In the play Medea, Euripides shows the major roles that men and women play in Greek society and questions the audience on whether Athenian society was strongly patriarchal. ... Euripides explores these ideas in his play. At the start of the play Medea Euripides gives Medea an opening speech to the chorus in which she reminds the audience of the powerless position of women in Greek society by referring to the women as "wretched creatures" and by stating that they do anything for their men. ... Women may have been less valued in Greek society, Euripides does cover that in his play whi...

• Word Count: 629
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Commonly regarded as Euripides' greatest work, Medea is a powerful play of impassioned love turned into furious hate. ... Euripides tries to make Medea as close to an actual woman as possible, and to show her fiery lust for vengeance in uncovered action with nothing to dull its effect. The audience is witness to a hideous passion and cannot be certain whether Euripides approves of it or condemns it. Many themes shine through in the play Medea including pride, exile and the outsider and betrayal and manipulation and the use of different literary devices including imagery and foreshadowing ...

• Word Count: 648
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Euripides also carefully reveals the elements of Medea's past that demonstrate her readiness to sacrifice family to pursue her intractable will; Jason and Medea's original tryst, for example, required that she kill her own brother. ... To reach the point of infanticide, Medea's basic human nature has to be transformed, ushering in conflict of some type. Consequently, Medea's eventual indecision and motivational conflicts manifest the warping of natural sentiments. For example, Medea considers a natural, common sense course of action when she debates fleeing with her childre...

• Word Count: 324
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The works of Poetics by Aristotle and Medea by Euripides offer contrasting styles possessed by both authors who each respectively show a strong sense of slave morality and master morality. ... The stark contrasts between these two authors is made apparent in Aristotle's direct reference to Euripides' Medea when he criticizes the appearance of Aegeus in the play. Aegeus ensures Medea that she will be able to escape once she executes her plan[Medea, 660-760]. ... Euripides however shows a level of master morality by featuring Aegeus as his character has a high level of worth to Medea a...

• Word Count: 868
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

BARBARITY (WITH REFERENCE TO EURIPIDES" MEDEA AND CYCLOPS) I INTRODUCTION Euripides was the last of the three great Athenian dramatists, as well as the most controversial. ... Euripides commented on this divide in most of his plays. ... This gulf between the rational, civilized Greek and the emotional, barbaric Greek can be seen with particular poignancy when studying Euripides" great tragedy, Medea, and also his satyr, Cyclops. ... II MEDEA One of the main themes in Euripides" Medea is the gender and cultural divide that is established between Medea and Jason. ... Instead, Euripides...

• Word Count: 768
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

No one sympathizes with Medea and she bears the pain alone. Medea is misunderstood by others for they only see the enraged Medea and not the crushed heart behind. Euripides portrays Medea just as how the ancient Greeks saw foreigners. ... However, Euripides tears down these attributes of hers in the end and displays Medea as a rational and victorious individual. ... Medea manipulates to get her desired result. ...

• Word Count: 1123
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The tragic play Medea establishes many contrasting characteristics of the two most influential characters, Medea and Jason. ... Women of Corinth were expected to be obedient for "Obedience - and in marriage that's the saving thing, when a wife obediently accepts her husbands will" (Euripides 17). ... In fact, Medea's magical powers were much more potent than women of Corinth. ... On the other hand, Medea is a woman in a culture where men are superior. ... As the play Medea, creates a foil between the main characters, Medea and Jason, this foil eventually becomes blurry possibly so th...

• Word Count: 1150
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

A writer like Euripides writing his Medea about a woman, a barbarian at that, taking revenge, is making a point contrary to the prevailing values of his context. ... You would discuss Euripides' purpose here, in relation to his context, and how Medea defines a social and moral world. ...

• Word Count: 583
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: Undergraduate