The Role Of Feminism In Medea And Clytemnestra

1693 Words4 Pages

The act of feminism can often be perceived as unpleasant, due to the insufficient understanding of the affiliation's purpose. Euripides and Aeschylus both created female characters who defined the basic laws of gender persona. Medea and Agamemnon portray strong, but rash women, who do not settle for injustices related to them. The epistemology of Euripides and Aeschylus works can be further understood when a feminist standpoint is considered. The women, Medea and Clytemnestra, show the importance of not treating a female as less, although, most women today do not kill those who are unjust, they do strike back against the wrongful act. At the start of Medea, a play by Euripides, Medea is a mess. Her husband, the no good Jason, has married King Medea is a female figure who does not passively sit back and accept the injustice of what has been dealt to her. She stands up for herself, maybe a tad bit rashly, and gets her revenge as she so thinks she deserves. Being presented as a weak female figure is something that Medea rather not portray. Medea is cunning, strong, and not silent in the fact of patriarchal injustice, which leads her to have the upper hand. She swore that Jason and the royal family would pay, and she did not disappoint. Medea, though seeming heartless and rash, did care about her family, but she cared about Jason meeting justice more. “[Medea]: What will I do? My heart is not in it, women, when I look at the gleaming eyes of my children. I could not do it (Euripides 26).” The tender side of a harsh character is often overlooked, especially with a character such as Medea. Knowing that Jason would ache for his sons forever, Medea killed them both as the harshest punishment she could create. In most plays, the female characters tend to sit back as minor roles, but this is one act that cannot be considered minor. Though Medea was a strong female lead in such a tragic way, she stood firmly for what she believed in and let nothing deter

Open Document