Medea Take out your notes and the text

Medea. Take out your notes and the text.

Medea � Medea produced in 431 – it actually lost- it came in third, however, it became the most famous. (Oedipus did not come in first when it was produced either) � For men, it shatters the one thing they could absolutely trust- the mother- child bond. No matter what happened between a man and a woman, there was a certainty that women would protect their children � Medea unraveled this certainty ▪ Subverts his power as “Head of the household”

Greek characters �Portrayed a character as a living person ▪ She has made some terrible mistakes ▪ She has moments of our admiration These plays are mostly talking. Greek drama has no stage directions. The characters reveal everything through talking. The main focus is through these speeches. Social conditions a reflection of gender roles in classical Athens.

Feminist approach or patriarchal approach? � It is tragedy that made her name- that made Medea. � It is important to note that Medea does not kill her children in anger, out of momentary impulse (insanity), nor does she do in cold blood. She chooses her act in reasoned argumentation and overrules her own strong maternal impulses and then she escapes to freedom in Athens in a magic flying chariot, leaving her husband humiliated and crushed.

What was Medea’s defining act? ▪ Might say killing of the princess and king by magic robes ▪ Might say killing the children ▪ Might say revenge on her husband ▪ Might say escaping in a magic chariot ▪ These elements are not present in other interpretations of Medea –It makes them fundamentally Euripides’ �(These shocking elements may be why it won third place, but it became quite popular)

Jealousy �Scholars agree that there is a lot of language from Jason about his romantic interest in the princess. Most tragedies do not have romantic elements, this, one of Medea’s motives is clearly acting out of jealousy ▪ “You are consumed with craving for your newly- won bride. Go, enjoy her!” (line 624 p. 36)

What exactly is the problem? �“He has married/ Glauce, Creon’s daughter. ” (line 18 -19 p. 18) ▪ Married, not just physically involved ▪ She will lose all rights after he leaves �She is miserable, not eating, crying, doesn’t move (line 23 -29 p. 18)-- Who is she really crying over? �She hates her children (line 35) �But it can get worse. The Tutor has news of banishment. (line 69 -70 p. 19)

Medea’s problem �She trusts Jason completely. �Her assistance was a direct betrayal of her father and her country. �She is forced to flee with Jason back to Greece. �In route, her brother, Apsyrtus, is murdered (probably by Medea herself). �An Athenian woman could appeal to her family for help if her marriage became unbearable. Medea has nothing but Jason; thus, his betrayal is shattering. � 451 B. C. E. Athens—Athenian men could not marry foreign women. They could only be concubines (audience would be aware of this law).

Role of women She represents the duality of women’s character ▪Creon’s speech about women p. 26 ▪Medea’s speech about women p. 28 �The Chorus in this play are all women (though men are still the actors) �Demonstrate some partiality to Medea ▪Support her even when they disagree! �Medea talks to the Chorus- Corinthian women- characterizes women’s role: ▪ “Women must first buy their husbands, let their husbands rule them and their bodies, and then keep them interested or the husband will go find someone else to fulfill his desire. “ ( p. 24 )

Anger 1. She never argued, she played the role of a quiet, submissive woman ▪ “While to Jason she is all/ Obedience- and in marriage that’s the saving thing, / When a wife obediently accepts her husband’s will. ” (line 12 -14 p. 17) 2. Medea reminds Jason he does have a genealogy that entitles him as a king, but… she was a princess- she had a good life. 3. She is the granddaughter of the Sun 4. She ran away with him and betrayed her own people because she loved him ▪ She ”wails for her land home/which she betrayed and left” (line 29 -31 p. 18) 5. She helped him acquire the golden Fleece

Jekyll and Hyde � She is in grief and anger over his betrayal. When she comes out of the house after being immobile from grief she is cool and collected. � She has extreme moods and is very controlled. (p. 23) � Interior: ▪ She did all of these things for love. She loves him. She makes her choices for him. She is royalty- she should be treated with honor. Greek – honor- timé- revenge also means temeris- restore honor with this deed. To the Greeks, honor and revenge were connected. � And on top of it all, you will let me be banished? And the boys? ▪ “That Creon king of Corinth means to send these boys/Away from here- to banish them” (line 69 -70 p. 19)

Banished �What are the reasons behind Creon's decree? � �He is afraid Medea will hurt his daughter, who is marrying Jason (285 -288). �He has heard she has made threats against him (311 -312). The banishment pushes this another level.

