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    Medea
    Medea
    Medea
    Ebook66 pages1 hour

    Medea

    By Euripides

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    About this ebook

    Medea is centered on a wife’s calculated desire for revenge against her unfaithful husband. The play is set in Corinth some time after Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece, where he met Medea. The play begins with Medea raging at Jason for arranging to marry Glauce, the daughter of Creon (king of Corinth). The nurse, overhearing Medea’s grief, fears what she might do to herself or her children.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSovereign
    Release dateOct 15, 2015
    ISBN9781911144045
    Author

    Euripides

    Euripides was a tragedian of classical Athens. He was born on Salamis Island around 480 BC to his mother, Cleito, and father, Mnesarchus, a retailer who lived in a village near Athens. He had two disastrous marriages, and both his wives—Melite and Choerine (the latter bearing him three sons)—were unfaithful. He became a recluse, making a home for himself in a cave on Salamis. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. He became, in the Hellenistic Age, a cornerstone of ancient literary education. The details of his death are uncertain.

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    Reviews for Medea

    4/5

    613 ratings11 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Not sure what I think of the translation, but I liked that this was annotated.
    • 4/5
      This play is more about Medea than Jason. Obviously. And primarily I think it is about the horrors that can befall people when they let passion for revenge overtake them. There is also a streak of feminism here too. I like that Euripides was different. He went against all kinds of traditions and rules. A female chorus. No tragic hero. No real sympathetic character at all really. No interference from the gods. This was written around the time of the decline of Athens. Things were being questioned and people were turning to rationalism instead of absolutism. Euripides brings it all to the forefront in his play. What's the point of live, he seems to be saying. Anyways, I liked the play. It's different than the other plays of its time. And Medea is a strong woman. A little insane with vengeance yes, but still very strong-willed. I don't know how authentic this translation was but I thought the dialogue and what is said between characters was also what made the play so memorable. If you like reading Greek plays, this is a must.
    • 3/5
      Disturbing, uninteresting, melodramatic-which makes since it is a drama. Helpful for studying that time period and greek myths but not a fun read if you are otherwise inclined.
    • 5/5
      Penetrating psychological study of Medea, the wronged wife, and Jason, the unfeeling, selfish contemptible husband. Classic revenge tragedy.
    • 4/5
      Ancient greek feminist revenge fantasy
    • 4/5
      Medea by Euripedes was a play I chose for my 2015 reading challenge. The play, only 47 pages took about 1/2 hour to read. My first thought was.....doesn't the woman on the cover look like Salma Hayek?The play centers around Medea, a goddess who falls madly in love, emphasis on MADLY, with Jason. She gives up everything for this man. We're talking killing, stealing, betraying her father and home, the whole kitten caboodle. She has 2 sons by him then one day, bang........homeboy hooks up with this younger chick, leaves Medea and the kids and marries this home-wrecker. Say what???? Say it isn't so........ oh, it's so!To put icing on the cake, this home-wrecker's daddy (Creon) banishes her from the land. Allowed to stay one more day she plots her revenge and baby she went for it. Unfortunately her revenge is an act that would cost a lifetime of suffering not only for her husband but herself as well.Medea, although a quick read, is very powerful. You will agree with Medea and understand her pain but will hate her for her decisions. Jason is a loser who tries to convince Medea that what he was doing was for a good reason. Let me tell you something, no one (woman) in there right mind would believe it. What's interesting is the mentality of both individuals. Medea was not afraid to show her emotions, whether sadness, fear or anger but Jason remained calmed and had no hatred towards her. She screamed at him, called him names, yet he thought they could still remain friends until the end.I had no idea what this play was about or how it would turn out. I just chose it for my reading challenge and I'm glad I did.
    • 5/5
      Surely, of all creatures that have life and will, we womenAre the most wretched. When, for an extravagant sum,We have bought a husband, we must then accept him asPossessor of our body. This is to aggravateWrong with worse wrong. Then the great question: will the manWe get be bad or good? For woman, divorce is notRespectable; to repel the man, not possible. (Trans Phillip Veracott)These few lines near the opening of Euripides' Medea pretty much describes what life was like for women in Ancient Greece: it was not pretty. What struck me when I read this play again (and it is one of my favourites) is how astute Euripides was to the plight of Greek women, and it was not as if it was any better elsewhere. Granted, women did have more rights in Ancient Rome (and would become very astute political maneuverers, such as Nero's mother Agripina) but in general the freedoms that women have won over the past 150 years are probably the furthest that they have come to participate in society than any other time throughout history (with a few exceptions).I should talk about about the play and its background (the legend that is, not the writing of it, which took place just prior to the Peloponesian War). The play is set sometime after Jason's return to Greece after obtaining the Golden Fleece from Cholchis. When he was in Cholcis, he had wooed Medea, the