Medea (Ancient Greek:Μήδεια,Mēdeia) is a tragedy by theancient Greek playwrightEuripides based on a myth. It was first performed in 431 BC as part of a trilogy, the other plays of which have not survived. Its plot centers on the actions ofMedea, a former princess of the kingdom ofColchis and the wife ofJason; she finds her position in the world threatened as Jason leaves her for a princess ofCorinth and takesvengeance on him by murdering his new wife and her own two sons, before escaping toAthens to start a new life.
Euripides's play has been explored and interpreted by playwrights across the centuries and the world in a variety of ways, offering political,psychoanalytical, feminist, and many other original readings of Medea, Jason, and the core themes of the play.[1]
Medea, along with three other plays,[a] earned Euripides third prize in theCity Dionysia. Some believe that this indicates a poor reception,[2][3] but "the competition that year was extraordinarily keen";[3]Sophocles, often winning first prize, came second.[3] The play was initially rediscovered with Rome'sAugustan drama, and then again in the 16th century. It has remained part of the tragedic repertoire, becoming a classic of theWestern canon and the most frequently performed Greek tragedy in the 20th century.[4] It experienced renewed interest in thefeminist movement of the late 20th century,[5] being interpreted as a nuanced and sympathetic portrayal of Medea's struggle to take charge of her own life in a male-dominated world.[4] The play holds the American Theatre Wing's Tony Award record for most wins for thesame female lead character in a play, withJudith Anderson winning in 1948,Zoe Caldwell in 1982, andDiana Rigg in 1994.
Medea was first performed in 431 BC at theCity Dionysia festival.[6] Here every year, three tragedians competed against each other, each writing atetralogy of three tragedies and asatyr play (alongsideMedea werePhiloctetes,Dictys and the satyr playTheristai). In 431 the competition was amongEuphorion (the son of famed playwrightAeschylus),Sophocles (Euripides's main rival) and Euripides. Euphorion won, and Euripides placed third (and last).[6]Medea has survived the transplants of culture and time and continues to captivate audiences with its riveting power.[7] The play's influence can be seen in the works of later playwrights, such as William Shakespeare.[citation needed]
WhileMedea is considered one of the great plays of theWestern canon, Euripides's place in the competition suggests that his first audience might not have responded so favorably. Ascholium to line 264 of the play suggests that Medea's children were traditionally killed by the Corinthians after her escape;[8] so Euripides's apparent invention of thefilicide might have offended, as hisfirst treatment of the Hippolytus myth did.[9] That Euripides and others took liberties with Medea's story may be inferred from the 1st-century-BC historianDiodorus Siculus: "Speaking generally, it is because of the desire of the tragic poets for the marvellous that so varied and inconsistent an account of Medea has been given out."[10] A common urban legend claimed that Euripides put the blame on Medea because the Corinthians had bribed him with a sum of five talents.[11]
In the 4th century BC, South-Italian vase painting offers a number of Medea representations that are connected to Euripides's play — the most famous is akrater in Munich. However, these representations always differ considerably from the plots of the play or are too general to support any direct link to Euripides's play.[clarification needed] But the violent and powerful character of Medea, and her double nature — both loving and destructive — became a standard for later periods of antiquity. Medea has been adapted into numerous forms of media, including operas, films, and novels.
The form of the play differs from many other Greek tragedies by its simplicity; most scenes involve only Medea, one other character, and The Chorus, representing the women of Corinth. These simple encounters highlight Medea's skill and determination in manipulating powerful male figures. The play is also the only Greek tragedy in which a kin-killer makes it unpunished to the end of the play, and the only tragedy about child-killing in which the deed is performed in cold blood, as opposed to in a state of temporary madness.[12] Medea's rebellion shakes the world as she tells of her history, shedding light on the actions that ultimately lead to her denigration and dethronement.[13] Euripides depicts Medea as a witch and a devourer of men and children, rather than as a wife and mother wronged.[13]
Euripides' characterization of Medea exhibits the inner emotions of passion,love, andvengeance. According to classics scholar Fiona Macintosh, "[Medea] has successfully negotiated her path through very diverse cultural and political contexts: either by being radically recast as 'exemplary' mother and wife, or by being seen as a proto-feminist wrongly abandoned by a treacherous husband."[14] Feminist readings have interpreted the play as either a sympathetic exploration of the disadvantages of being a woman in apatriarchal society,[5] or as an expression of misogynist attitudes.[15] In conflict with this sympathetic undertone (or reinforcing a more negative reading) is Medea'sbarbarian identity, which some argue might antagonize[need quotation to verify] a 5th-century BC Greek audience.[16]
It can be argued that in the play Euripides portrays Medea as an enraged woman who kills her children to get revenge on her husband Jason because of his betrayal of their marriage. Medea is often cited as an example of the "madwoman in the attic" trope, in which women who defy societal norms are portrayed as mentally unstable.[17] A competing interpretation is that Medea kills her children because she cares for them and worries about their well-being; once she commits to her plan to kill Creon and Jason's new bride, she knows her children are in danger of being murdered. This is not a paranoid fantasy; at this time in myth and history, helping one's friends and hurting one's enemies was considered a virtue. Thus, by their code of ethics, the Corinthians would do right to avenge their king and princess. (In another version of the myth, the people of Corinth kill her children to avenge the deaths of Creon and his daughter Glauke.) Conversely, a focus on Medea's rage leads to the interpretation that "Medea becomes the personification of vengeance, with her humanity 'mortified' and 'sloughed off'" (Cowherd, 129).[18] Medea's heritage places her in a position more typically reserved for males. Hers is the power of the sun, appropriately symbolized by her great radiance, tremendous heat and boundless passion.[13] In this view Medea is inhuman and her suffering is self-inflicted, just as Jason argues in his debate with her. And yet, if we see events through Medea's eyes, we view a wife intent on vengeance, and a mother concerned about her children's safety and quality of life. Thus, Medea as a wife kills Creon and Glauke in the act of vengeance, and Medea as a mother thinks her children will be better off killed by her hand than left to suffer at the hands of an enemy intent on vengeance.
