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Medea: Difference between revisions
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== Feminist Concerns == | == Feminist Concerns == | ||
Euripides wrote ''Medea'' in 431 B.C. (640). Greek mythology shows us how Greeks, at that time, had firm beliefs on how women should behave themselves and the values they should hold. The perceived submissive behavior of women begins the very moment a wife arrives in her husband’s home (O’Higgins 104). A woman is supposed to provide heirs to the man (O’Higgins 104). | |||
An Athenian perception pertaining to a “good woman” was that a woman be loyal to her husband and children (Sourvinou-Inwood 254). The most common characteristics of a good woman would be goodness, self-control and the fact that she was devoted to her husband and children (Sourvinou-Inwood 254). A good woman would reflect the culture’s established values and provide a look into the culture itself. A bad woman would be the opposite of the positive norm. In the beginning of ''Medea'', she portrays herself as a good woman. She was devoted to Jason and loved him so much that she felt as though she could not survive without him. When the nurse is talking in the beginning she states that “poor Medea is slighted, and cries aloud on the vows they made to each other, the right hands clasped in eternal promise (643).” Even though the play begins as seeing Medea as a normal, possibly good woman, she has already shown signs of abnormality in her behavior for a woman at that time. Medea is already showing signs of hatefulness towards her children. “I hate you, children of a hateful mother (645).” Medea is already showing behavior that women would not dare show in this time. | |||
Medea could be seen as a heroine for women who do not want to be confined to the role of the “producer of legitimate offspring (McDonald 303).” By killing her children, she separates herself independently from her husband and the general patriarchy (McDonald 304). Even though at this time, husband’s were expected to be with other women, Medea feels as though her family rights were violated. Medea was also different in this aspect. She didn’t believe that and felt vengeful. The ultimate punishment for Jason, was to violently take his heirs from him. Medea’s anger turned into aggressive action, which can make her into a symbol for women (McDonald 304). | |||
Throughout the play, Medea was more or less an ordinary woman portrayed as a bad woman. However, she could be the victim of male power and just seemed very out of the ordinary for the role of females at this time (Sourvinou-Inwood 258). She ended being a version of a very bad woman, by killing her son’s and wreaking havoc on Jason and male power (Sourvinou-Inwood 258). | |||
The idea explored in this play possibly suggests that women like Medea “use the weapons of the weak, which are both deceitful and violent and hurt men where they are vulnerable to women (Sourvinou-Inwood 261).” The play suggests that normal philosophy is not perfect and easy and if things go wrong men also suffer. | |||
Works Citied: | |||
O’Higgins, Dolores M., Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane, and McDonald, Marianne. Medea: Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy, and Art. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997. | |||
== Characters == | == Characters == | ||