Euripides’ Medea: Summary and Analysis

Medea

-Euripides

(Summary and Analysis)

Medea: Summary

"Medea" is a tragedy written by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. His tragic play, Medea is based on the myth of Jason and Medea. In the play, we see the story of betrayal of her faithful husband Jason and as a result Medea retaliates against Jason. The play, Medea is considered one of the best and most popular literary works of Euripides and one of the best plays in the Western canon. The play won only the third prize when it was presented at the Dionysia Festival in 431 BC. Other plays at the festival were "Philocates", "Dictis" and "Theristai".

After the Golden Fleece adventure, the Greek protagonist Jason takes his wife, Medea, into exile in Corinth. He then left her, wanting to further his political ambitions by marrying Glauce, the daughter of Creon, the king of Corinth.

The play begins with Medea mourning the loss of her husband's love. Her elderly nurse and choir of Corinthian women (usually sympathetic to her plight) feared what she could do to herself or with her children. Fearing what Medea might do, King Creon banished her and announced that she and her children should leave Corinth immediately. Medea begs for mercy, and what it needs to get its revenge is granted a relief for one day.

Jason comes over and tries to explain himself. He says he does not love Glauce but cannot miss the opportunity to marry a rich and royal princess and claims that he hopes to rejoin Medea one day. Jason leaves the Medea as his two families and his concubine. Medea and Corinthian women's chorus do not believe in J. Son. The Medea reminds Jason that he (Medea) has left his (Medea) own people for him (Jason), has killed his own brother for him. That is why he (Medea) will not be able to return home now. He (Medea) reminds her (Jason) that he (Medea) himself saved her (Jason-K) and killed the Golden Fleece Defending Dragon. But he (Jason) offered to calm her down, only to give her (Medea) a gift. Medea hints in the dark that he (Medea) may be alive to regret his (Jason's) decision and secretly plans to kill both Glauce and King Creon.

Medea then meets the childless King Aegeus of Athens. She (Medea) asked his wife to help her to have a child. In return, Medea calls for his protection. Aegeus, meanwhile, is unaware of the Medea's plans for revenge, but promises to shelter her if she escapes to Athens.

Medea tells Chorus of his plan to poison one of his golden garments (a gift from the family heirloom and from the sun god Helios). This toxic garment will wear Glauce and lead her to death. She also decides to kill her own children, not because the children have done something wrong, but because her oppressed mind may think of Jason as the best way to hurt him. She called Jason once more, pretended to apologize to him, and sent Glauce a poisoned dress and crown as a gift with her children.

While Medea is contemplating her activities, a messenger comes to relate to the wild success of her plan. Glauce was killed by the poisonous clothing, and the King Creon, died of poisoning while trying to save his daughter, Glauce. Both the daughter and the father died in excruciating pain. She wrestles with herself to see if she can bring herself to kill her own children. In a moving and cool scene they speak with love. After hesitating for a moment, she finally justifies it as a way to save Jason and Creon's family from revenge. The chorus of women mourned for her decision and the screams of the children could be heard. The chorus considers intervention, but in the end does nothing.

Jason discovers the murder of Glauce and Creon and rushes to the scene to punish the Medea, only to learn that his children have also been killed. Medea appears in Artemis' chariot, laughing and rejoicing at the corpses of her children, Jason's pain. She also predicted a bad outcome for Jason before fleeing to Athens with the bodies of her children. The chorus laments at the end of the play that such tragic and unexpected events are the result of the will of the evil gods.

Medea: Analysis

Although the play, Medea is now considered one of the best plays in ancient Greek, Athenian audiences did not respond favorably at the time, awarding it third place (out of three) at the Dionysia Festival in 431 BC, adding another disappointment to Euripides' career. The play, Medea incorporates an indecisive chorus, vaguely criticizing Athenian society and showing disrespect to the gods, citing reasons for the drastic changes in the Euripides Greek Theater Convention.

In the case of most Greek tragedies, there is no need to change the scene of the play, and it takes place in front of Jason and Medea's palace in Corinth. Incidents that took place off stage (such as the deaths of Glauce and Creon and the killing of her children.) are described in a detailed speech given by a messenger without being made public.

Although there is virtually no stage instruction in the texts of the Greek tragedies, the presence of Medea in a chariot drawn by a dragon towards the end of the play (in the manner of a “deus ex machina ") was probably achieved by a construction. However, a type of crane is used for flying scenes in ancient Greek theaters.

The play, Medea explores many universal themes: passion and anger (Medea is a woman of extreme behavior and emotion, and Jason's betrayal has transformed her emotions into anger and unbearable destruction); Revenge (Medea willing to give up everything to perfect its revenge); Arrogance and egotism (the Greeks were fascinated by the thin line between arrogance and pride, or arrogance, and the idea that the same traits that make a man or woman great could lead to their destruction); Others (emphasis is on the foreignness of Medea. It exacerbates her (Medea) status as an exile.) She (Medea) prays for justice in an unjust society (especially where women are concerned).

While we observe this as the first act of feminism, Medea has come to regard her as a feminist heroine. Euripides's treatment of sex is the most sophisticated of the ancient Greek writers, and Medea's introductory speech to the chorus is perhaps the most eloquent statement in classical Greek literature about the injustice done to women.

The relationship between the chorus and Medea is one of the most striking in Greek play. Women are periodically terrified and fascinated by Medea, living a miserable life through it. They both condemn her and pity her for her terrible deeds, but they do nothing to interfere. Strong and fearless, Medea denies being wronged by men, and the chorus cannot help her but to avenge her, she avenges all the crimes committed against women.

In the character of Medea, we see a woman whose suffering has turned her into a monster instead of persuading her. She is extremely proud, cunning and coldly skilled. She is reluctant to allow her enemies any kind of victory. She sees the false righteousness and hypocrisy of her enemies and uses her own moral bankruptcy against them. Her revenge is complete, but it comes at the cost of everything she loves. She partially kills her own children because she cannot bear the thought of being wounded by her enemy.

Jason, on the other hand, is portrayed as a compassionate, opportunistic, and unprincipled man, full of self-deception and disgusting deception. The other main male characters, Creon and Aegeus, are also portrayed as weak and terrifying, with some positive features to speak of.

*****

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