daughter of the king, and with her aid managed to steal the fleece and escape, but in doing so Medea was forced not only to kill her brother but renounce her citizenship of Colchis never to return. Years later, after they returned to Greece, Jason and Medea married and had children. However, Jason received an offer from King Creon of Corinth to marry his daughter and thus take the throne, so he pretty much ditched Medea, arranged for her exile, and shacked up with his new wife.If I can describe the play in one sentence, it would be 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. Let all men out there understand this, and if there is one piece of literature I would recommend that all men who wish to have a relationship with a woman should read it should be this one. It is not so much that Medea is a noble character, she is not. She poisons Jason's wife and father-in-law, and then proceeds to murder both of her children, and this is after she forced an oath out of the King of Athens to provide her protection, no matter what. Medea is not a lovely person, and despite the argument that she was driven to this point by a nasty man just simply does not cut it. I agree that Jason is not a noble man either, but still does not justify Medea's actions.One can simply feel the pain of Medea in this play as she struggles with this change to her life. Yes, she acts on instinct and out of vengeance, but she has renounced her country and her people and fled to an alien land, all over the love of a man, only to discover that this man discards her once she is no longer needed by him. As she says, a Greek woman still has family and friends, whereas she has nobody (not quite true, as she secured sanctuary in Athens). We are reminded, over and over again, of the plight that is to be a woman, and an alien woman, in Ancient Greece, and it is not pleasant.Does Euripides' write a decent female character then? Well, that is difficult since we have fragments of only one female Greek poet, and that is Sappho. Everything else is written by men, though not necessarily about men. I believe Medea's character is representative of a woman scorned, seeking vengeance upon he who discarded her. She cries, and is in deep emotional pain, but then lines like 'it is the nature of a woman to cry' is clearly the writing of a man. However Euripides is different from the other Greek playwrights in that he stands up for the woman, and we see this clearly in this play. There are others where he covers such themes as well, but we will look at them when we do. Further, not all of Greek literature deals only with strong men and weak women. Homer's Odyssey is a clear example of this as Penelope is painted as a strong, loyal, and dedicated woman that we resist even the wise men to remain faithful to a husband that she believes is still alive. Further, we have gods like Athena and Artemis, who clearly break out of that mould that we like to put Greek women into (both of these gods are major gods, not married to any other gods, are warriors, and are worshipped by many Greeks of the time).Another thing that struck me in this play this time is the nature of children. Medea weeps about how it is difficult to know how a child turns out. Is all that time wasted in raising the child, only to see him either turn bad, or die in a war? Many parents fret and worry about that, and sometimes the more we worry, the less we actually look into ourselves and ask what can we do to make the situation better. This is a fallen world, and people die in fallen worlds: it is a fact of life. Death will always be painful, but sometimes we need to accept this. The more we try to mould our children into what we want, the more we force them away from us: many a piece of literature explores this (especially these days, just see Dead Poet's Society). However, Medea slays her children, if only out of spite.I have heard many people suggest that Christianity has made the world worse, not better, and that is something that I must heartily dispute. All we need to do is to look at the pre-Christian world to see how horrid and barbaric it was. In many of the Greek tragedies there are no noble characters. There are only two truly noble characters that I can think of in Greek antiquity, one of them being Penelope, the other being Leonidas. Athens, the beacon of freedom and democracy, oppressed women and maintained a slave economy. Further, during the early days of the Peloponesian War, they attacked the island of Mytilene, sacked the place, killed all of the men, and enslaved all of the women and children. While we may have had issues with the way the United States (and Britain) have acted in other lands, I cannot think (with the exception of the period of slavery) of any time where they have acted in such a way. Further, while birth control has always been around, the ancients would deal with unwanted pregnancies by breaking the baby's legs, and then leaving them in the wilderness to die.
    • 5/5
      The ultimate story of betrayal and tragedy.
    • 4/5
      One of the more interesting plays I studied in low level Classical Studies.
    • 4/5
      Despair, Anger and Hatred

      "Anger arises from offences against oneself, enmity may arise ...because of what we take to be their character. Anger is accompanied by pain, hatred is not;... for the one would have the offenders suffer for what they have done; the other would have them cease to exist."
      --Aristotle in "The Art of Rhetoric"

      Medea,  princess of Colchis and granddaughter of Helios, was both angry and hateful toward her husband Jason, who dishonored her by deserting her and their two children and marrying another woman, after he had sworn a solemn oath to her, and she had left her father, home and country to be with him. In revenge, she not only murdered Jason's bride and the bride's father by a cunning scheme, but also killed her own two children, for she knew that it would make him suffer the most, though she herself was also pained.

