...and his men, and Poseidon’s revenge on Odysseus. These different examples of revenge in The Odyssey show the importance of the gods’ revenge in the epic journey of Odysseus. Orestes’ revenge is the first important example of the gods’ revenge in the poem. In Book 1, Hermes told Aegisthus, “’Don’t murder the man,’ he said, ‘don’t court his wife. Beware, revenge will come from Orestes…” (Homer 260). King Nestor delivers the story of Orestes’ revenge to Odysseus’ son Telemachus, while Telemachus is visiting Nestor to discover answers about his fathers’... The Character Medea's Revenge in Euripides' Medea Medea is a tragedy of a woman who feels that her husband has betrayed her with another woman and the jealousy that consumes her. She is the protagonist who arouses sympathy and admiration because of how her desperate situation is. I thought I was going to feel sorry for Medea, but that quickly changed as soon as I saw her true colors. I understand that her emotions were all over the place. First, she was angry, then cold and conniving. The lower she sinks the more terrible revenge she wants to reap on Jason. Medea's plan was set into motion. She has nothing to loose. She is even angrier because she betrayed her own father and her people for him. She even bears the burden of having Pelias killed...
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...themes in Euripides’ ‘Medea’ develop the plot more significantly than others?’ (45 marks) In the Medea, by Euripides, there are many themes which are portrayed in a variety of ways through most of the characters in the play. These include: The role of men/women in Greek society, marriage/love, the importance of oaths, and parents/children. Plot development is when a theme helps the plot move on in the play; it could be considered that ‘the importance of oaths’ is more significant in developing the plot than the other themes. The theme of ‘the importance of oaths’ is a very significant theme in terms of plot development. This is because oaths are very important to Medea, and actually form the basis of the play. When Medea helped Jason with the trials of the Golden Fleece, and even turned against her own father, King Aeëtes, to help him; Jason vowed to always protect her and stay with her. However he broke these vows by marrying Glauce, which angered Medea the most and caused her to carry out her actions within the play. It was not the fact that Jason left her, which upset Medea the most, but more the idea that he broke these oaths. The importance of oaths to Medea is thus emphasised within the interaction with Aegeus, King of Athens, whom Medea makes vow that he will give her sanctuary in Athens after she escapes Corinth. The fact that she made him swear an oath, also emphasises Medea’s mistrust in men. Had this oath-swearing not been the case, then Medea may not have killed...
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...Foreshadowing in Medea Sometimes the audience knows how the drama will end long before the final curtain. In Medea by Euripides, Medea’s actions in pursuit of justice and revenge against Jason are foreshadowed by the statements of the chorus, Medea’s dialogue with Aegeus, and the statements and actions of Medea. Throughout the play, three women, also known as the chorus, follow the journey Medea makes and commentate on what is happening. These women provide the reader with omens that help the audience know what happens next in the play before it actually happens. These three omens are “a young mare broke from her chariot and tore with her teeth a stallion” (Medea 2: 13-4), “a slave came up to the harbor-gate, carrying a basket of new-caught fish; one of the fish took fire and burned in the wet basket with a high flame” (2: 22-4), and “a black leopard was seen gliding through the market place” (2: 24). The horse omen foreshadows Medea, the mare, coming after and attacking Jason, the stallion. The fish omen foreshadows how Creusa and Creon die, like the fish, by burning from a fire. The leopard omen foreshadows the darkness and evil that will take over Corinth. Lastly, the women say “and women they say can do no good but in childbirth. It may be so, but she can do evil” (1: 231). This foreshadows that Medea will become evil and commit evil acts. Another instance in which foreshadowing plays an important role in the play is through the dialogue of Aegeus and Medea. It is in this...
