Greek conception of woman, citizen and family Essay

The classical catastrophe Medea by Euripides examines the Grecian mood of adult female, the step to the foreside, family and citizenship. He emphasize on the subjugation and the despotic condition of women in prevalent in Greece. and then he reveals the existence of past cultures ( former(a)wise than Greece) that were more than generous in their give-and- reward of women. Medea is excessively in both(prenominal) respect, distinct from general Hellenic women. She is clever and resourceful and in any case has the courage in her strive to contribute r horizontalge on Jason for his persecute deeds.Also, through the character of Medea, Euripides exposes the bankruptcy of touristed classic ideas of heroism. My granting a adult female the qualities that were considered high-minded, he questions the sacred ideas of heroism. The divisor of the contradictory in the puzzle out comprises of the strange, the exotic, the unkn h emeritus and the fe bed. He similarly sh owed that the foreign is non external to classic and in that location is much for the Greeks to lie with near themselves. Medea represents the foreign, the attractive and the priceless possession of Jason. The foreign as well as represented the menace undertaken by the Greek heroes.The foreign also symbolized endangerment and which could star to chaos. Medea, a noncitizen and an alien to the recipe order is free to wear with come to the fore restrain or theology. Thus she sliceages to send off the dreadful crime of murdering her experience babyren. by means of the elements of the foreign, uncivilized and barbaric, Euripides questions the concepts and definitions of civilizations, primitiveness, ethics and morality. Whereas Jason seeks ability, Medea, the un get byn longs for deal and caring. Greek valued family and the throw out from his was grievous to the ancient Greek.A persons city-state was his home and nurseor and to wonder without colleague and foste r was thought as a fate as horrible as death. Medea transportation systems herself because of her whap and passion for her husband. Her billet in Corinth is double grave as she is some(prenominal) get hitched with to be drive outd from family and also as she herself has broke connections with her family to be with Jason. Also, she is a foreigner who w delirious remain a noncivilised in the eyes of the Greeks. However, Madea forces Jason into exile by wiping off his entire family. Greek truth forbade Greek men to espouse every(prenominal) other than Greek women.Also the children of Greek man and foreign adult female were non considered as positive citizens of Greece. Similarly, the children of Jason and Medea were non official citizens of Corinth, but Creusa and Jasons offspring would to the full enjoy the benefits of corinthian citizenship. So Jason is unlessify in his argument that to gain superpower and position and to protect and their position, he married into the olympian family. Thus these elements of the foreign, plight of Greek woman, citizenship and family combine to propel the act of the sad animate Medea.In the Greek calamity Medea, Euripides elaborates on the status of woman in Greek golf-club. The Greek women in general had few rights. According to the men, the purpose of women in Greek society was to engage themselves in household duties like cooking and alter and vainglorious birth and taking electric charge of children. They did not occupy the right to select or avow plaza. They could not go outside without an escort. They had to be represented by men in all legal proceedings. Greek women lone(prenominal) under special conditions could obtain a divorce, but any Athenian man could get disengage of his wife by simply publicly renouncing his espousals.Marriages were arranged by the p argonnts without any troth of the daughter and then Medeas fledge with Jason was s potdalous. If the family was wealthy, the d aughter came with a substantial dowry. aft(prenominal)(prenominal) wedlock, the woman get alongd her husband the entire deportment by caring for the children and strivers, the legal property of her husband. They were not given any commandment and lived in separate quarters, away from their husbands. The elevated woman spoken little as possible among men, whether for good or for ill. Greek women never experienced liberty during their lives and in some respect they were just like slaves.Medea accurately describes the conditions of married flavour for women when she maintains how a woman has to adjust to the spick-and-span rules and customs of the unsanded home and pull in hard to under patronise her husband and hence live in peace. However if the wedding does not work, then death is the only solution for the woman. When Jason decides to terminate his trade union with Medea and marry the princess of Corinth, Jason cast aside Medea as if they were never married. This typ e of action was accepted by Greek standards, which reveals the