Euripides and Medea

Euripides: life

A younger contemporary of Aeschylus and Sophocles

Living through most of the cultural and political turmoil of the fifth century BCE

Seen as one of the most influential voices for the revolutionary new ideas that were developing at the time

Career as a tragedian

The liveliest, funniest, and most provocative tragedian of the three

A productive but only moderately successful

Wrote over 90 plays but won first prize only four times

Continued to be widely read, quoted, and enjoyed for generations after his death

A controversial figure

Use of colloquial language Depictions of unheroic heroes,

sexually promiscuous women, and cruel violent gods

Sympathetic to his clever heroine (Medea) and a defender of the rights and dignity of women and foreigners before an audience of Athenian male citizens

Literary style

Specialized in unexpected plot twists and novel approaches to his mythological material

Vision often very dark Associated with the iconoclasm of

the Sophists Cynical realist about human nature Put male heroes onstage in

humiliated positions

Literary style

Depicting outspoken, lustful or violent, though often sympathetic women

Lower-class characters and slaves were prominent , and sympathetically portrayed

Often questioning the old Greek myths about the gods

The gods often seem arbitrary or cruel in their dealing with humanity

Medea

Focusing not on the heroic narrative of the argonauts but on its squalid aftermath

Presenting Jason in a disturbingly unheroic light: a cad who tries to talk like a Sophist

It is Medea who is the real possessor of sophia (Sophist’s skills; cleverness) in the play

Medea as an outsider

A woman in a male-dominated world A foreigner or “barbarian” in a Greek

city A smart person surrounded by fools

Medea’s character

Fierce, like a wild lion and highly articulate in her analysis of her situation

A proto-feminist

The reader’s changing perceptions of the heroine Strong & brave vs. scarily violent Wise vs. too clever by half

A disturbing play

forcing readers to revise their feelings several times:

--- Is Medea smart and sensible in her defense of her honor and her rights?

--- Or is she driven crazy by the gods of passion?

--- Or should we see her as an agent of the gods, imposing divine justice on oath-breaking humans?

A disturbing play

Is Euripides challenging or confirming Greek male prejudices against foreigners and women?

Is he recommending new forms of wisdom, or warning against the false cleverness of upstarts and outsiders?

A universal fear conveyed in the play

Pointing to the fear, felt by many people both ancient and modern, that the apparently weaker members of a community, such as women and resident aliens, may be smarter than their masters, and may, if provoked enough, rise up to destroy their oppressors.