In Enoch’s Black Medea we encounter the blending of Ancient Greek and Indigenous

storytelling in order to establish a commentary on contemporary Aboriginal experience.

To what extent does this statement reflect your understanding of the relationship between both
texts?

Wesley Enoch effectively weaves Ancient Greek storytelling with Indigenous oral tradition to
concretise the schism between tradition and modernity within his 2006 revenge tragedy, Black
Medea, to establish a commentary on the contemporary Aboriginal experience. Enoch’s play is
thoroughly appropriated from Euripides Greek revenge tragedy, Medea, (431 BC.) Enoch
contextualises his play to criticise post-colonial Australia and to substantiate Indigenous perspectives
in striving to express the conflict between traditional and urban culture. Similar to Euripides, Enoch
challenges societal expectations of his time by exploring the lasting impacts of colonisation and
intergenerational trauma through loss of identity as well as consolidating the vicious cycle of
domestic violence and the familial roles within a contemporary context.

In both Euripides’ Medea and Enoch’s appropriation, the loss of one’s identity is explored through
Medea’s inner conflict between her cultural roots and her desire to advance within each society .
Whilst Medea is mainly focused on the Ancient Greek yearning to attain an influential place within
the hierarchical society, Enoch has depicted modern concepts surrounding conformity and the
consequences which present themselves when one goes against the expectations of society. Medea,
who is of asian, descent flees from her home in Corinth and commits heinous crimes against her
family in the pursuit of a doomed love and to effectuate a respected position within society. However,
Medea is subject to racial discrimination within Ancient Greek society and expresses her loss of
cultural heritage “A foreigner must take special care to conform to the state.” She renders feelings of
objectification, comparing herself to a “foreign trophy” and conveys her loss of a “civilised” home
upon learning of her husband’s transgressions. “I am alone and stateless, dishonoured by my
husband, plundered from a barbarian land.” This notion is modelled within Black Medea, as she
violates the convoluted codes of kinship of her people by abandoning her heritage in order to escape
the confinements of her homeland and to secure herself and her husband “the riches the white world
promised.” Enoch heavily adverts to the ongoing repercussions of colonisation and the transmission
of intergenerational trauma. Through Medea selling her knowledge of the land to a mining company
in the furtherance of wealth and marital wellbeing, she succumbs and conforms to the depravity
portrayed by the “strangers who clutch to the coast”. She disregards the very land she belongs to,
thus eradicating her connection to culture, denying the spirit of her ancestors and the Land to manifest
within her and weakening her identity as an indigenous Australian. “Where do I belong? I gave up
belonging somewhere.” Her dismay at lacking a sense of belonging is communicated within the
statement, highlighted through hypophora. “The blood money bonuses and mining royalties'' are an
embodiment of the capitalist and materialistic values which are deemed to be of importance within
modern, post-colonial Australia, contradicting the beliefs of traditional inhabitants of the land. The
“bulldozer” connatates destruction and metaphorically exemplifies the deterioration of indigenous
spirituality and culture as a direct result of the dispossession of their land and the neglect exhibited by
those who despoiled it. Black Medea forsters the wider injustices of colonisation, exacerbated by the
conflicting values of traditional and urban indigenous cultures and the struggle of the both to coexist,
which therefore trap Medea, Jason and their son in a position of immense incompatibility. It provides
a poignant glimpse into the contemporary Aboriginal experience and an insight into the collective
histories of those suffering from intergenerational trauma, stemming from disconnection of identity
and the Stolen Generations. Both Euripides and Enoch have incorporated the abandonment of family
bonds into their plays in order to showcase the grapple between Medea’s patrimony and her
adaptation to new socio-cultural settings, in which she will never wholly belong to due to her heritage
and the polarity between tradition and modernity which further deprives her of her complete identity.

Similarly to Euripides’ Medea, Wesley Enoch’s Black Medea integrates the familial roles within the
indigenous societal context to build upon the consequences which result from not fulfilling one’s
responsibilities. Within Medea, Jason’s transgressions are foundation for Medea’s utter rage and
desire for vengeance. Medea, unable to condole with Jason, completely detatches herself from
maternity as she “hates her sons” and evokes her “murderous spirit” to exploit her children in an
elaborate ruse to inflict unbearable pain onto her former husband, by which she commits infanticide.
Unlike in the original, Jason's unfaithfulness to his Indigenous heritage is the underlying factor
contributing to Medea’s vengeance, evident within his disregard of the “wind”. The wind
inadvertently is Medea herself and is fate attempting to speak to Jason through ancestral spirits, which
he refuses to listen to. The Chorus in the Ancient Greek tragedy is a juxtaposing presence within the
play and dissimilar to Medea, speaks for the voice of reason. Enoch’s appropriation is a contemporary
21st Century way of Indigenious storytelling and incorporates interactive elements in order to engage
the audience. The Chorus demonstrates Indigenous Australian vernacular and colloquialism, “G’day,
you fellas'' and profanity. He also directly links the play to Indigenous storytelling through the
Acknowledgment of Country conducted by the Chorus. Enoch engages contemporary audiences
through direct address, and universifyes the play by making it “one person’s story but somehow
about everyone”. The audience is encouraged to judge the situation presented to them, “you’re the
witness, judge and jury.” The Chorus plays a vital role in substantiating Aboriginal perspectives in
order to entertain, pass on knowledge of culture and to maintain and instill communital values. The
Blackout Poems, accompanied by multimedia components such as sound, visual effects, lighting,
stage direction and the use of casting which are all sparse in the original Medea, help to create a
modern commentary of Indigenous experience. The Blackout Poems expose the audience to
fragments of images, which are fundamental in instilling the dynamics of the family into the audience
without confronting them with over-violent scenes; One witnesses Jason descending into a cycle of
alcoholism and violence, unable to financially or emotionally support his family, and thus following
in the footsteps of his father and failing to fulfill his paternal role. “The father becomes the son,
becomes the father becomes the son.” is an allegory emphasising the vicious cycle of domestic
violence which was passed down from Jason’s father, to Jason and would have continued on to
Jason’s son, had Medea not broken the cycle. Medea, overcome by maternal instinct to protect her son
from becoming trapped in a cycle of violence and finally comprehending the gravity of inevitability,
murders her own child. This reprehensible act is not committed out of pure anger but calls attention to
the disregarded domestic violence prevalent within communities and the cycles of violence which
follow suit. “ I have known the riches of the whiteman’s world but you have shown me poverty of the
spirit” is an analogical statement made by Medea to elucidate her marital relationship to Jason and
clearly reflects the state of her wellbeing as a woman imprisoned within an abusive relationship.
Euripides and Enoch both include the havoc which can be wreaked upon one’s family when the
parental capacity for responsibility and guidance is defective.

In conclusion, Wesley Enoch draws upon the ideas and issues explored within Ancient Greek
storytelling to provide a commentary on the Aboriginal experience to a contemporary audience.
Enoch delves into problems prevalent within Indigenous communities in the late 20th Century, all
resulting from the disruption of Indigenious culture through colonisation. Enoch successfully
appropriates the Ancient Greek play, Medea written by Euripides into his own, communicating the
clash of tradition and modernity within the contemporary Indigenious society and the importance of
fulfilling one’s role within the family unit.