for Medea, Euripides plays down Medea’s supernatural powers until the end of the play. Throughout the play Medea represents all characteristics found in individual women put together, including; love, passion, betrayal and revenge. Medea’s portrayal of human flaws creates empathetic emotions from the audience. The audience commiserates with Medea’s human flaws as they recognize them in themselves. Medea plays the major role in this play as she demonstrates many behavioral and psychological patterns unlike any of the other Greek women in the play; this draws the audience’s attention to Medea for sympathy and respect.
This mutual suffering between Medea and the Chorus raises issues such as the treatment of women at the time when this play was written. When Medea married Jason, she married herself to him for life. She was expected to be totally obedient and to accept whatever her husband willed. For her to look upon another man other than her husband would have been totally unacceptable. Whereas Jason marries another woman while he...
In today’s society, infidelity is one of the leading causes of marital disruption and divorce. In accordance with societal norms many myths have been associated with infidelity. The following myths and their effects on marriage will be discussed: Everyone has affairs, the affair is the direct result of the faithful mate and, the marriage must end in divorce. In examining the various myths, this paper will challenge the greater issue, can marriage survive infidelity?