In this essay, I will be discussing and evaluating the treatment and inclusion of the idea of free will within the play Oedipus The King By Sophocles as well as Medea By Euripides. These are both two very old plays which include a plot which is intertwined with the constant influence of Fate and therefore, can be used in order to debate the influence of destiny and whether or not the characters have “Free Will”. This is an important point...
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Justice is a theme present in most in Greek Literature, to punish one’s actions or words that are considered wrong or to uphold ideals seen as good. Justice is used to instil that wrongs in society are stopped, and rights will be upheld. Revenge is the act of committing a harmful action towards a person or a group in response to a grievance however in many cases revenge can be seen as justice. While Medea and Antigone are alike in...
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In “Medea” author Euripides depicts how alienation can fuel rage. In title character Medea’s place, she is left by her husband, Jason, for another woman and is soon to be exiled from her home. Both alienation and fear are ingrained into the daily lives of women in a patriarchal society. Today’s society reflects that of Medea’s world in ancient Greece with most American households relying on a male leadership role. This puts women in a forcefully obedient position, living almost...
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Euripides uses betrayal and revenge as strong influences on the characters of his play, “Medea”. The story starts seeing Medea as the one who’s been betrayed but as it continues, she turns that hurt into revenge, therefore losing trust in other characters. Her revenge is seen as excessive and perverse. Jason and ageus are only thinking about what is best for them which gives Medea the opportunity to manipulate both of them. At the beginning the nurse and the chorus...
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The most intriguing part of a Greek tragedy is the involvement of a tragic hero, which consistently draws in a greater group of spectators and excites their feelings. A tragic hero is an honorable or imperial character whose pain is brought about by his own misinterpretation, and his experience consistently makes the audience feel dread and sympathy. Medea is a play composed by Euripides and represents the story of a unique tragic heroine. In this play, Medea is deceived by...
2 Pages
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Othello and Medea are two stories from different eras tied together by similar intertwining themes of death, betrayal, exile, and love. In both plays, the main characters, Medea and Othello, experience all of these. The betrayal felt by both came from the people they were both closest to. Othello was closest with his wife, Desdemona, and Medea with her husband, Jason. Another issue that pervades in the play is love, which is presented as strong in the beginning but fades...
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Set in Ancient Greece, Euripides’ harrowing play Medea explores the conflict between Medea and the patriarchy amidst the breakdown of marriage. Medea can be viewed as a victim of Jason and the patriarchy due to the injustice she faces as both a woman and an outsider. However, it is Medea who proves that she is much more than a ‘betrayed wife’ and shows that despite the injustice she faces, she is a capable and strong character. Furthermore, Medea’s heinous and...
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Euripides highlights the idea that manipulation comes from ones great ambition to seek a vengeance. Medea has the most extreme desire to accomplish her revenge on Jason after he 'betrayed [Medea] and his own children for a princess' bed.' Euripides makes good use of foreshadowing to make it clear to the audience of Medea's extreme and passionate desire to accomplish her revenge “It’s clear that this anger of hers will grow; soon enough her grief like a gathering cloud will...
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How does Medea defy Ancient Athenian expectations of tragedy and its presentation of women? In Medea, the protagonist of the same name is cast aside by her husband, the hero Jason, for another woman. In the play, Medea has no say in any of her husband’s actions, as she is a woman in a male-dominated Greece, and she is a foreigner in the kingdom Corinth. Medea is a horribly flawed character and Euripides, with this play, revolutionized Revenge Tragedies by...
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Justice or fairness depends on the situation and also the person who viewed it. Just like how beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, the history books can be biased based on the perspective of the writers. It is hard to justify if specific situations if a person is wrong or right. Hence, human civilization has made laws to set a bar of a good morality and a defined line between right and wrong. Courts, laws, civil rights and...
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In the entirety of both Medea and Oedipus the existence of Gods are shown as dominant throughout. In Modern time, Theorists and dramatists are turning the pages every day to find answers to the questions at hand, are the characters of these plays in control of their own destiny? Or is their fate already inevitable? Ancient Greek people believed that Gods set the destinies for some people as its what they were born to do and there is a level...
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An important role of literature is to define 'the other' within the social structure despite or because of their quirks and peculiarities. This allows for change, often declaring it to be brilliant. It recognizes the mark of courage: The character is who he or she chooses to be, often fighting for freedom, perception, and thoughts. Fiction allows one to think about change in a creative way. Studies in psychology, anthropology, and sociology- all provide conceptual accounts of what literature teaches...
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In the play Medea, the author Euripides emphasizes that the harsh treatment the main character, Medea, receives throughout the play reflects how women are treated in Greek society. The hardships of women in Greek society can be mainly seen by Medea passionate soliloquies. Medea speaks about how looked down upon, due to the fact that she a woman from a foreign country that holds more intellect than most men in the city where she currently resides. Even Jason, her husband,...
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For 2,448 years, “Medea” has been a notable playwright and story, thanks to Euripides’ craftsmanship and eloquent characterization of the infamous main character, Medea. Even though Euripides writes Medea as a complex character having many characteristics, there is one characteristic that dominates all the others, and for a good reason. Throughout the entirety of “Medea,” Euripides depicts Medea as hopeless to enable the audience to empathize with her. Euripides portrays this feeling in Medea’s first line, where she is shown...
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Greek Perspective of evil According to Greek’s perception of good and evil, man is answerable to himself and his biggest mistake is doing contrary to the fate awaiting him. There is no reward or punishment after this life hence man must do his responsibility without any future expectations. Punishments or rewards are part of man’s fate here on earth with the aid of gods. The gods only intervene when requested by humans depending on one’s circumstances surrounding him. This is...
