Note: This is a continuation of my last post on this blog called 'Euripides' Medea: The play and the character: Part 1'.
The play Medea is a very useful play for classicists as a tool for understanding how Greeks (especially Athenians) viewed foreigners. The protagonist, Medea, is, of course, a foreigner. She's from Colchis which is in modern day Turkey. Jason brought her over from Colchis to Greece during his quest for the Golden Fleece. Perhaps there'll be a post on that adventure on this site sometime in the future. At the time the play was performed, Athens was involved in a long war in which an increasing number of Athenian soldiers were bringing back foreign brides and so sullying the purity of the Athenian citizenship. To maintain the 'Athenianness' of the people of the polis, strict laws of citizenship were put in place. So, the zeitgeist that Euripides was writing for demanded problems in the relationship between Jason and Medea and he was delighted to oblige.
Where we left off last time, Jason and Medea were on Corinth, married and with two sons. Jason was an up and coming figure in the political circles of Corinth and, in order to gain more power, he agrees to marry Glauce, the daughter of Creon, the king of Corinth. Technically, in doing so he breaks his sacred marriage vows with Medea and so should draw the wrath of the gods. However, since Medea is a foreigner, Euripides seems to imply that it's ok for Jason to divorce her without any divine repercussions He does still have to face human repercussions though, as we shall soon see. Medea, of course, is not thrilled by the turn of events and, in a fit of anger, threatens Glauce if she proceeds with her marriage to Jason. In order to protect his daughter, Creon decrees that Medea and her sons with Jason are exiled from Corinth. It is at this point that the play opens, with the nurse of Medea summarizing these events for the audience.
Medea is distraught at Jason's betrayal. She cannot stand idly by and be toyed with. She is one of the most powerful characters in ancient Myth and the audience at the time must have known that. Euripides has built a tantalizing foundation for his play. We have the hero who betrays the powerful foreign sorceress in favour of the beautiful, young princess. Now he makes the hero come to the sorceress and defend his actions. Euripides' Jason truly seems to believe that he has not betrayed Medea but done the right thing by her. He says that he had courted Glauce in order to gain power so that he could protect Medea and their children and provide safe, happy lives for them all. He blames their current plight on Medea. Why did she have to go and threaten the royal family he asks. Why couldn't she just keep her temper in check and just keep silent? Well, since her mindless actions have brought ruin upon her, he says, he is prepared to extend his help for her and the children during their exile. He offers to provide wealth and organize sanctuary for Medea and his sons. Medea, of course, refuses.
What follows is one of my favorite give and takes in Greek Tragedy. We learn an incredible amount of the myth of the Golden Fleece hunt from the following speeches of Medea and Jason. We also learn a great deal about the 'proper' role of women in ancient Greece and the dichotomy of gender roles in society. Succinctly put, Medea alleges that Jason would not have survived his adventures without her help. She lists all the things she has done for him and indeed, it is a long list. She accuses his of forgetting what he owes her and deserting her out of passion for a younger woman. Jason, in response, states that all Medea had done for him were not done by her own free will but the will of the gods. He was not indebted to Medea for his survival and success but to the Olympians who watched over him. He reminds Medea of the favours he has done for her in return. He reminds her of the fame, wealth and power he has given her. He then refutes her accusation that he was in love with Glauce and had left Medea out of blind passion. Blind passion, he says, are for women. Men are practical beings. This gives us a glimpse into the minds of the ancient Greeks when it came to defining gender roles. Jason goes on to explain how his marriage to Glauce would have benefited Medea and her sons if only she had held her tongue. He reiterates his offer of help. Medea, stung by his words and driven by her pride, refuses his offer and bids him to leave her and return to his young new bride.
Medea wants revenge. She burns with her desire for revenge. She is a very dangerous woman and she seeks to destroy the lives of Jason and the Corinthian royalty. She comes up with a plan that in my eyes has to have been one of the evillest ever plotted.