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...Euripides’ Medea A. The author, Euripides a. Considered the liveliest, funniest, and most provocative of the three great Athenian tragedians whose works survive. b. Controversial for his time because of the use of colloquial language and depictions of unheroic heroes, promiscuous women and cruel, violent gods. c. Specialized in unexpected plot twists and new approaches to his mythological material. d. Use traditional myths but shifted the attention away from the hero’s deeds towards their moral and psychological weaknesses. Seen as a cynical realist about human nature; h showed people are they are. B. The Work e. Concentration on the domestic troubles in Corinth rather than a heroic quest. Jason is presented in an unheroic light because he struggles to gather up any calculated and rhetorical arguments to justify his actions towards Medea. f. Medea is categorized as a woman in a man-dominated world, a foreigner and smart person surrounded by a bunch of fools. --- seen as a symbol of feminine revolt. g. Never portrays herself as the “victim”, even as she expresses her devastation from Jason’s actions h. Explores the examination of family life, cheating, failed sexual relationships, and how it feels to be a demoralized member of society. C. Prologue/ Parados (entrance song sung by the chorus after they enter, that accompanies the prologue) The play begins with the desire to undo the beginning. (Medea’s revenge...
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...Drama 100 Medea’s Revenge Based on the play “Medea” by Euripides, pages 45-47 Time: 431 b.c Place: Corinth, Greece (The action of the play takes place in the Greek city-state of Corinth, inside the house of Medea.) (Nurse enters from US-C) Nurse Look there (Points towards DS-R) (Enter Medea enters into room from outside. Medea enter from DS-R) My mistress is depressed. see how she talks to herself, wallowing in her misery and pain having demented thoughts of twisted fantasies. (Shakes head sorrowfully) (Exit Nurse CS-L) Medea (Talking to herself) Unhappy as I am, I can suffer this no more! The most bitterest complaints cannot contain the measure of my grief. I must plot my revenge, I must think of how my enemies must pay in blood and agony their debt to me. I must... I know what must be done, and I will smite my blind justice upon them and oh... oh how they will suffer such wretchedness. shall I unfold my whole design? My hopes, my intent... desire... ambition. Though you will take no pleasure from from my words I will tell you nonetheless. I shall send a servant to call Jason to appear before me. When he arrives, I’ll fill him with soothing words of sweet nothings, say that I now share his views, and see his royal marriage a match well made and advantageous to us all. I will ask that the children be allowed to stay in Corinth, but not be sure to be fair prey to the insults of my enemies. No I intend to use them...
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...men, even the plays and proses mostly constituted of heroics of men, like Hercules, Achilles and many other. In such societies , women were considered to be frail and were expected to be submissive to men, a prize of war for victors, and their main role was to support their husbands. However, in many tragedies, women were often depicted as major characters, inkling that women may not have been the weak the submissive characters as they were thought to be. Many well-known Greek plays contained several well-written, complex, and heroic female characters. Each female character took upon herself, the role of villain, the role of victim, and the role of heroine. The tragedies also revealed the problems women encountered in this era within marriage, inheritance and social life when they attempted to break out of their traditional gender roles. Clytemnestra, daughter of Leda and Tyndareus, was probably one of the most recognizable female villains in history due to her partaking in the murder of her husband Agamemnon and his female consort, Cassandra. . in the play Agamemnon by Aeschylus, she was depicted as brutal, treacherous, and cunning woman. Her speeches made the citizens and the audiences to be well-aware of how she would welcome her husband home. “Let there spring up into the house he never hoped To see, where justice leads him in, a crimson path. In all things else, my heart’s unsleeping care shall act With the gods’ aid to set aright what fate ordained.” (Agamemnon...
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... and light of Helius! Now, friends, has come the time of my triumph over My enemies, and now my foot is on the road. Now I am confident they will pay the penalty. For this man, Aegeus, has been like a harbor to me In all my plans just where I was most distress (Euripides, 24). From this passage, we get this sense that Medea has an enemy. This enemy needs its triumph won over. Medea will win this triumph by giving the enemy a penalty. In addition to her winning over her enemy, Medea explains that this treacherous deed is assisted by one of her great acquaintances, Aegeus. Although most of this deed falls under Medea’s responsibility, she can blame Aegeus for her dirty deed because he was considered an accessory. He helped her plan this dirty deed. As a result of Medea’s detrimental plan, it shows her innocence through making her seem like she was attacked first by her enemy and making Aegeus the creator of this plan....
