Feminism in Medea by Euripides

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Feminism in Medea by Euripides

The play Medea by Euripides challenges the dominant views of femininity in the patriarchal society of the Greeks. While pursuing her ambition Medea disregards many of the feminine stereotypes/ characteristics of the patriarchal Greek society. She questions the inequality of women in a patriarchal society, contradicts Jason?s chauvinist beliefs, challenges the stereotype that women are weak and passive and completely disregards the feminine role of motherhood. Feminism is the belief that women and men are, and have been, treated differently by society, and that women have frequently and systematically been unable to participate fully in all social arenas and institutions. This belief is confirmed in ancient Greece where the status of women was very low. Aristotle describes the relationship between men and women during that time period: ?It is the best for all tame animals to be ruled by human beings. For this is how they are kept alive. In the same way, the relationship between the male and the female is by nature such that the male is higher, the female lower, that the male rules and the female is ruled.? Aristotle, Politica, ed. Loeb Classical Library, 1254 b 10-14.

Plato ascribes the inferior status of women to degeneration from men: ?It is only males who are created directly by the gods and are given souls. Those who live rightly return to the stars, but those who are ?cowards or [lead unrighteous lives] may with reason be supposed to have changed into the nature of women in the second generation?. This downward progress may continue through successive reincarnations unless reversed. In this situation, obviously it is only men who are complete human beings and can hope for ultimat...

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...edea out rightly disregards when she kills her children.

Medea?s questions the inequality of women in a patriarchal society, contradicts Jason?s chauvinist beliefs, challenges the stereotype that women are weak and passive and completely disregards the feminine role of motherhood. In society today many people believe Medea to be a pioneer of feminism, even though her society/chorus scorns Medea after she killed her children. Medea still reveals many good and relevant stereotypes, such as the ?motherhood? and ?nurturing? roles that women still object to and fight against today.

Works Cited

Aristotle, Politica, ed. Loeb Classical Library, 1254 b 10-14.

Euripides. The Medea. Trans. by Rex Warner. Euripides I: Four Tragedies. Ed. David Grene and Richard Lattimore. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1995.

Plato: Collected Dialogues, Timaeus (Pgs. 1160-1177)

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