The Tutor And The Nurse In Medea By Euripides

In the first few line of Medea by Euripides, two minor characters known as the Tutor and the Nurse are introduced. They are introduced as two servants; the nurse serves Medea while the Tutor serves Jason. They greet each other by mocking one another, the Tutor begins by making a remark on stereotypical actions done by women,” Old slave from my mistress’ household, why are you…complaining to yourself about what’s wrong?” (Euripides, line 62-5). The Nurse does not get provoked and calls the Tutor an unfaithful servant because “when a master’s lot falls out badly, that’s bad for faithful servants, too—it touches their hearts also.” (Euripides, lines 69-71). She implies that the Tutor does not feel sorry for Medea because he is not loyal, she also

Some could argue that this doesn’t signify much since both characters are there to be comedic reliefs, but the way the way they refer to each other signifies their rank in society. The Tutor refers to the Nurse as old slave, but the nurse refers to him as old servant. A servant is defined by the Merriam Webster as a person who is hired to do household duties, hired being the key word. A slave is defined as someone who is legally owned by another person and is forced to work for that person without pay. This shows that the Tutor is in the same rank in society as the Nurse, but he is in a different class than she is. This makes that fact that she could outwit him even more important in showing who truly is more powerful in

He does this to keep the King calm and hide his intentions. We see Creon’s true self at the end of the story when he does not allow Oedipus to fully say his goodbyes to his children. He insists that Oedipus leaves as soon as possible; he shows very little mercy to Oedipus. However, the difference between Medea and Creon is that Creon never directly intervenes in the downfall of Oedipus and Jocasta. Instead he hides from direct conflict and like a coward he waits till there is no one to oppose him. Medea, on the other hand was always involved in her scheme and could hide her intentions in plain sight. Since Medea could manipulate both men and women, and Creon tried to manipulate Oedipus, but he never actually changed Oedipus’ views, she possessed a greater ability to be