The Themes of Euripides Medea :: Euripides Medea Essays

The Themes of Medea Medea, a play by the Hellenic playwright Euripides, explores the Greek-barbarian wave-particle duality through the character of Medea, a princess from the barbarian, or non-Greek, land of Colchis. passim the play, it becomes evident to the reader that Medea is no ordinary wo objet dart 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 behaves like a female, how she acts heroically from a male point of view, why she killed her children, if she could have achieved her last with come out cleanup position them, if the murder was motivated by her barbarian origins, and how she deals with the pain 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 important purposes of women in Greek society were t o do housework such as cooking and cleaning, and bear children. They could not vote, own property, or choose a husband, and had to be represented by men in all lawful proceedings. In several(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 wants to disjoin Medea and marry the princess of Corinth, casting Medea aside as if they had never been married. This sort of natural process was acceptable by Greek standards, and shows the subordinate status of the woman, who had no separate 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 womens status in society, proclaiming that they have no choice of whom to marry, and that a man can rid themselves of a woman to get another whenever he wants, but a woma n always has to keep her eyes on one alone. (231-247) Though it is improbable that women went around openly saying things of this nature, it is potential that this attitude was shared by most or all Greek women. Later in the play, Medea debates with herself over whether or not to kill her children vile heart, let them go, have pity upon the