Euripides’ tragic play Medea depicts part of the tale of Medea, one of the most infamous
literary characters of all time. The play begins with Medea lamenting to a
chorus of women and townspeople regarding the infidelity of her husband, Jason,
who has married Glauce, the daughter of Creon who is the king of Corinth. Jason
claims to have married the princess in order to give the children a better
social status, as having royal siblings and a royal father would improve their
lives while having a “barbarian” for a mother would hinder them. Medea and her
children are then banished from the land, as Creon is fearful of Medea’s wrath
and “cleverness”. Medea begs to stay for
another day in order to make provisions for her and her children. She then
meets with Aegeus, king of Athens. Aegeus sympathizes with Medea and offers her
asylum in Athens under the condition that she helps him and his wife have
children. Medea then plots to murder Jason’s new wife with poisoned wedding
presents delivered by her children. The presents would, in theory, help earn
the children a place in the kingdom, persuading Glauce to take pity on them and
allow them to stay. They would also kill the children. However, the golden
gifts do not kill the children, and Medea slaughters them when they return. The
gifts do kill the princess, and in Creon’s grief over his daughter’s death, he
is killed as well. Jason goes to Medea and pleads with her to hold his murdered
children, but she denies him this and flies away on a “chariot drawn by
dragons” (Euripides 43).
The obvious themes of Medea involve jealousy, scheming and revenge – all of which relate
most directly to Medea. Throughout the play Medea reveals her plans for revenge
to the chorus, who understand Medea’s feelings but disagree with her actions. The
more ambiguous theme of power is indicative of Jason and his actions throughout
the play and throughout his past. These themes and the characters to which they
relate express almost blatant stereotypes that have survived through the
centuries. Women are seen as frail, fallible, jealous, and spiteful, while men
are viewed as strong, determined, and earnest.
Throughout the play, Medea repeats
the phrase “I have suffered” (Euripides 4,5,6, 10), which emphasizes the type
of self-pity with which women are often characterized. This coincides with the
stereotype of women being egotistic, self-concerned, and fragile. She also
reacts to the revelation of her husband’s infidelity in an outrageous manner,
poisoning her husband’s new bride and the king before murdering her own
children. Again, women are generally “known” for their overreactions, and Medea
has obviously mastered the art of overreaction.
The theme of power and control
relates not only to Jason, but also to Medea. This could be considered
surprising, given the fact that determination and strong willpower are not
necessarily “typical” traits for women. Although it was, in fact, Medea’s
actions that helped Jason achieve his goals and earn his “status”. His
legendary travels with the Argonauts depict him conquering enemies to avenge
his father, though his success would not have been possible without Medea’s
magic and ingenuity. This just affirms the irony of Jason telling his children,
“Your father has taken care. He has made…ample provision for you” (Euripides
29). If it had not been for Medea, Jason never would have been in a position to
take care of his children, nor would they have existed, yet he still treats
Medea in a disposable manner. His flippant behavior towards his wife highlights
the stereotype of men being inconsiderate, insensitive, and unsympathetic.
Despite, Medea’s apparent adhering
to feminine stereotypes in that she is self-concerned and deceptively weak, it
may be said that she is actually manipulating these stereotypes in order to obtain
what she desires, which is revenge. She is a well-known exploiter of sympathy,
which is why Creon was so incredibly wary of her presence in Corinth. This
conniving behavior corresponds to the publication of Hustler, a pornographic magazine that depicts “grotesque” bodies
instead of airbrushed, “socially acceptable” bodies.
Laura Kipnis assesses the magazine
in her article “(Male) Desire and (Female) Disgust: Reading Hustler”. Kipnis examines the way in which Hustler challenges the norms by
publishing wildly inappropriate versions of what is already considered
inappropriate. She states that Hustler
is an “unromanticized body”, which defies all that is standard within the porn industry
and even goes so far as to “disturb and unsettle its readers” (Kipnis
375). Hustler is an extremely “real” and unashamed version of what is
considered conventional, much as Medea is exceedingly brazen in all she does.
In ancient Greece, where the play
takes place, Medea is considered a barbarian (even before she murders her
children). She is from Colchis, and because of that she is a foreigner in
Corinth, where she resides with her husband and children. In this society, foreigners
are shunned, and in spite of Medea’s best efforts to appear “normal”, she is
not accepted within the community. Even the king admits he fears her and her
supposed barbarism, and it is ultimately because of this that she becomes so
unhinged. Her façade has not worked, and she is unable to keep her husband, so
she goes to the extreme and murders everyone who has caused her grief. She does
this, though, after manipulating
everyone into believing she is the victim.
Much like Hustler, Medea plays into everyone’s expectations in such a way
that it is considered obscene. Medea acts how she is expected to act (barbaric
yet clever), and Hustler provides the
public with what it wants from a pornographic magazine: sex. The sex depicted
in the magazine, though, is not “normal” in comparison to other pornographic
magazines like Playboy and Penthouse, who were accused of
“hypocrisy” and “veiling the body” (Kipnis 375). It is vulgar and “disturbing”. Both Medea and
Hustler magazine challenge norms by
simply adhering to them, a tactic which is so radical and absurd it is actually
effective.
***
Frederick Sandys’ depiction of Medea
shows her as apparently offended, insulted, or hurt in some manner, presumably
by the actions of her husband, Jason. He betrays her and marries another woman
and Medea exclaims her grief over this throughout the play. While she does
appear to be in distress, she also seems to be preparing the poisoned gifts
that will be used to kill Glauce and Creon. This illustrates (quite literally)
her duplicitous nature and the how she manages to succeed in achieving her
revenge.
***
Works Cited
Kipnis,
Laura. “(Male) Desire and (Female) Disgust: Reading Hustler.” Houston Cole Library Reserves. EH219.
Sandys,
Frederick. Medea. 1866. Birmingham
Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham, England. Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.
Euripides.
Medea. New York: Dover Publications,
Inc. 1993. Print.
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