Medea

A very passionate story of a woman consumed by rage, intent on revenge at her husband at the expense of her children and his new bride and father-in-law.  "How I long for the comfort of death" (verse 145, said by Medea) - this line ties in with the notion of an afterlife in which peace/serenity is presumed to be the norm.

Medea speaks at lengths about the wrongs done onto her but speaks little of the wrongs she has done onto her own family in the pursuit of her husband's ascent to power (She does mention her wrong doings but not in the conventional sense; she speaks of them as actions taken by a dutiful wife).  She talks about how "there is no justice in human eyesight: people take one look and hate a man, before they know his heart, though no injustice has been done to them" (verses 218-221) - she is speaking about herself of course.  She and her children are abandoned by her husband and thus any status or respect she holds in society is automatically withdrawn regardless of whether she wronged her spouse or not.  She is also not a Greek, thus always being the 'other'.

Medea's voice provides a critique of the uneven gender roles within marriages (p. 12) and of the class system.  Her husband has left her and their children for a new royal bride.

Whil Medea is portrayed as a strong woman with the gods on her side, women still appears to be linked to irrationality and negative passion.  The line "You have the knowledge, not to mention woman's nature: for any kind of noble deed, we're helpless; for malice, though, our wisdom is unmatched" (p. 19), tying women to be cunning and vengeful creatures. (see another similar verse on p. 55).

The Nurse appears to be the voice of reason in this text.  While she empathizes with Medea's broken heart and rage, she argues that such an attachment to a strong desire is never a good thing (p. 28).  She advocates a life of moderation and middle ground (p. 8).

While Medea's act of filicide is indeed cruel and hard to bear, I am reminded of the film, Hotel Rwanda where, Tatiana and her children were told by husband, Paul Rusesabagina to run to the top of the roof of their hotel and jump to the deaths, should the Interahamwe barge into their hotel's compound.  It should be a more compassionate death...  Perhaps Medea was having similar thoughts.

Afterclass thoughts:  I hadn't given much thought to what was the main messag that Euripides was trying to provide to his audience (e.g. for men to be dutiful to their wives or they may have a 'Medea' in their lives).  Professor Duguid argues that the text challenges our ability to emphatize since neither of the major characters (Medea and Jason) are particularly likeable.  Another theme that didn't occur to me is the  faustian bargain that Jason made to Medea in order to be King.  I am not clear if Medea is supposed to be a witch/semi-god/magician or...?