Context

Question 1

Euripides

Answer 1

when Medea performed, one of his earliest plays

Question 2

When was Medea first performed?

Answer 2

first year of Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta

Athens = head of large maritime empire which spread across Aegean Sea

Question 3

How long ago were the Persian invasions?

Answer 3

50 years - still a fascination to see barbarian on stage

Question 4

Athenian democracy

Answer 4

Athenians proud of their democratic government and therefore kings in the play (Creon and Aegeus) are anxious to appear sympathetic but are also weak and put their states in worse position

Athenians also aware that democracy vulnerable to demagogue (skilled orator who could whip people up into a frenzy)

Question 5

Jason

Answer 5

represented as clever speaker but we hear his thought process before to show indication it is not easy for him to talk in clever way

Question 6

Why is Medea scary to Athenians?

Answer 6

comfortable with deception and is able to convince those around her

allied with evil intent - appear more dangerous to Athenian audience

-> Creon says he trusts a cold, clever person much less than a passionate one

Medea expresses regret at being clever as this means people trust her less

Question 7

Women in Athens

Answer 7

did not have vote and could not be elected

unable to divorce their husband

Question 8

Medea comment on gender

Answer 8

comments on inequality between sexes

famous comparison between fighting on front line of battle and bearing children still resonate

Question 9

Audience

Answer 9

debate over whether Athenian women attended theatre but non-Athenian woman may have been there (predominantly men)

audience would not have been surprised to see powerful female on stage (many had preceded Medea in plays of two other great Athenian playwrights - Aeschylus and Sophocles)

audience would have been less surprised to see powerful female figure causing disaster and distress by her actions

Question 10

Medea as a barbarian

Answer 10

Jason stresses to Medea that he did her service by bringing her to Greece from ‘primitive’ country

Jason blamed for bringing barbarian wife to Greece

Question 11

How is Greece presented?

Answer 11

Jason presents it as land of justice and rule of law

Question 12

Medea reputation

Answer 12

Medea known in Greece (Jason = hero who gained new status from marriage and sees renown as a good thing)

Medea’s reputation = not entirely positive (Aegeus values her intelligence but Creon mistrusts her)

Question 13

Glory of Greece

Answer 13

by end of play, Jason’s promises about glory of Greece = have become hollow

Jason and two Greek kings have been deceived by her and her advanced knowledge of poison has given her a poison none of the Greeks in the play expected

Question 14

Medea at end of play

Answer 14

escapes untouched by Greek justice, despite murdering her two children and causing more deaths

Question 15

Medea’s name

Answer 15

Medea’s name suggests Mede (name for Persians) so we are reminded she is foreign

Question 16

Medea is an exile

Answer 16

frequent references to sea and sea-faring by Chorus stress distance between Greece and Medea’s homeland

Medea found hard to conform as a foreigner and as a woman - uses her loneliness as exile and as a woman to win over Chorus

Question 17

foreigner in Greece

Answer 17

Medea refers to her status as foreigner to Jason later in play

-> claims he has married a new wife because it did not look right for him to marry foreigner (Jason disagrees and there is no indication elsewhere in play to indicate their marriage was thought of as wrong)

Creon fears Medea’s intelligence more than her foreign birth to which he makes no reference

magic not described as foreign or explained as coming from barbarian lands

Question 18

Medea as a woman

Answer 18

Jason puts Medea’s emotional and ‘irrational’ behaviour down to the fact that she is a woman

shows frustration later on to new wife when she is upset at sons entering palace

Jason later says no Greek woman would have murdered their children (foreign)

Question 19

Myth of the play

Answer 19

well-known in Athens but in myth, Corinthians kill Medea’s children in revenge for her murdering Glauce

In Euripides’ play, Medea’s plan to kill her children seems clear and obvious from start and any audience finds it difficult to overlook this

Question 20

Medea and her children

Answer 20

Nurse and Medea both mention her hatred for her children and she is excessive in her anger

within Nurse’s speech, she switches from immoderate love to immoderate grief (nurse, tutor and chorus all express surprise at length of her grief ) to immoderate hate (for Jason and children)

Question 21

Medea as a tragic hero

Answer 21

her passion is driving her to act regardless of the advice of other characters in play

but Medea is a unique character who threatens the conventions of tragedy itself`

Question 22

How does Medea threaten the conventions of tradegy?

Answer 22

• intrudes on Nurse’s speech at start play
• chorus consider entering house to stop her from murdering the children

-in exodos she appears in a chariot above the stage - she bares her soul to the audience who are unable as other characters in play to affect her thoughts and actions

Question 23

Medea and societial conventions

Answer 23

she challenges many conventions important to society

after she has explained her plan to kill Creon, Jason and princess, chorus talk about upheaval of society and liberation of women.

openly expressed attitude to sex, betrayed father. murdered brother, persuaded girls to kill their father, murdered own children and cheated both divine and mortal justice

sees child-bearing as bargain rather than duty and expresses joy at seeing them marry and old in exchange for giving birth to them

Question 24

End of the Medea

Answer 24

unsettling

• mechane more frequently used for the arrival of a god to bring resolution but Medea appears in chariot of Helios above stage

play set up for Medea to head off to Athens but Sun clearly colludes in dramatic and unjust escape of a murderess

Question 25

Medea as other

Answer 25

audience = mainly Athenian men

Medea = intelligent, young foreign woman

Question 26

battle vs giving birth

Answer 26

comparison she makes between fighting in battle and giving birth = striking

-> for her standing in front line is three times more preferable (men of audience would disagree)

Question 27

Nurse

Answer 27

expresses attitudes of typical Greek woman (should not cross her husband)

Question 28

Greek marriage customs

Answer 28

Medea’s status as forigner allows Euripides to give her more objective view on their customs

she complains that a woman is powerless - her husband is bought for her and she cannot leave him
-> women then expected tp go through difficult and dangerous process of having children

Question 29

Medea’s rejection of these customs

Answer 29

chosen and bought own husband

developed strong sexual attachment to him (references to her bed and their sexual relationship throughout the play)

Medea feels she is speaking for all women (Greek and Barbarian) when she complains about Jason’s lack of understanding

Question 30

Medea’s anger

Answer 30

heroic and male - typical for epic heroes - compared to wild bull in Prologue

her response to this anger is not male, physical and prediction
-> Medea herself says she cannot act in this way as a woman and must instead use skills she has (seduction, manipulation and deceit)

deceit - empahsises vulnerability in front of Creon and Jason in second scene

Question 31

Medea empathy

Answer 31

understanding and display of empathy when faced with Aegeus’ potential embarressment

Question 32

women = convincing

Answer 32

Medea convincing

princess better able to convince Creon as a woman

Question 33

Medea as feminine

Answer 33

murder of princess with poison is feminine (but sword to kill children = masculine)

Question 34

Why is Medea dangerous?

Answer 34

she is unpredictable because she is a barbarian woman

she is a mystery - feared