      By killing Jason's bride and two children, Medea made him suffer for what he had done to her, he would feel the pain of losing everything and the only thing that he cared for -- for her the love of her husband and the honor and integrity their marital union, for him the advancement and security of his political status; Not only that, he would have no children to build his fame and continue his line, nor any chance of begetting others since his bride was dead. He, "the basest of men", would live to suffer, and yet cease to exist.

      There is a precedent in Greek mythology. Procne, princess of Athens, killed her son and fed him to her husband King Tereus of Thrace, after the latter had raped her sister Philomela and cut out her tongue to silence her. The motive for the filicide was similar, i.e., to make the offender suffer and perish at the same time.

      If the aim of tragedy is to arouse fear and pity, as Aristotle wrote in "Poetics", this Greek tragedy by Euripides has certainly achieved its aim: it arouses fear in men and pity in women.

      Quote:

      Jason: "Yea, men should have begotten children from some other source, no female race existing; thus would no evil ever have fallen on mankind."

    • 5/5
      Grækenland i oldtidenJason har svigtet sin hustru Medea og hun tager en grusom hævn ved først at dræbe hans nye brud og denne far og derefter dræbe sine og Jasons børn.

    Book preview

    Medea - Euripides

    MEDEA

    DRAMATIS PERSONAE

    NURSE OF MEDEA

    ATTENDANT ON HER CHILDREN

    MEDEA

    CHORUS OF CORINTHIAN WOMEN

    CREON, King of Corinth

    JASON

    AEGEUS, King of Athens

    MESSENGER

    MEDEA

    SCENE

    Before MEDEA›s house in Corinth, near the palace Of CREON. The NURSE enters from the house.

    NURSE

    Ah! Would to Heaven the good ship Argo ne’er had sped its course to the Colchian land through the misty blue Symplegades, nor ever in the glens of Pelion the pine been felled to furnish with oars the chieftain’s hands, who went to fetch the golden fleece for Pelias; for then would my own mistress Medea never have sailed to the turrets of Iolcos, her soul with love for Jason smitten, nor would she have beguiled the daughters of Pelias to slay their father and come to live here in the land of Corinth with her husband and children, where her exile found favour with the citizens to whose land she had come, and in all things of her own accord was she at one with Jason, the greatest safeguard this when wife and husband do agree; but now their love is all turned to hate, and tenderest ties are weak. For Jason hath betrayed his own children and my mistress dear for the love of a royal bride, for he hath wedded the daughter of Creon, lord of this land. While Medea, his hapless wife, thus scorned, appeals to the oaths he swore, recalls the strong pledge his right hand gave, and bids heaven be witness what requital she is finding from Jason. And here shelies fasting, yielding her body to her grief, wasting away in tears ever since she learnt that she was wronged by her husband, never lifting her eye nor raising her face from off the ground; and she lends as deaf an ear to her friend’s warning as if she were a rock or ocean billow, save when she turns her snow-white neck aside and softly to herself bemoans her father dear, her country and her home, which she gave up to come hither with the man who now holds her in dishonour. She, poor lady, hath by sad experience learnt how good a thing it is never to quit one’s native land. And she hates her children now and feels no joy at seeing them; I fearshe may contrive some untoward scheme; for her mood is dangerous nor will she brook her cruel treatment; full well I know her, and I much do dread that she will plunge the keen sword through their hearts, stealing without a word into the chamber where their marriage couch is spread, or else that she will slay the prince and bridegroom too, and so find some calamity still more grievous than the present; for dreadful is her wrath; verily the man that doth incur her hate will have no easy task to raise o’er hera song of triumph. Lo! where her sons come hither from their childish sports; little they reck of their mother’s woes, for the soul of the young is no friend to sorrow.

    The ATTENDANT leads in MEDEA’S children.

    ATTENDANT

    Why dost thou, so long my lady’s own handmaid, stand here at the gate alone, loudly lamenting to thyself the piteous tale? how comes it that Medea will have thee leave her to herself?

    NURSE

    Old man, attendant on the sons of Jason, our masters’ fortunes when they go awry make good slaves grieve and touch their hearts. Oh! have come to such a pitch of grief that there stole a yearning wish upon me to come forth hither and proclaim to heaven and earth my mistress’s hard fate.

    ATTENDANT

    What! has not the poor lady ceased yet from her lamentation?

    NURSE

    Would I were as thou art! the mischief is but now beginning; it has not reached its climax yet.

    ATTENDANT

    O foolish one, if I may call my mistress such a name; how little she recks of evils yet more recent!

    NURSE

    What mean’st, old man? grudge not to tell me.

    ATTENDANT

    ‘Tis

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