Life in the Polis:

The Background for

Euripides: Medea

View the video of Medea

Euripides Life & Work

• Born ca. 480 (During the Persian War)

• In 408 BCE he left Athens for the court of the King of Macedon, where he stayed until he died in 406. (2 years before the end of the Peloponnesian War).

• Ranked in the top three Greek playwrights along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he was not popular until after his death.

• Yet 18+ of his plays survive, more than twice that of the other two.

Euripides: Influence on Greek Tragedy

• He was parodied by Aristophanes, as “a compulsive innovator, and subverter of tradition.”

• Admired by Socrates and Sophocles.

• Scholars theorize that Socrates’ ideas on rational philosophy and Sophocles’ depiction of Antigone may have been reactions to Euripides.

Socrates supposedly said “he [Sophocles] presented men as they ought to be, while Euripides presented them as they are.”

The "Medea Vase" made circa 400 BC by Greeks in (southern Italy) Now in the Cleveland Museum of Art

Euripides

Euripides Most Renowned for His Treatments of Women

Little is known of his father, indicating he was absent or died when Euripides was young.

His mother peddled vegetables for a living.

Euripides himself had two bad marriages.

His “bad” girls repulsed and yet fascinated his audiences.

Euripides – Medea

• Presented in 438 BCE, it only won a 3rd prize.

• Jason the great hero,

• Medea the foreign sorceress.

• He has a history of relying on others to accomplish his great deeds.

• She is a serial killer.

• Again we see the idea of women as victims and ultimately avengers.

Women as Stereotypes?

o Is this just another example of “women are weak and corrupting, men are easily fooled”

o Theme also seen in Hesiod, Genesis, and to some extent in Homer?

o Here, all of the characters are deeply flawed. o So, who is the “hero” in this work?o Medea does not suffer for her actions and

indeed flies away to commit other atrocities,o So who is the real victim? Is Euripides saying

it is OK to kill your own children if “forced” into it?

Medea’s Madness

At the beginning of the play, after the Nurse and Medea’s Nanny have filled in the background, Medea off stage is heard wailing:

Ah, I have sufferedWhat should be wept for bitterly. I hate you, Children of a hateful mother. I curse youAnd your father. Let the whole house crash.

Her irrational, insane anger is apparent.

Medea and the Duality of Being a Woman

“We women are the most unfortunate creatures. Firstly, with an excess of wealth it is required For us to buy a husband and take for our bodiesA master; for not to take one is even worse. . . .

A man, when he’s tired of the company in his home, Goes out of the house and puts an end to his boredomAnd turns to a friend or companion of his own age. But we are forced to keep our eyes on one alone.”

Medea Alienated as Woman and Foreigner

“Yet what applies to me does not apply to you.

You have a country. Your family home is here.

You enjoy life and the company of your friends. But I am deserted, a refugee, thought nothing of

By my husband—something he won in a foreign land.

I have no mother or brother, nor any relation

With whom I can take refuge in this sea of woe.”

What is Medea To Do? Is Jason’s marriage to Creon’s daughter a rational

solution to his and his children’s problems of not having a secure place for the future? Or is he just thinking of himself?

Would the Greek audience had though a woman should put aside her feelings and be “sensible?”

Would they have agreed that residence and rights in Greece were completely preferable to maintaining a family unit?

Why doesn’t Medea leave her children behind, shouldn’t a mother do what is best for her children?

Who is To Blame?Does Medea plan her entire course of action

rationally?Or does her emotional response set off a chain of

events trapping her into committing the ultimate evil? Or is it Jason and Creon who push her into a chain

of events that once entered into cannot be changed? Or did the society force Medea into her role? Or is she just naturally evil? Out of control? Does

her calculated plan lead to success, or ultimate failure?

Expectations of Greek Society Why would the Greeks, so proud of their system of free

expression and participatory government, have been so reluctant to see women as important contributors to society?

The realities of childbirth, nursing, short lives, kept women separate, less educated, less interesting.

Even the famous mistress of Pericles, the notorious Aspasia, renowned and popular because she is intelligent, well-informed, educated, and independent, is “a woman not spoken of, either for good or evil.”

Legacy of the Medea

After the Medea was initially presented, the Peloponnesian War went on for another 30 years.

Women were forced to make do with absent husbands, fathers, sons, sometimes permanently.

They bore the brunt but didn’t get the rewards, and had no voice in what happened.

Perhaps this is why the play was more popular later.

The Message of Medea

So, who is the hero of the Medea?

What are the forces of life that characters struggle against?

Is Euripides being totally cynical, or is he offering some sort of solution?

Is his psychological analysis of how women think realistic, or extreme?