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English
223
Greek and Roman Literature
Wendy Furman-Adams
Some Notes on Euripides'
Medea |
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I. Aristotle's Poetics and
Medea
as Tragedy
World of difference between Sophocles and
Euripides:
Sophocles wrote Antigone in 441, Oedipus Tyrannus about 415 - 405.
Euripides slightly younger; both died in about
405 B.C.E.
Euripides a very controversial figure: savagely
lampooned by Aristophanes--especially in The
Frogs but also in The Birds as the classic
"tragedian." (See the Iris episode in Scene 2.)
Aristotle wrote that Euripides is "the most
tragic of our poets" (Dorsch, p. 49 / 73).
Two questions as a way into Medea:
(1) Why does Aristotle says this; i.e. what does
he mean by "most tragic"?
(2) What is the role of the chorus (and the
demos in general) in the play?
In Sophocles, the main emphasis (as Aristotle
says it should be) is on plot -- and ultimately on
theme: Fate's way with human beings, guilt and
regeneration, an essentially religious outlook
(as in Aeschylus as well.)
In Euripides, a new emphasis on
character--especially marginalized characters,
those not embodying so much as dwelling on the
borders of the polis. Often the protagonist is a
woman.
The world view of his plays perhaps best
embodied in the final lines of the play (108).
Questions: how is this different than the end of
Oedipus and Antigone. Where does Medea end up?
What have Jason and the chorus "learned"? How is
justice served and order restored at the end?
If you think of the purpose behind the Dionysian
Festival--to show that great passion leads to
disaster and to purge emotion, reordering the
psyche so as to order the polis -- how do
Sophocles and Euripides approach that task? (Lattimore:
"Euripides believed in a world he disliked.")
See Aristotle (pp. 38 -39 /64)--definition of
tragedy and role of the plot.
Medea --p. 59: Nurse's view that character is the
source of tragedy.
See Aristotle (pp. 70/ 93) on tragedy showing
men as they ought to be.
Medea --p. 62, ll. 80 - 85.
Role of the chorus:
See Aristotle, p. 57 / 82.
Medea's Parode (p. 64, ll. 150 - 60) -- platitudes
in an ugly world.
Top p. 65 -- skepticism.
65 - 66 --the nurse's speech on music (compare to
Homer and Pindar).
Chorus essentially as overwhelmed as Medea--see
their sea image on 66 and ff.
Protagonists: Aristotle, pp. 51 - 52 / 76 - 77; Medea
and Jason, pp. 73 - 79.
What kind of a guy is Jason? (pp. 74, 76, 77,
78 -- punch line, 79)
pure calculation.
What kind of a woman is Medea? (pp. 74 - 75)
passion without calculation of cost.
Chorus--bottom p. 75, tragically neutral.
Scene of Medea and Aegeus (king of
Athens!)--choral ode framing it, pp. 79 - 80;
87 - 88.
Finally, look at the chorus on p. 102!
Role of chorus and question of Euripides' tragic
vision ultimately one: only the demos face
actual moral decisions, do moral reasoning -- yet
they are completely paralyzed when it comes to
affecting the plot, and feel that powerlessness
as a general stance toward the world.
II. Medea as a feminist (and therefore
intrinsically de-stabilizing) work.
Central question: How can we say Medea is a
"feminist play"?
Definitions of Feminist Literature:
1. Celebration of the Feminine -- i.e. producing
literature that valorizes female characters,
representing them as wholly (or at least
remarkably) laudable.
2. Social Critique -- i.e. producing literature
that serves as a critique of the power structure
that disempowers women, leaving them without
opportunities to make positive and meaningful
choices.
Excellent examples from Medea:
Choral Ode, p. 73.
Medea's speech, p. 67. (Notice the Chorus's
response on p. 68.)
The "reconciliation" of Medea and Jason (pp.
88 - 91).
Remember that the Greek ideal (the theme of this
course and pair) is balance, wholeness,
reconciliation (seen at the end of The Odyssey,
at the end of Oedipus, and to some extent at the
end of Antigone -- although tragically too late.)
In Medea, this is the only place we find it--and
under what terms for Medea?
What kind of society do we have, when the only
peaceful solution possible is this kind of
self-suppression, abjection, self-erasure by one
of the parties? How just would this be as an
ending? And how would the little boys in this
scene grow up to treat their wives?
See pp. 85 - top of 87; p. 88, l. 870 ff; pp.
89 - 90.
How acceptable are the terms here? Medea says
"No Compromise is possible." What compromise is
possible here?
What are Medea's options? See bottom of page 91
(especially stage directions!) and the chorus,
pp. 92 - 93.
3. Mere Sympathy for Women -- i.e. producing
literature that presents to us full, complex
characters who happen to be women, or that
dramatizes the particular conflicts attendant
upon that role.
See the end of Act IV, from bottom p. 93 to top
p. 94 -- The tutor's message and Medea's response.
Note the dramatic irony here. How is it
different from the kind Sophocles uses?
*See Medea's speech to her children, pp. 94 - 96.
Act V--the catastrophe, pp. 96 - 100.
1. Ode on Children, pp. 96 - 97. Note the shared
grief here.
2. The account of the Princess's death, pp.
98 - 100 -- and a whole new definition of "tragedy."
(Without Euripides, no Seneca, no Elizabethan
revenge tragedy--no Macbeth with a head in his
hands--and no Iris scene in The Birds.)
3. The messenger's final comment (in contrast to
the messenger in Oedipus)--ll. 1220 - 1230.
Medea's "heroism"--p. 101: "pain that will mean
something" (p. 71)--regardless of cost to
herself.
Meaning has become, for her, as totally
subjective as her pain. (A tyrannical soul?)
See Jason's view of her act (bottom p. 104)--
and her answer (pp. 105 - 107)--especially l.
1368, top p. 106.
Ending (p. 108): Jason crying out to gods who
seem to have said all they are going to say.
III. Final Questions
What or who is monstrous here?
What is tragic?
Who experiences reversal? Who experiences
recognition?
How is this play "more tragic" that Sophocles'
plays?
Something new here (c.f. the end of Arnold's
"Dover Beach")--the eternal note of sadness
becomes a sea of despair: "Is this the promis'd
end--or image of that horror?" (Lear).
With Euripides we see something new in Greek art
and literature: a sense of apocalypse--which
from now on (into the Christian era) will become
a major strain in Western thinking.
And the flip side (pun intended!) of
apocalypse--Aristophanic comedy.
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