The Gender Roles of Characters in “The Medea” by Euripides The popular and controversial play “The Medea” was produced by Euripides in 431 B.C.E. This Greek tragedy displays a war between two lovers and between the sexes. It speaks of the controversial gender roles and relations throughout Greece during the time (Damrosch, 2011, pg. 283). It was ages ahead of its time bringing up the questions and opinions on women’s roles in society and their rights within. Euripides expresses the hardships women must endure during this era. At one point Medea is describing marriage in that women must “buy a husband” and take a master for their bodies (Pg. 289, Line 231). She cannot say no to the proposed marriage (Line 235). A man can leave his home and have an affair with another woman if he is bored but the woman must only have eyes for her husband (Lines 242-245). While the lead of the play, Medea, is indeed a woman, one of her most distinctive characteristics is how she overcomes her female-like emotions and instead, performs more “manly” actions. Medea’s most obvious male characteristic is her pride. After her husband, Jason, cast her …show more content…
Not being erratic or emotionally overacting like a scorned woman would likely do, she resourcefully plans the murders by taking them out by poison (Lines 381-382). She does not even really struggle with the decision to kill her children. She says “so it must be. No compromise is possible” (Line 803). She is a cold blooded killer. She poisoned the princess and Creon and was pleased to receive the news about their deaths from the messenger (Line 1100-1102). She then kills her children (Pg. 311). Medea had killed before this situation occurred. She killed her own brother, Absyrtus, and threw pieces of his body into the sea in order to slow down those chasing her and her husband (greekmythology.com, n.d.). She also was said to have boiled a man in hopes of obtaining rejuvenation (Damrosch, 2011, Pg.
In both works the protagonists act in opposition to the established cultural roles society has dealt them. In ancient Greek society, women were controlled by their father before they were married, and controlled by their spouse once they were married; Medea opposes this convention and ultimately succeeds in overthrowing it. In fact the theme of reversal of gender roles pervades the entire text. This is exemplified when at the end of the play Medea domineeringly states, “Now of...
For as long as humans have roamed the Earth, misogyny has been an everyday part of life. Some countries have handled it better than others, but misogyny faces every community. In Euripides tragedy Medea, the main character Medea struggles with the misogynistic views constantly facing the society in which she resides. Euripides uses Medea to convey misogyny.
In Euripides Medea, Medea is the morally ambiguous character. In part, Medea can be seen as good because she wanted to live with Jason and her two children in Corinth as a family and enjoy a happy life. So it is understandable that Medea becomes devastated and an emotional wreck after Jason leaves her for the princess. He claimed by marrying the princess, he could bring the children up in a well-being and make more royal children. Medea became a distressed. Hateful, and a bitter woman at Jason. Medea mentioned, “we women are the most unfortunate creatures.” Medea acknowledges that the women don’t have much choice in the marriage and if they want a good life, they need a man to control them. And that woman would be much better off if they had
In Greek society, the role of women was considered to be insignificant compared to the Greek men. The women had very few rights, no room to voice personal opinions, and a very bleak future with few options for a better life. According to Moses Hades, professor of Greek studies, women in ancient Greek plays are known to be the main characters and take the role of the villain, victim, or the heroine. In Euripides’ play Medea, Medea, the main character, plays all these roles. She represents the heroine by helping her husband secure the Golden Fleece prior to their marriage, and then portrays the victim by being betrayed by her husband, and finally the villain by murdering her loved ones. Therefore, Euripides follows the standard format for a Greek tragedy.
In Medea, a woman betrays her homeland because of her love for a man. Jason is the husband that she ferociously loves and makes sacrifices for. They have two children together: Antigone and Ismeme. In Jason's quest for the golden fleece, Medea assists him in multiple ways. One of the things she does to help their cause is bring about the death of her own brother. Certainly this is a woman who would sacrifice anything for her husband. Weigel records the fierceness of Medea's passion in his critique: "As a woman of passion, Medea is wholly committed to Jason as the object of her emotional life, whether in love or hate. When she loved Jason she did not hesitate to kill her brothe...
