Medea is a play that highlights the immorality and savagery that lies just below humanity’s civilized veneer. Discuss. Introduction: Euripides’s “Medea, a Greek tragedy based on the myth of Jason and Medea demonstrates the wickedness and cruelty that lies just below humanity’s civilized veneer. When Medea adores her husband, Jason abandons her for another woman she retaliates with tremendous force. After she demonstrates great loyalty and devotion towards Jason, he selfishly dismissed her in pursuit of social prestige.
That is, what must be taken into consideration is that literature in ancient Greece was an indulgence of the aristocratic male and thus a history of the role of women in Ancient Greece depicted in Hellenistic literature is largely subjective. The overwhelmingly chauvinistic tone of The Eumenides reveals that the women of Ancient Greece were victims of the dominant patriarchal perception imbedded in classical Greek tragedy. Apollo’s claim that the mother “is just a nurse to the seed” (Aeschylus 260) completely demeans the position of women in ancient Greek society. This colossal suppression of women is a rather common element of Hellenistic literature as is illustrated in the Classical Greek tragedy Hyppolytus by Euripides where the protagonist Hyppolytus rhetorical question “Oh Zeus, whatever possessed you to put an ambiguous misfortune among men by bringing women to the light of day?” (Euripides 616). In this tragedy Euripides also explores the misogynistic ideal of not needing women to conceive sons, suggesting that women in Ancient Greece were regarded as inferior and insignificant.
She shows how women can only be categorised as either an angel or a whore. It shows the way that women can only be judged at the time. She also frequently alludes to the “bad” women in literature to show how women could only be categorised in those binary opposites like Lady Macbeth or Eve. She uses rhetorical devices to explain how bad women are needed to disrupt the static order which is Patriarchy. Atwood also shows her opposition to the extreme feminism that existed in her time where feminism was influencing the creation of literature at the time.
Medea, an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides has Medea, a female character as the tragic hero. Many people consider her a wicked villain but they overlook her positive individualities. Medea has three vital characteristics described in Aristotle’s Peotics that makes up a tragic hero. Thus, Medea is a tragic hero with heroic code, superhuman skills and most important of all a tragic misfortune. Every hero requires having certain code of conduct which distinguishes him among ordinary people.
Euripides has been accused of being a misogynist as well as the world's first feminist. In your view, do the portrayals of Medea and Jason allow such contradictory interpretations? Euripides' Greek tragic play, 'Medea', depicts a wife's desire to right the wrongs done to her by her husband and in the pursuit of satisfaction, she commits the heinous of crimes, infanticide. The play is set in a patriarchal society, where women are treated as mere tools to satisfy their male partners. Euripides' portrays Medea as both a weak and strong woman, being able to stand up to some of the male characters and simultaneously succumb to their presence.
Agrippina the Younger was the third wife of Claudius and the mother of Nero. Ancient writers have perceived her as a manipulative woman, controlling her husband and doing anything to place her son Nero upon the Imperial throne. Agrippina has gone down as one of the most powerful and most ruthless women in history. However modern historians have reviewed the images of Agrippina, free from the sexual bias of the Ancient writers. The histrorian James Romm portrayed Agrippina as a woman who was simply trying to escape the restrictions imposed on her by society.
Despite being written during patriarchal Jacobean society, the protagonist is a female, which is was highly unusual in those days. Of course this protagonist is Lady Macbeth. Throughout the play, through Lady Macbeth's actions we are forced to believe that she is evil. In contrast, the novel John Steinbeck tells a story of dreams, hopes and loneliness. We are introduced to a majorly significant and complex character, named Curley’s wife.
“Love and Death in Ancient Greece” In the case study, “Love and Death in Ancient Greece” by Kenneth Cavander, a man and woman are caught in a deathly love triangle. The article examines and explores women’s roles in ancient Greece and their social status. Cavander begins with women’s inequality and their inability to contribute and belong to Athenian society. Women were unable to vote, be involved in any type of business or money transactions.1 They were simply a carrier for children and property to their husbands. Cavander goes on to say “almost the only thing she could call her own was her reputation.”2 Women in ancient Greece were expected to behave properly, be unassertive and not interrupt any business conducted between men.
The second theme is that of a wicked temptress, a shrewd and cunning stateswoman who uses her womanly assets to manipulate and enchant her opponents. Cleopatra was despised by Roman writers because she was the complete opposite and an affront to the Roman way of life. Plutarch’s account of Anthony’s bewitchment by Cleopatra, where he illustrates Cleopatra manipulating Anthony by ignoring his letters, she arrived when and how she wanted to. I believe that this was the beginning of the end
Millay uses the word “distressed” as a connection to the concept that all women are helpless; hence the familiar expression “Damsel in distress” originated in the Arthurian Legends and the idea of chivalry. In this way Millay expresses her detest of the common association between women and inferiority in a clever and innovative fashion. “By all the needs and notion of my kind” (line 2), Millay again mocks the general assumptions made