Alternate Endings in Anouilh's Medea
To what purpose does Jean Anouilh alter the central conflicts and characters in his retelling of "Medea"? In the classic play, Medea escapes without punishment and we are told as an audience it is not our place to question the motives and/or actions of the gods. Within the framework of modern, psychologically rendered characters and in the absence of supernatural meddling, Anouilh attempts not only to question the motives but to posit answers to the open ended questions left by Euripides. The dynamic between divine and human will is reshaped with this goal in mind. This change makes a significant impact upon Medea's ability to rediscover and reconcile her identity with her actions as well as helping to highlight the degree of self reflexivity present in the characters as well as the playwright himself. While preserving the unsettling action at the end of the play, Anouilh is able to also display the possibility of hope through Jason and the Nurse.
Both Medeas seem to act upon some level of self knowledge. Unfortunately, the identity of each woman is expressed mostly through hatred and violence. Where Euripides' Medea struggles between existing merely as a tool, a puppet of the gods, and a concept of self possessing free will, Medea in Anouilh's play is acutely, agonizingly aware of the dark identity at her core. Jason's betrayal awakens this knowledge in her. She feels joy at the freedom of rebirth and self discovery, but she is also all too familiar with the vengeful heart full of venom which has been unleashed. The audience does not need to look to the heavens, hoping for a glimpse into Medea's heart and mind. The modern Medea effectively articulates her inne...
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...tely unconcerned with this world. If they exist, they have had no impact on his fate past or present. It is possible to infer, thus, that these same gods will be equally absent in his future. In their absence, for Jason there is the ongoing struggle for happiness. His diligence coupled with the survival of the Nurse and her optimistic attitude give Anouilh's conclusion a spark of hope for the audience to latch on to and leave with. Perhaps Anouilh suggests that as long as we have the capacity to question and search for insights within the human mind, there is a place for hope.
Works Cited
Anouilh, Jean. Medea. Trans. Luce and Arthur Klein, Rpt in. Jean Anoiulh: Seven Plays, Vol. 3. New York: Hill and Wang, 1957.
Euripides. Medea. Trans. Rex Warner, Rpt in Euripides I. Ed David Green and Richmond Lattimore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955.
To begin comparing Euripides Medea and Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 7, we need to look at three components: context, characters, and themes. Both Euripides and Ovid tell the story of Jason abandoning Medea for another woman; however, they do not always share a perspective on the female protagonist’s traits, behavior, and purpose. Euripides portrays a woman who reacts to discrimination by beginning a battle to gain revenge all who harmed her, which she is prepared to follow through with even if it means resorting to the most despicable methods. Ovid, on the other hand, tells of a much less severe figure whose modest goal is only to persuade Jason to return. Despite these written differences, both of their Medea’s create trouble by acting with emotions instead of with reason, and as a result, put themselves in undesirable situations. Euripides and Ovid present two different sets of motivations for Medea's behavior wh...
Gender plays an important in any society. The role of women in society has been tested and Medea is the one who wants to attempt to change the way women are seen and perceived. When Jason leaves Medea, she is devastated and outraged. She turns on the city and kills the King, Princess, and even her own two kids to get back at Jason. Medea is not seen as a threat to the city because of her role as a women of Corinth, but in the end she will cause devastation and an uproar in civilization. Medea tells Jason “To turn me out, to get yourself another wife, even after I had borne your sons! If had still been childless I could have pardoned you for hankering after this new marriage. But respect for oaths has gone to the wind” (489). Medea is angry with the choices made by Jason, she does not see that his choices are to help his family not to reject them. Medea being a strong willed women will turn her anger on her city and cause havoc and disrupt civilization and the order in Corinth. In Comparison, Titus’s daughter has no voice she is silenced because she is a women who has no necessary input so she cannot spe...
Euripedes tugs and pulls at our emotions from every angle throughout The Medea. He compels us to feel sympathy for the characters abused by Medea, yet still feel sympathy for Medea as well. These conflicting feelings build a sense of confusion and anxiety about the unfolding plot. In the beginning, the Nurse reveals the recent background events that have caused Medea so much torment: "She herself helped Jason in every way" (13) and now he "has taken a royal wife to his bed" (18). Right away we are angry with Jason for breaking his wedding vows, and we are building up sympathy for Medea as the Nurse describes her acts of suffering. When we first see Medea, she speaks passionately to the women of Corinth and convinces them to side with her. She evokes their sympathy by drawing further attention to her suffering and speaking in terms that bring them all to common ground. Aegeus becomes Medea’s first victim when he, unknowingly, provides the final building block in her plan for revenge against Jason. We sympathize for Aegeus in his ignorance. Medea now has confidence in her plan, so she reveals it to the women of Corinth. She is going to send her children to Jason’s bride with a poisoned dress that will make her die in agony. We are still compelled to sympathize with Medea at this point because she has justified her reasons for seeking revenge. However, the princess is oblivious to Medea’s plot; she will accept the gift for its beauty then meet an unexpected, agonized death. The image of pain and agony elicits our sympathy as well. Medea presents her most perverse speech when she explains how she will kill her own children then flee Corinth. Alone, these acts provoke pure disgust, but Euripides has developed Medea’s character as a coercive force; we still sympathize with her for her plight, yet we also hate her for her decisions. The women of Corinth try to persuade her away from this morbid choice, but their arguments are ineffective. Euripides employs stichomythia in the exchange between the women and Medea to show Medea breaking down boundaries between self and other, which prevent sympathy (811-819). Euripedes focuses on suffering, ignorance, and rhetoric to leave us torn in our sympathy for every character.