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...Pericles's Athens: With both of the Greek plays Lysistrata and Medea, we see that a women is treated as far less than equal to a man in every way, and are always looked upon as their husband's property. In both plays, the husbands see their wives as liabilities, and they also see their wives as only useful to doing the chores around the home, and of course, to bearing them children. When Medea is betrayed and cheated on by her now ex-husband and father of their children, Jason, she says, “But I, without a city, am alone, Ill-treated as the property of a man Who took me from a foreign land as spoil.” (32-33). To a woman in ancient Greek times, bearing her husband sons to continue the family line, and being owned by him was the whole meaning of her life. Medea pushes this property belief further, and refers to her ex-husband Jason's newest bride as “your newly-captured girl.” (43). In Lysistrata, the Greek woman character, Calonice states that a woman's life belongs in the family home when she says, “...women who dwell in the retirement of the household...” (3), stating that this was the woman's only place that she could be in charge. In both of the plays, men often talk down to the women, further proving the fact that at this time a women was viewed to have a worth so much less than a man's. The Chorus of Old Men say in Lysistrata that they take care of their women, and that the women live off of them, “Here we have the women, who used, for our misfortune, to eat...
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...Melissa Martinez Medea: Candidate for the Death Penalty The events that were set into motion in 431 B.C.E are drawing to a close. A crime of ghastly, unthinkable proportions was committed by Medea, a woman who has shown absolutely no remorse for her actions. On that fateful day, this atrocious woman plotted retribution against the husband who had wronged her simply by marrying another. She is quoted as saying “I pray that I may see him, him and his bride and all their palace shattered for the wrong they dare to do me without cause!” And shatter their palace she did. The heinous acts Medea allegedly committed sent shockwaves throughout the city of Corinth. Why would she do such an awful thing to King Kreon and the princess? And her very own flesh and blood, her very own sons. It’s a question that’s rippled across the nation and has come to rest right here in this courtroom. It’s fallen on you, the members of the jury, to answer this very question. Based on the evidence, and based on all the testimony you’ve heard the answer is crystal clear. Medea is guilty of first degree murder. At this point, let me also remind you that this isn’t the first time that Medea has conspired to commit murder, or even murder on one of her own family members. She admitted in open court that she murdered her own brother in cold blood in order to help Jason obtain the Golden Fleece and that she duped Pelias’ own daughters into dismembering him and cooking his body parts under the false pretense...
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...hero-he adventures far and wide killing monsters, attempts to get a nearly unattainable object and it is not in his nature to remain monogamous. Medea, a woman whom he promised fidelity, is powerful in her own right as a femme fatale and scorned woman, as she has the power to help Jason as well as bring upon his demise. Their relationship was built upon transgressions in order to continue their adventures. By the end of their...
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...ENG 209-001 Greek Theater Essay Medea by Euripedes and Lysistrata by Aristophanes are two different Greek plays in which the main characters are both strong females with goals to accomplish. Medea is a tragedy written about a woman driven by revenge. Lysistrata is a comedy about a woman who wants to take a stand. Greek tragedies and comedies usually did not have too much in common, besides the general moral background instilled in the people of that time period. Although tragedies always ended in death and comedies often ended in marriage or love, the two characters from opposite genres of theater share many of the same qualities. Both main characters, Medea and Lysistrata, are very strong, smart, determined women whose main goals are to be happy. When first reading Medea you might not think that her goal is to find happiness because it is masked by her want and need for revenge as well. Medea is a very sad story because many characters dead by the end of the play, as is typical in a tragedy. Medea murders Glauce and Creon and then her own two children so that her husband, Jason, must suffer their losses. She did so to get revenge on him for leaving her for the Princess. Medea was so determined to make Jason pay for what he had done to her that she had no restrictions on her actions. She murdered her children only to seek revenge on her ex-husband and to cause him suffering as he did to her. Medea would not be happy until Jason was seeing a consequence for is actions so...