First, Medea secures her own future. She meets with Aegeus, king of Athens (and father of Theseus) and organizes sanctuary for herself in Athens. Then, she pretends to have made peace with the decisions of Jason and Creon. She sends her children with gifts as an offering of peace to Glauce and Creon. Her sons present Glauce with a beautiful robe and an even more dazzling diadem. Here begins Medea's systematic destruction of Jason's life. When Glauce puts on her new robe and diadem, her skin starts burning as if by acid and her hair catches on fire. Her eyes pop out and she screams in agony! The gifts were laced with a potent poison (the same one used to 'kill' Heracles). In an attempt to help his daughter, Creon pulls her to him and brings himself under the influence of the poison as well. The two perish in utter agony. Step one of Medea's revenge is complete: She has destroyed Jason's new life in Corinth and, in the process, destroyed the Corinthian royalty that had dared to exile her.
The next part of the play is a sad one and shows the lengths to which Medea (who represents the 'barbaric' outsider) would go to avenge a wring done to her. She kills her own children. There is a gut-wrenching scene in the play where she steels herself for the task while to chorus of Corinthian women beg her not to go through with it.But she does, and in doing so, she deprived Jason of his sons and the future of his lineage. His new wife is dead and his children with his ex-wife are also gone. He is left with the ignominy of knowing that his line ends with him. In ancient Greece, this was ignominy indeed. Ensuring the longevity of one's lineage was a duty demanded by the gods in ancient Greek society. By failing at that task, Jason has made himself a pariah and all his past success as a hero dims in comparison with his failure at his basic human duty. To complete her revenge, Medea takes the bodies of her sons with her when she escaped (on a dragon-drawn carriage provided by Helios! Wicked!) and went to Athens. In doing so, she deprives Jason of the chance to give his sons a proper burial, horrifying for any ancient Greek father.
Medea's revenge was complete. She goes on to feature prominently in the myths of Athens and Theseus but that is a tale for future posts to tell.
Euripides' Medea is a truly fascinating play with one of the most complex (and my favourite) tragic character.
The play Medea is a very useful play for classicists as a tool for understanding how Greeks (especially Athenians) viewed foreigners. The protagonist, Medea, is, of course, a foreigner. She's from Colchis which is in modern day Turkey. Jason brought her over from Colchis to Greece during his quest for the Golden Fleece. Perhaps there'll be a post on that adventure on this site sometime in the future. At the time the play was performed, Athens was involved in a long war in which an increasing number of Athenian soldiers were bringing back foreign brides and so sullying the purity of the Athenian citizenship. To maintain the 'Athenianness' of the people of the polis, strict laws of citizenship were put in place. So, the zeitgeist that Euripides was writing for demanded problems in the relationship between Jason and Medea and he was delighted to oblige.
Where we left off last time, Jason and Medea were on Corinth, married and with two sons. Jason was an up and coming figure in the political circles of Corinth and, in order to gain more power, he agrees to marry Glauce, the daughter of Creon, the king of Corinth. Technically, in doing so he breaks his sacred marriage vows with Medea and so should draw the wrath of the gods. However, since Medea is a foreigner, Euripides seems to imply that it's ok for Jason to divorce her without any divine repercussions He does still have to face human repercussions though, as we shall soon see. Medea, of course, is not thrilled by the turn of events and, in a fit of anger, threatens Glauce if she proceeds with her marriage to Jason. In order to protect his daughter, Creon decrees that Medea and her sons with Jason are exiled from Corinth. It is at this point that the play opens, with the nurse of Medea summarizing these events for the audience.