subordinate status of woman who did not have any say in these matters.Even though some actions of Medea be not similar to that of fair Greek women, she posses genuine attitudes and emotions which are general among women. Medea in her first speech to the refrain (when she comes out of her house) expresses the plight of women in society For a divorce loses women all respect, stock-still we cant refuse to take a husband, (Euripides, lines 271-272). She raise adds that when a man gets tired of the company at home, he can seek ease outside the home, but a woman have to alship canal look at one man.It is likely that this attitude was divided by most Greek women as evident from the reaction of the choir loss leader who sympathize with her Im not surprised you grieve at these events, (Euripides, field 310). The nurse reveals the event that Medea out of her love and deep passion for Jason has retrieved the Golden pi nch for him and defied her household. In go past, she is deserted by Jason who betrayed her by breaking the vows of marriage and now She calls out to the gods to witness/ how Jason is repaying her favours, (Euripides, lines 30-31).However, her situation worsens further when Creon informs her that he is forcing her into exile. The refrain identifies with the pitiable condition of Medea. It recognizes the heroic traits of Medea and admires her as an avenger for all women. utter soothes Medea sorrow by saying that paragon volition be with her in her endeavor. Thus the refrain line believes her cause is good and suited of Gods fill-in. Medea as a victim of ill fate is back up by the refrain. Even though the utter passs this statement before finding out Medea brutal scheme, it should be noted that the Chorus reaffirms its support for Medea afterwards she reveals her end.After the monologue of Medea, where she reveal her plan and think of ways to implement it, the chorus de livers an ode on the subjection of women The waters in the sacred rivers/are flo pull throughg in reverse. /And all intimately-ordered things/are once more twist on themselves. / Mens plans are now deceitful,/their firm presumption in the gods is gone. /Honours glide slope to the female sex. /slander willing no longer injure women, (Euripides, Lines 487-496). Through this ode, the chorus condemns the oppression of women and encourages Medea to carry out her plan.It views her plan as a rare hazard for women to avenge all the wrongs through with(p) by men on them and to turn the pecking order around, putting the men at the lenity of women. In the play it is evident that the Chorus support Medea in her endeavor to avength the lese majesty of Jason till the section where she thinks of ways and machinery to make her plot successful. only the Chorus withdraws their support the point where Medea reveals her plan to murder her deliver sons. After the verbal fight surrounded by Jason and Medea, the Chorus asks for moderation I beseech that moderation,/the gods most beautiful gift,/will always guide me, (Euripides, Lines 756-758).After they come to know Medeas plan to kill her children, they rise their best make her examine her lyssa in her taking such an action and they urge her not to commit such a crime I sine qua non to help you,/holding to the standards of human law, (Euripides, Lines 963-964). Euripides by examining the interposition of women in the play Medea, points at the injustices of his society. He recognized the feature that the subordinate position of women to their male copy is impossible to extricate from the core of mixer order in Greece.The typical score offered by the admirers of Greece is that all ancient societies were sexist and dependent on slave labor. This abstraction is un accepted as there were umpteen societies who were more generous in their treatment of women than the Greeks and umteen societies functioned in the ancient times, without slave labor. Euripides who was aware of these hypocrisies, oft pointed out how Greek society start out to excuse the injustices perpetrated by them. Jason tells Medea that no Greek women would have done as she has done. In this respect, the Chorus should be considered who stood by mutely and allowed the slaughter to take place.However, Medea shows some heroic qualities that were not ballpark among Greek women. Medea is clever, resourceful and has the courage to stand against Jason and take revenge for his betrayal. She does not blockage long inside her home as a subjugating housewife lamenting and throw tears for wrongs incurred on her. She comes out her habitation and faces the Chorus and Creon. She acts like a man and plots and execute her plan. Euripides goes farther, through the character of Medea, he exposes the bankruptcy of popular Greek ideas of heroism. Medea has many traits that would be admirable, if only she were a man.She is ruthless, b rilliant, cunning, and powerful. still she is in a weak position she is not a ruler or a warrior of any battlefield. Euripides gives the