Melodrama And Realism In Medea

Guadalupe Martinez

July 8, 2015

AP Literature

Medea

Realism and melodrama are two elements that make a play both interesting and emotional. Realism is the attitude of accepting a situation as it is and being able to prepare to deal with is accordingly. Melodrama is a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions. Euripides was a great writer of tragedy plays in the golden age of the Athens. In the play Medea, he placed a feature of strong dramatic situations with an unusual part for the heroine, who is filled with feminine pride and revolt against tradition.

Medea is a tragic play that takes place in the city-state Corinth. At the beginning of the play medea is filled with pain

Euripides brought both elements of realism and melodrama into this play, which are evidenced through the actions, characteristics, and emotions that the characters posses. Throughout the entire play we receive a sense of melodrama because we are torn with emotions between the characters. At first we sympathize with Medea because she has transformed into the sort of wife that is required in society, but is still abandoned by Jason. She reacts in accordance with her qualities and in the nature that a woman who is betrayed would react to. In the beginning of the play, the nurse says,”And poor Medea is slighted, and cries aloud on the vows they made to each other, the right hands clasped.”(1) This quote allows us to image the pain that Medea must be feeling, and therefore we become aware that she is a prideful woman that will not under any circumstances just sit around all alone in misery. Once Medea realizes that she wants to take matters into her own hands and seek revenge, she says,”It is best to go straight road, the one in which I am most skilled, and make away with them by poison.”(13) It is at this point at which we realize the plans that Medea is planning and we begin to sympathize Jason. Although what he did was unjust and coward like, we feel that no father should be put in a position in which he is incapable of saving

Realism is the attitude of accepting a situation as it is and being able to prepare to deal with is accordingly. Melodrama is a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions. Euripides was a great writer of tragedy plays in the golden age of the Athens. In the play Medea, he placed a feature of strong dramatic situations with an unusual part for the heroine, who is filled with feminine pride and revolt against