Medea is distraught at Jason's betrayal. She cannot stand idly by and be toyed with. She is one of the most powerful characters in ancient Myth and the audience at the time must have known that. Euripides has built a tantalizing foundation for his play. We have the hero who betrays the powerful foreign sorceress in favour of the beautiful, young princess. Now he makes the hero come to the sorceress and defend his actions. Euripides' Jason truly seems to believe that he has not betrayed Medea but done the right thing by her. He says that he had courted Glauce in order to gain power so that he could protect Medea and their children and provide safe, happy lives for them all. He blames their current plight on Medea. Why did she have to go and threaten the royal family he asks. Why couldn't she just keep her temper in check and just keep silent? Well, since her mindless actions have brought ruin upon her, he says, he is prepared to extend his help for her and the children during their exile. He offers to provide wealth and organize sanctuary for Medea and his sons. Medea, of course, refuses.
What follows is one of my favorite give and takes in Greek Tragedy. We learn an incredible amount of the myth of the Golden Fleece hunt from the following speeches of Medea and Jason. We also learn a great deal about the 'proper' role of women in ancient Greece and the dichotomy of gender roles in society. Succinctly put, Medea alleges that Jason would not have survived his adventures without her help. She lists all the things she has done for him and indeed, it is a long list. She accuses his of forgetting what he owes her and deserting her out of passion for a younger woman. Jason, in response, states that all Medea had done for him were not done by her own free will but the will of the gods. He was not indebted to Medea for his survival and success but to the Olympians who watched over him. He reminds Medea of the favours he has done for her in return. He reminds her of the fame, wealth and power he has given her. He then refutes her accusation that he was in love with Glauce and had left Medea out of blind passion. Blind passion, he says, are for women. Men are practical beings. This gives us a glimpse into the minds of the ancient Greeks when it came to defining gender roles. Jason goes on to explain how his marriage to Glauce would have benefited Medea and her sons if only she had held her tongue. He reiterates his offer of help. Medea, stung by his words and driven by her pride, refuses his offer and bids him to leave her and return to his young new bride.
Medea wants revenge. She burns with her desire for revenge. She is a very dangerous woman and she seeks to destroy the lives of Jason and the Corinthian royalty. She comes up with a plan that in my eyes has to have been one of the evillest ever plotted.
First, Medea secures her own future. She meets with Aegeus, king of Athens (and father of Theseus) and organizes sanctuary for herself in Athens. Then, she pretends to have made peace with the decisions of Jason and Creon. She sends her children with gifts as an offering of peace to Glauce and Creon. Her sons present Glauce with a beautiful robe and an even more dazzling diadem. Here begins Medea's systematic destruction of Jason's life. When Glauce puts on her new robe and diadem, her skin starts burning as if by acid and her hair catches on fire. Her eyes pop out and she screams in agony! The gifts were laced with a potent poison (the same one used to 'kill' Heracles). In an attempt to help his daughter, Creon pulls her to him and brings himself under the influence of the poison as well. The two perish in utter agony. Step one of Medea's revenge is complete: She has destroyed Jason's new life in Corinth and, in the process, destroyed the Corinthian royalty that had dared to exile her.
The next part of the play is a sad one and shows the lengths to which Medea (who represents the 'barbaric' outsider) would go to avenge a wring done to her. She kills her own children. There is a gut-wrenching scene in the play where she steels herself for the task while to chorus of Corinthian women beg her not to go through with it.But she does, and in doing so, she deprived Jason of his sons and the future of his lineage. His new wife is dead and his children with his ex-wife are also gone. He is left with the ignominy of knowing that his line ends with him. In ancient Greece, this was ignominy indeed. Ensuring the longevity of one's lineage was a duty demanded by the gods in ancient Greek society. By failing at that task, Jason has made himself a pariah and all his past success as a hero dims in comparison with his failure at his basic human duty. To complete her revenge, Medea takes the bodies of her sons with her when she escaped (on a dragon-drawn carriage provided by Helios! Wicked!) and went to Athens. In doing so, she deprives Jason of the chance to give his sons a proper burial, horrifying for any ancient Greek father.
Medea's revenge was complete. She goes on to feature prominently in the myths of Athens and Theseus but that is a tale for future posts to tell.
Euripides' Medea is a truly fascinating play with one of the most complex (and my favourite) tragic character.
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