Manupulation � She deceptively tells Jason she is over it and sends his poisoned dress and crown – die horribly. � She kills Jason's children ▪ “I groan at what a deed I must do next… ▪ “unholy deed: ▪ Chorus- no ▪ Medea- I cannot do otherwise” “It is the way I can hurt my husband most ▪ calls on anger to add resolve

Medea’s rhetoric p. 25 -27 �What arguments does Medea make to Creon to let her stay in Corinth? �It’s her reputation, not her (292) �She doesn't hate him, only Jason (303) �Let her stay for 1 day to figure out what she and her children are going to do (341). �She isn't afraid of exile; she only feels bad for her children (343)

Medea’s rant � You were married to me, you cast me off for a woman who is well- connected. You cast me off in a foreign land. ▪ ▪ ▪ I’ve done all this for you - “If you were honest…” p. 34 I'm a powerful sorceress You did it anyway Wish I could die: “Lost, joy of life is gone, I even want to die” (249 -250) Medea has no family to turn to (281). She forsook her family in order to marry Jason, and now she has nothing. ▪ “I am going to have my revenge against Jason and his bride” ▪ Now she is in opposition to the king. To protect his daughter She is exiled. Now it gets sick and twisted. She decides she is going to do as much damage as possible.

polis �The city, the state, the citizens �How is this an issue in Medea ?

Hamartia- is it trust or an action? � Aristotle � She made a mistake in the way she sent them away- hamartia ▪ She killed her children but did not kill Jason We must trace how we arrived at his point. She is a sorceress. She helped Jason to acquire the golden Fleece. She threw off the pursuit of her father by cutting up her little brother, leaving a trail behind her boat. She has a history with potions and spells. p. 45 - crying- real or genuine? p. 23 p. 48 - regret?

Is her hubris guilt? faulty trust? weakness? p. 41 I can endure guilt… The laughter of my enemies I will not endure! p. 40 let no one think of me as humble or weak p. 50 (right before) … anger… master my resolve!

Mastermind manipulation �What does Medea reveal in her speech to the Chorus after Creon leaves? � p. 26 - 27 5 appeals to Creon �p. 28 -29 The real plan. Why do we fall for it?

The argument p. 30 -36 �Her 4 reasons �She could have forgiven him if… �She burned bridges for him (p. 32) �“Zeus… Bad men from good, the flesh bears no revealing mark? ” (line 518 p. 32) ▪ Gods – how could she have known? ▪ Chorus- nothing like a betrayed woman

A conundrum p. 49 -50 � Explain Medea's internal conflict on pages 49 -50. � Should she kill her children, even though she loves them and it causes her great pain, to get back at her husband, or should she bring her children into exile but let Jason go unpunished for his actions? � “What a coward I am/ Even tempting to my own resolution with soft talk…” � The rage of man's heart is stronger than his reason (1111). A rage …

She does reconsider. P. 49 ▪ “”Oh what am I to do? … I can’t do it” (line 1041 -2) ▪ “I’ll not leave sons of mine to be the victims of/ My enemy’s rage” (line 1060 p. 50) ▪ Jason he is the one who killed them through his actions “Your father’s treachery cost your lives” (line 1364 p. 59) ▪ Anger is a rationalizing force. She believes she is justified. She has an asylum set up and escapes and tells him he will die by his ship killing him, which apparently it did. He was living on his boat, dry docked- essentially homeless, and killed by his own boat. Different versions. ▪ Lesson - don’t marry a barbarian outsider

She is resolute �Why does Medea kill her children? ▪ Jason has betrayed her as helper, wife and child ▪ ▪ bearer She conveniently runs into Aegeus “This is the way to deal Jason the deepest wound. ” (line 816 p. 42) Vengeance: to leave him childless in old age “For it is not bearable to be mocked by enemies. ”

Who is at fault? �Revenge-drama: Medea gravely wronged by erstwhile protector ▪ Jason, a non-citizen and exile, was offered an opportunity to contract a matrilocal marriage, inherit throne ▪ Medea regarded as concubine and her children reduced to dependents of Jason's children by princess ▪ Violation of oaths to god

True revenge empowers the victim, not pacifies �Need to avenge herself according to male code of honor: "to harm enemies and help friends“ �Woman's "friends"--her husband children —now become her enemies. Perversion of code.