Medea and Lysistrata are two Greek literatures that depict the power which women are driven to achieve in an aim to defy gender inequality. In The Medea, Medea is battling against her husband Jason whom she hates. On the other hand, in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the protagonist Lysistrata plotted to convince and organize the female gender to protest against the stubbornness of men. In terms of defining the purpose of these two literatures, it is apparent that Euripedes and Aristophanes created characters that demonstrate resistance against the domination of men in the society.
Euripides had two disastrous marriages to unfaithful wives (Monogan). Thus, his general descriptions of destructive women, as in Medea and Phaedra, could be attributed to this. In the specific case of Medea, where there is a clear theme of adultery, there is a projection of his wives onto Jason and himself onto Medea. However, rather than writing a play about a male protagonist who had unfaithful wives, like a literal project of his life would be, Euripides inverts the gender roles in Medea. This could be due to the subordinate nature of women during the time, so the fact that his wives were the ones who were unfaithful to him was emasculating to a point of a figurative castration of Euripides. Thus, he describes Jason as unfaithful to Medea, but in reality, he is describing his now feminine self interacting with the unfaithful man that is actually a reflection of his
... know, and does not cause commotion outside of her home. On the other hand, it is quite clear that Medea is far from the depiction of the “ideal” woman because of her vengeful spirit, her uproar causing ways, and the fact that she actually ended up hurting her children, regardless of the amount of pain or sorrow she went through beforehand, not to mention that she also killed her brother, according to many of the stories about her.
As she is "Faced with her husband's cold pragmatism, Medea responds according to her nature." Euripides really stresses the "otherness" of Medea's nature: she is "of a different kind", described in terms of nature and animals: she is "a rock or wave of the sea'", "like a wild bull", "a tiger". Yes, she is a little dangerous, but she is driven by her hear; that vital force which distinguishes the body from the corpse and has been crushed by Jason's betrayal.
Medeas character can be portrayed as a combination of the outstanding qualities of Achilles and Odysseus. Medea was a sorceress and held political power, Achilles was the Greek armies’ best warrior and was well respected, and Odysseus was the king of Ithaca and had much respect. However each of these characters possessed weaknesses which eventually lead to their downfalls. Like Achilles and Odysseus, the gods for her betrayal punished Medea.
Women in Ancient Greece were a minority. Medea is certainly that. She has to suffer the loss of her husband, Jason to daughter of King Creon of Thebes, the city where they live. Because of this, Medea naturally becomes angry and acts in ways considered the opposite of what was expected of a Greek woman.
Medea, a princess and sorceress, was from a small island in the Black Sea called Colchis. She met her husband Jason when she used her powers to help him secure the Golden Fleece. It was during this time that she fell in love with him and decided to leave her family and home so that she could be with Jason. The fact that Medea was willing to leave all that she knew for Jason is very brave. Women in Medea's time were normally given away to the men that they married. Medea, on the other hand, married Jason because she wanted to. That was a large risk for her to take and many women probably looked at it as a liberating and heroic act.
Women have always been disempowered due to their gender in modern and ancient times alike. In Corinth they are expected to run the household and conform to social expectations of a dutiful wife. Medea, being an immortal and descendant from the gods has a certain power in intelligence and sly cleverness. Being a foreigner, Medea’s wayward irrational behavior was expected in this play as she was not born in Greece and was seen as an exotic creature. She comes across to the audience as a powerful female character in terms of violence. Some of Medea’s reactions and choices appear to be blown out of proportion as authors generally make characters seem larger than life; this creates a better understanding of the text and the issues which are developed through the characters.
... takes matters into her own hands and doesn’t wait for a man to handle things for her. Also, her internal conflict that is visible throughout the entire play signify that she actually thinks for herself, and is strong enough to need to make serious decisions on her own, regardless of her gender. All of this goes back on the traditional Greek society, and helps make Medea into a play that is ahead of its time. With Euripides challenging the notion of misogyny, he creates Medea to show how powerful and dangerous a woman can be in a story, even though it was never heard of in the modern eras.
There is definitely a reversal of roles in the play. "A man's role was to "help his friends and harm his enemies."(users globalnet) Medea offered to help her friend King Aigeus become childless in exchange for helping her get away. She will harm anyone who gets in her way. It is the children who bring about this reversal.