qualities that are considered heroic, in a woman and thus reduces the scale. He makes the playing field one of marriage and spurned love. The fine Homeric speeches of warriors on the verge of combat are decrease to the bickering of an enraged wife and a petty husband. Euripides in this play, questions our sacred ideas astir(predicate) heroism. Consider, for example, the character of Agamemnon as portrayed by Aeschylus in the Oresteia.Agamemnon also kills his testify child and although he is not admired for this act, after his death Aeschylus grants him his due of a smashing man and hero. The reaction of the audience to Medeas infanticide is that of horror. Euripides gives unlimited self-absorption and ruthlessness to a woman and thus exposes the true worth of these traits. The audience becomes aware of the double standards that we use for he roes and heroines. In Greek mythology Medea was princess of colchis and the granddaughter of Helios the sun God. She had affinities with magic and was the priestess of Hecate.Medea helped Jason to abstract the Golden lambskin from her generate and even dismember her brother to delay the pursuers of her lover. Also, she glum the daughter of Pelias into murderers to win back his just place in Iolcus, In return, Jason betrayed her trust and re-married into the majestic family. The position that Medea is a foreigner is emphasized from the beginning. The Nurse, in the opening lines, tells the audience that Medea hails from a distant and exotic land. original points should be remembered magic spell reflecting on this setting of the play.The foreigner or the Others is a intricate and multifaceted concept it comprises of the foreign, the exotic, the unknown and the feared. The foreign is also requisite for self-definition of the Greeks. The Greeks ascribe reliable traits to bar barians in opposition to certain traits astir(predicate) themselves. Barbarians are savage but Greeks are not. Barbarians are superstitious while Greeks are rational. But Euripides through the play undermines these blue- smeared binaries. He shows that (the foreigner) is not something external to Greek. Also, there is much for the Greeks to understand about themselvesMoreover, the (the foreign, the exotic, the terrifying) is an essential for adventure. Jasons quest, and also the quests of other Greek heroes, would not be possible without their haggle to strange and fearsome lands. Medeas strangeness may be the reason do-nothing Jasons attraction for her. Although we cannot be genuine if Jason was really attracted to her or used her for his own ends or both. May be Jason was displace to her by her uniqueness. The play stresses on the fact that Medea is different from Greek women. Jasons marriage to Medea can be seen as an attempt on his part to bring the adventure home.Medea d escribes herself as something he won in a foreign land. The marriage can also be seen as Jasons attempt to subordinate the foreign to the Greek, woman to man. In Medea, the foreign lead to chaos. Medea as a foreigner is also terribly free. As she is an outsider to normal order, she behaves without restraint or morality. Her genius is thus used for personal revenge. She sends gifts of a all right woven robe and a tiara of twist gold smeared with deadly poison and succeeds in killing both Creon and his daughter. Next she murders her twain sons to teach Jason a lesson that the oppressed can also take actions against the oppressors.Medea as a foreigner comes from a tribal nativity, where mundaneness is not the normal thing. She does not know how to well behave and speak with a soft tongue. Her culture and escape is primitive and for this she is often blames by Jason. However, while Jason seeks power, Medea longs for love and caring. She carrys behind her culture, inwrought land, parent, and the family as a sacrifice to marry Jason. So the uncivilized Medea cannot accept nor understand Jasons argument in favour of his atomic number 42 marriage and Jason posses all the skills required to cope in his favor.This raises several questions regarding the concepts and definitions of civilizations, primitiveness, ethics and morality Another factor is the Greek conception of family and the separation or exile from them. upstart audiences can find it difficult to understand how important family and how horrible exile was for the ancient Greek. A persons native land was his home and protector and to place without friends or shelter, was thought of as a fate horrible as death. The chorus chants theres no affliction worse/ than losing ones own country, (Euripides, Lines 774-775). Medea made herself as exile for the sake of her husband.Medea tells about her plight to the Chorus you have a city, /you have your fathers house, enjoy your life/with friends for company. B ut Im alone. /I have no city, and Im universe abused/by my own husband. I have no mother, brother, or relation,/to shelter with in this extremity, (Euripides, Lines 291-299). Additionally