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Abstract Euripides' Medea challenges the dominant views of feminity in the patriarchal society of Greeks. While pursuing her ambition Medea disregards many of the feminine characteristics of the patriarchal Greek society. By focusing on the character portrayal of Medea, this paper argues to prove Medea a feminist text. And such tragedies represent Euripides feminist and liberal views as well relative to the society he lived in. Introduction Many literary evidences, primarily from comedy, tragedy and oratory, show that ancient Greece...
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Every person holds the same general image of what a hero is. That image may change slightly, however, the value of a heroic person in one’s life remains the same whether or not the hero is worthy of their title. For instance, Jason is known by many as an inspirational, and courageous man who saved many lives through his actions whereas in reality he is a pig headed, cowardly, pretentious narcissist who accomplished next to nothing over his long life....
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Introduction Medea is a play written by Euripides; it has many powerful literary elements which is why it has brought the attention of different types of audiences. Medea to some might appear as a feminist text because of how Medea deals with her situation, and how she behaves or acts around people in the play, but to other people Medea is seen as an anti-feminist text because of how Medea turns evil after her husband did her wrong, and how...
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The tale of Medea begins in a dire state of suffering and betrayal. The play revolves arounds a devastated and enraged Medea that seeks out vengeance on her newly betrothed ex-husband, Jason. Despite Medea's murderous tendencies, she feels utterly betrayed as well as abandoned and wants nothing more than for Jason to feel as she does, if not worse. Jason is presented as non other than the story’s antagonist. He has abandoned his wife and two children for the daughter...
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Medea written by Euripides is based through Greek society where only men were allowed to take part in politics, law and war. Men were regarded as superior to women, but were not seen as equal to each other and saw themselves as very strong, powerful humans. Male power is the capability or ability for men to direct or influence the behavior of women. This idea of male power is explored through Medea and is very significant to the play as...
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For us as individuals to have free will it suggests that as human beings, we have the ability to express and elect our own personal choices. Whereas the notion of fate entices the idea that our lives are simply determined by physical or divine forces. When focussing on the treatment of free will and fate in relation to Greek tragedies, one can recognise that this theme was often established as the driving forces of conflict. In ancient Greece, the lives...
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In this Greek tragedy, Euripides crafts a tale that centres around the complexities of Medea’s character: her cleverness, sorcery, murderous tendencies, and her status as a foreigner. Euripides takes these traits and elevates them to new heights in his play. The playwright puts Medea’s otherness on full display in his text, granting complexity to this characteristic of Medea; she is not only a foreigner because of her birthplace, but also because she destroyed said home, leaving her untethered to the...
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“I saved your life, and every Greek knows it”(Page 16) Medea is a historic character in literature who has been idolised as a strong female character and is sympathised with to a large extent for aeons, and is hence one of the reasons for which the text has endured to see the light of the modern era. Medea also surprisingly highlights many themes that are relevant to the present. The play revolves around the female character Medea, who is considered...
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Introduction: An Inquiry on Representation in Theatre Accurate representation in theatrical productions is one of the most popular controversies in Theatre presently; ranging from representations of gender, sexuality, race, age, and religion. As a 21st century theatre practitioner and newly found theatre historian, I am made curious about how various groups of persons are represented and whether the accuracy- or lack thereof -is attributed to more than just a playwright or director’s individual perception. Through the course of reading about...
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In modern-day societies, love is usually viewed as an amazing feeling with only positive traits attributed to this feeling. Many people fail to realize – or choose to ignore – the negative parts of this feeling of love, which can be a powerful and dangerous source of motivation for all living creatures. In Antigone by Sophocles and Medea by Euripides, love is seen through the characters’ love of power, self-love, and the more traditional use of love, love for others....
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Medea is a play written by Euripides that explores ideas of revenge and gender inequality that are prominent even today. In the play, the main character, Medea, has her heart broken by her husband, Jason, who cheats on her and plans to marry a princess while he is still married to her. As a result, she is exiled from her home. For this, Medea embarks on a voyage of revenge costs her the lives of her children. Throughout the play,...
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As time evolves, society is forcing itself to create certain gender roles in civilization. While many people argue to disagree with this, certain individuals believe they subside today because, usually, in an ancient Greek household, the woman will cook, clean, and watch over the children while the man of the household was working. Even if these roles are on a lower scale today, they usually have matching meanings with gender roles long-ago. Nowadays, females are becoming doctors, can vote, and...
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The play is actually reinforcing patriarchal ideology comparatively more than it's undermining it. She's healthy and decisive which are virtually believed to be male characteristics in a patriarchal society and she’s also mental like a female was believed to be. Patriarchy is a society that favors the men over the women. Guys would not be in an area to perform something that's thought to be girly also. He would not have the ability to cry, show act or emotion too...
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Many actions in Euripides’ Medea occur without just explanation. The psychology behind these actions appear unpredictable, but still control key parts of the play. The play begins with a heartbroken Medea, angry and depressed because her husband, Jason, has left her for a new bride. However, the rage Medea exhibits is a byproduct of the backstory of the play. While Jason pursued his quest for the Golden Fleece, Medea had done everything in her power to let this happen, including...
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Salvage the Bones is narrated by a teenager named Esch. She is the only girl in an all-male family, since her mother is dead, and her father is an alcoholic. Isolated and alone in this savage town (the town’s name “Bois Sauvage” and the fact that their homestead is called “The Pit” says a lot about how rural this place is), she seeks of a way to escape. She shifts between the present happenings of her life and often alludes...
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