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...past their curfew, change their entire style, and skip classes to be with their loved ones. However, in Euripedes’ play, Medea, the main character, Medea, was not only a crazy, homicidal lady, but she was also persuasive, as she had caused the deaths of many innocent lives. Medea has a past of convincing naive people to kill their loved ones. Because Jason was going to marry another woman, Medea was going to be exiled from Corinth, which she did not like. Betrayed and angered by Jason’s actions, Medea reacted horribly and cruelly to the people around her. Wanting to seek revenge, Medea plotted the deaths of the King Creon’s daughter, whom Jason was going to marry, the King, and her children, thus leaving Jason to mourn over the death of his new bride and children. Although Jason was leaving Medea for another person, Medea did not have a right to seek revenge against Jason. Upset by Jason’s betrayal, Medea maliciously plotted the death of King Creon’s daughter as her last act before her banishment. Knowing it will be suspicious if she were the...
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...of nature. I. Abandonment A. Divorce B. New Marriage II. Emotions C. Suffering D. Vengeance E. Rage III. Naïve F. Children G. The Princess of Corinth IV. Death H. Murder I. Suicide A Woman Scorned In Euripides’ play “Medea” there is similarities that women are going through in today’s society. The plot of the play has many different aspects that I will explore. The lifestyle that Medea lives are very common in today's society. She gets married to Jason and has two children then he leaves her to get married to the Princess of Corinth. Medea seeks revenge on Jason, his new bride, and Kreon the king of Corinth. In the end, she succeeds in her plans and hurts herself in the process. Euripides wants the reader to simply respect and understand Medea’s murders for the violent excesses of nature. Euripides opens the play with nurse telling the recent events so the reader will know exactly what has been going on with Medea and Jason. Jason has abandoned Medea and his children to get married to The Princess of Corinth, the princess of Corinth. The nurse said “For, deserting his own children and my mistress, Jason has taken a royal wife to his bed, the daughter of the ruler of this land, Kreon.”(17-19) Jason’s abandonment of his family has emotionally crushed Medea, to the point she has started cursing her children and own existence. Medea is very unhappy with Jason’s choice to divorce her and get married...
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...man with one sandal would cause him to lose the throne, was alarmed when he saw Jason because, while crossing a river, Jason had lost one of his sandals. To stave off the oracle's predicted ill fortune, Pelias sent Jason on what was presumed to be a suicide mission, which was to fetch the Golden Fleece from Colchis. Jason succeeded in the seemingly impossible quest, with the help of his many heroic friends, known collectively as the Argonauts, and by charming the king's daughter Medea, a witch/sorceress. (It should also be noted that before he met Medea he had slept with a woman of The Isle of Lemnos, and left her with child When he left Colchis, Jason was obligated to take Medea with him because she had betrayed her father. On their sea passage, Medea killed her younger brother in protection of Jason and tossed his limbs upon the sea. Medea won the throne of Iolcus for Jason by tricking Pelias' own daughters to kill him. The pair continued together and had two sons, but later Jason reconsidered marriage to such a barbarian princess, so he set her aside in order to marry a Corinthian princess, Glauce....
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...with the theme of madness It is not rare that the theme of madness whether it is feigned or not to be presented in literary works. William Shakespeare and Euripides depict this theme in their works Hamlet and Medea. Medea and Hamlet have experienced familial hardships; as a result they believe that the only way to obtain what they desire is through manipulation. Indeed both characters have become masters at the art of deceiving. In both works the theme of madness can be discussed as we cannot be certain that these personas are truly lunatics. Madness can be here considered as a tool to achieve ones end. Indeed Medea and Hamlet feign insanity in order to achieve revenge over their disloyal family. Medea and Hamlet have been betrayed by their family, the first through the murder of his father by his uncle and the marriage of his mother to the same man and the second by her husband who has agreed to marry somebody else. Both are left alone dealing with these events. As madness may be described as “mental incapacity caused by an unmentionable injury”, it is with no surprise that Hamlet or Medea would fall in the hands of insanity. However their actions and words prove the opposite. We can thus suppose that they are both feigning madness to achieve revenge. Medea thinks about the consequences before taking action “what state would take me in? What friend would offer me his land as refuge”. Hamlet weighs also his options as he does not know whether he should defend his father’s...
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