Medea Reflective Statement

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How was your understanding of the cultural and contextual consideration of the work developed through the interactive oral? The interactive oral on Medea helped me broaden my perspective of the cultural context in 431 BC. The exchange of information provided fresh new ideas and a wealth of topics to reflect upon, through which I deepened my understanding of the play as I could empathise with the audience and try to mirror their reactions to give me feeling of how the audience would have reacted with Euripides’ strongly feminist views. Misogynies weren’t uncommon at that time, it was quite socially acceptable to give away or abandon your baby if it was female. This blatant sexism at the start of a woman’s life leads to nothing but a life under a man’s thumb, from her father to later on, her husband. Being from a culture where traditionally there are subtle influences of male dominance, I immediately found this issue to be quite relatable. The way Euripides handles gender inequality in 431 BC, with sarcastic humour and cunningness is something that provided, for me, the spark in Medea, both as a play and as a character. Also, I believe that ancient Greek culture was only by that time beginning to fathom the inner workings of a woman’s mind. I feel inspired to see how open-minded Euripides was about a controversial topic that still causes problems in the 21st century. While his time period was archaic, his ideals were revolutionary as he favoured women; explaining his admiration of her hardships through Medea. It is refreshing to see him portraying a female protagonist as strong, independent and even a bit frightful. Finally, another attention-grabbing topic raised in the interactive oral was the contextual consideration of Medea as either a hero or a villain. In my perspective, she gives off characteristics of both, as she rebels against society in order to prove
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