Medea as a Work of Protofeminism

So, if you're ever upset because you've done something that you regret, then you should read Euripides' Medea, because nothing you could ever do could be as bad as what happens in Medea.

As you know, I've been reading a lot of Greek tragedy, but their is nothing more Greek or more tragic than this play. Medea is the story of Medea, the wife of Jason (as in Jason and the Argonauts). The backstory is a little complicated, but basically what happens is that Medea betrays her family to help Jason and, in exchange, he marries her and they have two sons. They go to Corinth, where Jason precedes to abandon Medea in order to marry the daughter of the king. Medea's very logical response to this is to kill her children and Jason's new wife. Obviously, there's some nuance I'm skipping over, but that's pretty much the gist of it. Like, seriously, Edgar Allan Poe couldn't make this stuff up.

Aside from all the gore, however, this is an interesting play on several different levels. Firstly, Medea is not Greek; she's a 'barbarian' (aka not Greek). Albeit, I haven't read many Greek plays, but I've read enough to realize that that's out of the ordinary.

That goes along with my second point, Medea isn't really punished for killing her children. Which is weird because, if Orestes is hounded by furies for killing his mother for killing his father, Medea should get some sort of slap on the wrist. I feel like there's some sort of double standard going on there. I'm not sure if she isn't punished because she's a barbarian, meaning that less is expected of her, or because her actions are justified. Obviously, Medea had a huge (actually, huge doesn't even begin to cover it) over reaction, but Medea's revenge on Jason is equivocal with the effect Jason's betrayal has had on her life. Medea cannot go home because she betrayed her family for Jason; she killed for Jason. Clearly, Medea intends to take her revenge eye-for-an-eye style. One could also argue that the death of her children is as much a punishment for Medea as it is for Jason.

But, when you get right down to it, the play seems to be indicating that Jason is in the wrong. Medea's actions are, to a certain degree, justified. Jason has behaved dishonorably towards his wife and is punished for it.

The whole play presents a sort of protofeminism. Like, Medea has so many great lines about that nature of women's roles in Greek society. Medea describes women with a question "what other creatures are bred so exquisitely and purposely for mistreatment as women are?". There are a lot of cynical, ironic moments like this sprinkled throughout the play. One of my favorite lines from the play is "men with their battles, on the field but women are ruthless when the bed becomes the battleground. We've lain in our own blood before...and have survived". This is such a striking line and it really proves how astute Medea is. Her perceptions are stunningly accurate.

Setting aside the fact that Jason's punishment involved the deaths of four people that were not Jason, the message here seems to be fairly progressive: Medea cannot be scorned; Medea deserves better. Which is a message I support; Medea is aggrieved and her grievances are met. I don't think that needs to involve blood and gore; but, it is Euripides.

Just readin'