Does Euripides’s Medea Meet the Criteria for a Greek Play?

Euripides’s Medea, a fine example of a Greek play. The entire course of the play takes place within a single day, making it a precedent play in more than one way. We study it in college courses around America, but does a really meet the criteria for a Greek play? Could it possibly, be the exact opposite of what is described as a Greek play. Does Euripides’s Medea contain the necessary dramatic components that Aristotle outlines in The Poetics?

In Aristotle’s The Poetics, he states that the most important part of any tragedy is plot. Almost every example of a Greek play in this period begins with a setting scene. In it one of the main characters gives an outline of the current situation, and foreshadows on further events of the play. So does Medea, with the nurse saying, “She has turned away from the children and does not like to see them. I am afraid she may think of some dreadful thing, for her heart is violent. She will never put up with the treatment she is getting. I know and fear her lest she may sharpen a sword and thrust to the heart, stealing into the palace where the bed is made, or even kill the king and the new-wedded groom, and thus bring a greater misfortune upon herself.” (Euripides 696) This is a great example of setting the plot, making a path between the situation at hand and a future possibility. So in this sense Medea follows the guidelines in the poetics perfectly.

The next component in a tragedy is character. Character development is very important when performing or writing a play. It gives the audience an emotional connection with the main characters in the play. Today this component is used in modern day television shows to establish a constant audience. In Medea the only character developed is Mede...

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... killed her children.”His attendants rushed to the door. Medea appears above the house in a chariot drawn by dragons. She has the dead bodies of the children with her.” ( Euripides 722) Where did she get a chariot drawn by dragons? The play doesn’t suggest Medea as divine at all, so the chariot is a traditional deus ex machina, leaving a giant hole in the plot.

Does Euripides’s Medea have the necessary parts outlined in The Poetics? Like everything the play’s not perfect. It has several flaws that prevent it from having the necessary dramatic components. Even though these parts are missing, it does not detract from the grand piece of literature it is. Euripides’s Medea is still a play worthy of being called a Greek tragedy.

Works Cited

Lawall, Sarah N., and Maynard Mack. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Second ed. Vol. A. New York: Norton, 2001. Print.