"Medea" by Euripides: A "revenge tragedy"

Medea, a play by the Greek playwright Euripides, explores the Greek-

barbarian duality through the character of Medea, a princess from the

barbarian, or non-Greek, landed estate of Colchis. Throughout the play, it becomes

evident to the reader that Medea is no ordinary woman by Greek standards.

Central to the whole plot is Medeas barbarian origins and how they are related

to her actions. In this paper, I am attempting to answer questions such as how

Medea be arouses bid a female, how she acts heroically from a male point of view,

why she killed her children, if she could have achieved her goal without killing

them, if the murder was motivated by her barbarian origins, and how she deals

with the painful sensation of killing her children.

As an introduction to the play, the status of women in Greek society

should be briefly discussed. In general, women had very few rights. In the

eyes of men, the briny purposes of women in Greek society were to do housework

such as grooming and cleaning, and bear children. They could not vote, own

property, or choose a husband, and had to be represented by men in all legal

proceedings. In both(prenominal) ways, these Greek women were almost like slaves. There is

a definite relationship between this subordination of women and what transpires

in the play.



Jason decides that he trusts to divorce Medea and splice the

princess of Corinth, casting Medea aside as if they had never been married.

This sort of operation was acceptable by Greek standards, and shows the

subordinate status of the woman, who had no register in any matter like this.

Even though some of Medeas actions were not typical of the average

Greek woman, she still had attitudes and emotions common among women. For

instance, Medea speaks out against...

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