...racterization all combine to reveal Medea’s true character throughout the play. She is first revealed as an evil, wicked person that only seeks vengeance and revenge in order to get back at Jason for using then leaving her. Throughout the play different characters, especially that of the chorus helps contribute to how the different view of Medea’s character changes and develops. With the indirect/direct characterization of Medea with other characters being used to characterize her, the audience begins to develop an idea as to why she did what she did, and how she justified the mix of emotions she had. Medea is a women passion, so enraged by betrayal so dear to her heart, that she acts based on her passion and rage even when these irrational thoughts controlled her to kill her own brother, her own children, Glauce and her father, king Creon. She followed through.
The character Medea shows great power by rejecting her gender role that society placed her in. Medea is also under the power of revenge because her husband Jason abandoned her. During this time period,
Beowulf is a good example of a courageous and strong hero. He shows all of
*Although Medea is arguably the most intelligent character in Euripides’s piece, shown in her dialogue with Creon, she has become ridiculed, and viewed as barbarous and less desirable following her separation from Jason. She is no longer a wife to a Greek man. She is simply an outsider, and a burden on a prosperous
All references to Medea are from Euripides, Medea and Another Plays translated by Philip Vellacott, Harmonsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1963.
As she is "Faced with her husband's cold pragmatism, Medea responds according to her nature." Euripides really stresses the "otherness" of Medea's nature: she is "of a different kind", described in terms of nature and animals: she is "a rock or wave of the sea'", "like a wild bull", "a tiger". Yes, she is a little dangerous, but she is driven by her hear; that vital force which distinguishes the body from the corpse and has been crushed by Jason's betrayal.
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.
In the beginning of the play, we learn that Medea along with her two children have been abandoned by Jason. Jason is Medea’s husband who leaves her to be with the daughter of Creon, the king of Corinth. Jason knows that by being with his daughter he will one day be able to achieve power and glory. The decision by Jason to leave Medea for Creon daughter is optimally the quarter stone for Medea’s quest for revenge. There are a few conversations in the play between Medea and Jason, which shows Jason does still have some feelings for Medea. They also show his true love for his two children, but Jason’s lust for power and glory is seen as the most important thing. He makes excuses for abandoning his family by saying: he is doing this for the best interest of them. Although the reader can conclude that he is doing this for his own best interest. Jason seems to have no realization of how truly mad Medea has become for him leaving her. Media’s love and devotion towards Jason controls her life. Jason’s decision to leave her optimally turns Media into a sociopath. With this state of mind, Medea optimally...
The English legal system is complex and there are many ways in which it can be influenced, this essay will explore some of the different, more obvious ways the law can be changed and what this shows in relation to the quote above. First the essay will discuss the different ways the law can be created and changed and who enables and controls those changes, with my primary examples being the common law and legislation for the judicracy and Parliament respectively, then the essay will cover to what extent these powers enable the judicracy to change and create law in relation to Parliament and if it could be discribed as "opportunistic and piecemeal".
The dramatic ending serves a purpose as he wants to point out the flaws for Greek marriage traditions. He revealed the sexism in Greek marriages with Jason and Medea. Jason was very domineering and also portrayed as the antagonist, thus making his wrongdoings very unforgiving. His justification of leaving Medea was unreasonable and only made his situation worse. Jason, once the hero, is satirized by Euripides. His actions are not seen as heroic, even if he thinks about the well being of his sons. Medea, on the other hand, can be sympathized at first by seen from suffering from the lost of her love to an unfair reason. Her erratic behavior was well justified, she had the right to grieve over everything she had lost. However, her act of revenge went out of hand. Her act of revenge was worse than Jason’s act of betrayal. Her revenge add a dramatic effect which was intended to send a message. Euripides brought up a taboo aspect of marriage and divorce in Medea to show the flaws in Greek belief. Marriages were not fair, as shown in Medea. The character Medea, was used to send message that there needs to be justice for
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.
Medea is a tragedy of a woman who feels that her husband has betrayed her with another woman and the jealousy that consumes her. She is the protagonist who arouses sympathy and admiration because of how her desperate situation is. I thought I was going to feel sorry for Medea, but that quickly changed as soon as I saw her true colors. I understand that her emotions were all over the place. First, she was angry, then cold and conniving. The lower she sinks the more terrible revenge she wants to reap on Jason.