10/28/2013

Corinthian women, Ive come out to play,

I beg you to pause, and to hear me today.
I fear that you blame me, for what, you wont say,
But listen to me, and your pinions might sway.
The men of this town are as fickle as reeds,
With pinions and judgments that change with the breeze,
On one day, a man is revered among men,
The next, he seems proud; they discard him again.
From this one might gather, the smart man is meek,
And bows his head down, never daring to speak.
Yet this man is idle, and wasting our time,
And soon, cast down by all of Corinths male prime.
It seems in this land, that you never can win,
For men lack thability to see justice in,
In anyone new, or of foreign relation,
Until theyre well know, foul is their reputation.
A foreigner must be especially fast,
At adopting the customs of Corinthians past,
A stranger to Corinth, I admit, that was me,
But I altered my ways, and from Colchis, Im free.

A stranger must always be flexible and kind,

Not stubborn, and willful, but peaceful oth mind.
A thorn from the foot is most gladly pulled out,
As is a mad stranger from Corinth, thrown out.
I fear that you blame me for that which I grieve,
But I wont be the thorn, from Corinth I cant leave.
Ive no where to turn, and my tears have run dry,
Rather than leave, I would happily die.

I thought it would be fun to explore placing a rhyme scheme within

Medea. Characters from classic text often fall into a self-aware state of
rhyming, such as Helena from A Midsummer Nights Dream, as it displays a
level of confusion and desperation within the thought that is made a bit more
tolerable by the singsong nature of the rhythm. I believe this speech, in
particular, is a moment of desperation and confusion, hidden beneath
enormous amounts of clever rhetoric. It is a huge turning point in the play,
as it gives Medea the support and the drive to put her plans to action.
Medea knows she cannot proceed with her revenge plot if she has no solid
backing within Corinth. She therefore, spends a staggering 50 lines
persuading the women of Corinth to understand her grief, and to side with
her against Jason.

The speech itself is nearly two full pages of text, which implies that
Medeas argument does not have an immediate affect on the women. There
is a struggle to persuade, hidden beneath the layers of a woman so deeply
scorned that she refuses to sing or appear publicly distraught. I thought it
would interesting to incorporate the rhyming couplets as a way to
complement Medeas cleverness, as well as her desperation for revenge and
for support. The rhymes I have written are somewhat quick paced, and
loaded with words, suggesting an erratic need to fit all of her thoughts into
one speech, let alone one line.
Within the scheme of the entire play, every character would speak
in classical verse, while Medea would continue to speak within the rhyme
scheme until her revenge plot has been completed. This would perhaps
subtlety highlight the difference in culture, and point of view between Medea
and the Corinthian citizens, and draw more attention to Medeas barbarian
roots.
Ideally, the play would be performed in a black box, with neutral
costumes, and a barebones set. The text would be mostly a classical
translation intertwined with some of Medeas rhythmic sections. I chose to
make this slight alteration because I am fascinated by the power of the
spoken word, and I would love to see how these two different forms of
speech coincide.