Role of the gods � The gods could not do anything for Jason because he is an oath- breaker. � Do they have free will? � The gods will not intervene for someone who has already broken an oath. � Gods do play favorites. � People/characters can still act- but it not effective. The exercise of free will is not effective. � Escaping to Athens in the dragon chariot from her grandfather, Helios, the Sun ▪ Deus ex Machina –an apparently insoluble crisis solved by the intervention of a god

Aegeus- convenient chiasm � Aegeus episode Dramatic pivot of drama-- chiastic structure. ▪ Chiasms- structure ABBA. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going” ▪ She was powerless to stop from falling in love, now she is falling out of love using power � Highlights thematic centrality of children � Achieves protection through appeal ▪ (binding by oath--contrast Jason) � Shift in sympathy: chorus had approved of revenge killing earlier, but balks at child-murder

Medea answers… � He wants to bury his children (line 1412) � She doesn't want the people of Greece to disrespect their bones because they played a part in the king's death. ( line 1380) � He also asks to hold his children one last time (1403) � Why does she say no?

Medea’s outcome? �What does the Chorus predict for Medea? �The gods are expected to take revenge on her for what she has done to her children, yet. . . �It’s doubtful that we are to agree with Medea’s choices, but she is saved. Therefore, what are we to make of the ending? �Some scholars argue that Euripides was sympathetic to the plight of women; Medea’s violence is the by-product of repression/oppression—so he lets her off the hook. �Line 1415 -1419

Symbolism �sun chariot ▪ Medea's transcendence of "human" limitations ▪ Emblems of earth-goddess ▪ Transcending female nature--denial of maternity � children ▪ they are the marriage- this is what she is “erasing” in a chiasm of sorts

Gender role violation It could happen because it was Medea MEDEA AS FEMALE MEDEA AS MALE Incorporates forces of chaos � Represents the non-human and non-Greek � submissive � � Successfully avenges slighted honor � Punishes breaker of oaths and acts as agent of divine justice--classic patriarchal role � Gender = power (dominance vs. submission)

Misogynist or Feminist? � For in other ways a woman Is full of fear, defenseless, dreads � the sight of cold Steel; but, when once she is wronged in the matter of love, No other soul can hold so many thoughts of blood. (Medea, 263 -66) � It would have been better far for men To have got their children in some other way, and women Not to have existed. Then life would have been good. (Jason, 57375) Flow backward to your sources, sacred rivers, And let the world's great order be reversed. It is the thoughts of men that are deceitful, Their pledges that are loose. Story shall now turn my condition to a fair one, Women are paid their due. No more shall evil-sounding fame be theirs. (Chorus, 41020)

Freud � Mythic thinking seeks to resolve the contradiction between life and death (eros and thanatos for Freud fans). � Silly, hyper-emotional, society women � Life-giving, life-taking ▪ Freud: Great Thinkers on Modern Life by Brett Kahr � The Madness of Medea: Meike Ziervogel and Lisa Dwan in conversation � Are women who kill their children monsters? Meike Ziervogel in her novel 'Magda' enters the head of the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbel’s wife, who killed her six children.

Greek tragedies today- Japan article �What are the basic themes in the human condition? �How is the message and emotion still contemporary?

QUESTIONS: Choose an elbow partner and discuss. � Medea's character: benevolent? capacity to love? self-deceptive? wild/barbarian? quality of her intelligence? Why does King Creon fear Medea? � Medea's will: When does she decide to destroy the children? Is the Nurse just imagining things in the opening scene, or is there something about Medea which gives her grounds to fear? Why does Medea hesitate? Or does she really? Why does she hesitate? � Jason's character: What of his motives, expressed in the speech in Episode II? Is he sincere? A cad? A cheap lawyer (no offense intended)? � What do you make of the nature of Medea's revenge? Appropriate? Immoderate? Why must the children die? Does she take pleasure in the deeds?

Groups: “Murder in the Mother’s Club” 1. Get into groups of 2 -5 people. 2. Read and discuss the article. 3. Discuss these two questions. Actual killers are human beings, not monsters that exist only on TV or film or who are locked away for life. Aside from some other primates, humans are the only animals that routinely kill their own kind. We've all seen innumerable beatings, shootings, stabbings, etc. on movie and TV screens, but how many of us have ever knocked someone unconscious or stabbed or shot someone? How is this instance of murder more problematic than most for society? Our society is infused with violence, but those who actually commit violent acts are still seen as outside of society. What happens to humanity when the act of murder is taken lightly? 3. Create 3 quality discussion questions. Turn in these three questions

JOURNAl #5 �Deus ex machina