by her overzealous advocacy of her husbands interest, she made their family exiles in Corinth. Due to her actions in Iolcus, Jason is unable to return home and so their position is vulnerable. Jason who is the hero of the Golden Fleece (of course with the help of Medea) became a wanderer.He is very smart and calculative in his decision to marry into the royal family. The tutor points out in the beginning of the play that men always act for their own interest What mortal man is not? Dont you know however/all men love themselves more than their neighbours, (Euripides, Lines 107-108). Thus the character of Jason is revealed as an opportunist, a selfish man and the anti-hero who manipulates others for his own ends. Euripides in his play Medea, links the elements of exile and the pooh-pooh positio n of women by emphasizing on the circumstances that women faced after marriage.She has to leave her home and family and live among strangers. In this respect, Medea reminds us of the conditions of exile. However, her position is doubly grave, as she is an exile in this sense as well as in the sense that she herself has broke all connections with her family. Also, she is a foreigner and will remain a barbarian in the eyes of the Greeks. Greeks valued their family and the close blood human relationship they share with the family members. Also they had certain expectation from their family.Similarly I the play, Jason involve his sons to grow up and become leaders in Corinth along their new brother, the sons he wishes to beget from his new bride. He also wants his sons to mature into young men and win victory over his enemies. On the other hand, Medea has few expectations as well. In return for her pains of child birth and the grimness she faced in raising them, she fancyd that they will look after her in old age and prepare the corpse with their own hands as all parents wishes. However, she sacrifices her expectations and also separates Jason from his family by killing her two sons and Jason new bride.She takes her revenge on Jason by insobriety the royal bride and thus depriving Jason of his wife and the children he wished to beget from her, his family. Also she kills her sons and prevents the fulfilling last hope of Jason, his wish to unite with his family, his sons. She also deprives him of the burial chamber rights of his sons. Instead she performs the rights. In this way, Jason is exiles from his family as Medea was exile from her native land and family. Medea lost her family after she married Jason, in similar way, Jason losses his family at the end of the play.Another element emphasized in the play is the Greek conception of citizenship. Greek law forbade Greek men to marry no other than Greek women. However, it was common practice among Greek men to keep foreign concubines who were often more educated than the Greek women in general. But the children born from these unions were not considered as official citizens of Greece. Similarly, the children of Jason and Medea were not official citizens of Corinth, whereas Creusa and Jasons offspring would fully enjoy the benefits of man-about-town citizenship.Jason may be a shrewd and manipulative man and it is also true that he betrays Medea by breakings the vows of marriage and re-marrying into the royal family. However, the fact remains that Jason was a wonderer and he wanted to gain power and position by creating a relationship with the royal family. Moreover, he was aware of the fact that his children were deprived of the benefits of Corinthian citizenship. As he mentions to Medea, it may be true that he married Creons daughter not because he felt attracted towards her as a woman but rather to protect Medea and their children.Also that he wanted to serve their own interest by hav ing children (royal princes) from his royal bride and thus securing their position in Corinth and giving their children similar power. The Greek conception of woman, the foreign, citizenship and family as examined in the play help in the progress of the tragic action. Medea represents the suppressed and despotic condition of Greek woman who is cheated by her husband. The foreign element in her character, the exotic, the suicidal and the barbarian instigate her take revenge against Jason.Jasons argument in favor of his action is the power and position he wants to achieve for himself and for Medea and their children. He is aware that his and Medeas children will be deprived of the benefits of Corinthian citizenship. Her separation or exile from family because of Jason infuriates her further and she in turn separates Jason from his family.Work sourceAnalysis of Medea as a sad Character. 8 December 2002. Michael Kliegl. 9 July 2008 The Concept of Citizenship. 9 July 2008 Euripides by Medea. 9 July 2008 Medea (Criticism). Carole L. Hamilton. 9 July 2008 Major Themes. 9 July 2008 Medea (Indian rendering of the greek classic. 9 July 2008 unofficial and Analysis of Lines 1- 356. 9 July 2008