Medea is often described as having a "heroic temper" and a strong motivation to avoid the laughter of her enemies, "even at the cost of decisions that contradict self-interest, personal safety, or strongly held moral beliefs".[19] Although some may say that her motive was jealousy over Jason’s new bride, her pride also made her unwilling to let her enemies, in this case Jason and his new wife, look down on her. Medea stated that "her enemies [would] cause her pain and rejoice," and that her priority was to "avoid her enemies’ derision."[19] Although the murder of her children would cause her pain, Medea’s temperament caused her to prioritize Jason’s unhappiness over anything else.[19]
Medea is centered on Medea's calculated desire for revenge against her unfaithful husband. Medea is of divine descent and had the gift of prophecy. She married Jason and used her magic powers and advice to help him find and retrieve the golden fleece. The play is set inCorinth some time after Jason's quest for theGolden Fleece, where he met Medea. The play begins with Medea in a blind rage towards Jason for arranging to marryGlauce, the daughter of kingCreon. The nurse, overhearing Medea's grief, fears what she might do to herself or her children.
Creon, in anticipation of Medea's wrath, arrives and reveals his plans to send her into exile. Crouching at Creon's feet, Medea begs him in the name of her children to allow her one day's delay. At this Creon is moved and grants to her one more day in Corinth. Medea's unexpected power of persuasion or even of fascination lies in her change of attitude: instead of preaching to Creon about the unpopularity of thesophoi she plays the role of a desperate mother, needing one day to prepare for exile.[20] Medea is aware of the humiliating quality of this tactic, but she justifies it on the grounds of a gain and of her need to remain in Corinth: "Do you think that I would ever have flattered that man unless I had some gain to make or some device to execute? I wouldn't have even spoken or touched him with my hands".[20] In the next scene Jason arrives to explain his rationale for his apparent betrayal. He explains that he could not pass up the opportunity to marry a royal princess, as Medea is only abarbarian woman, but hopes to someday join the two families and keep Medea as his mistress. Medea, and thechorus of Corinthian women, do not believe him. She reminds him that she left her own people for him ("I rescued you [...] I betrayed both my father and my house [...] now where should I go?"),[21] and that she saved him and slew the dragon. Jason promises to support her after his new marriage ("If you wish me to give you or the children extra money for your trip into exile, tell me; I'm ready to give it with a lavish hand"),[22] but Medea spurns him: "Go on, play the bridegroom! Perhaps [...] you've made a match you'll one day have cause to lament."[23]
In the following scene Medea encountersAegeus,king of Athens. He reveals to her that despite his marriage he is still without children. He visited theoracle who merely told him that he was instructed "not to unstop the wineskin's neck". Medea relays her current situation to him and begs for Aegeus to let her stay inAthens if she gives him drugs to end his infertility. Aegeus, unaware of Medea's plans for revenge, agrees.
Medea then returns to plotting the murders of Glauce and Creon. She decides to poison some golden robes (a family heirloom and gift from the sun godHelios, her grandfather) and a coronet, in hopes that the bride will not be able to resist wearing them, and consequently be poisoned. Medea resolves to kill her own children as well, not because the children have done anything wrong, but because she feels it is the best way to hurt Jason. She calls for Jason once more and, in an elaborate ruse, apologizes to him for overreacting to his decision to marry Glauce. When Jason appears fully convinced that she regrets her actions, Medea begins to cry in mourning of the exile. She convinces Jason to allow their two sons to give gifts to Glauce in hopes that Creon will lift the exile against the children. Eventually Jason agrees.
Forgive what I said in anger! I will yield to the decree, and only beg one favor, that my children may stay. They shall take to the princess a costly robe and a golden crown, and pray for her protection.
In the next scene a messenger recounts Glauce and Creon's deaths. When the children arrived with the robes and coronet, Glauce gleefully put them on and went to find her father. The poison overtook her and she fell to the floor, dying horribly and painfully. Creon clutched her tightly as he tried to save her and, by coming in contact with the robes and coronet, was poisoned and died as well.
Alas! The bride had died in horrible agony; for no sooner had she put on Medea's gifts than a devouring poison consumed her limbs as with fire, and in his endeavor to save his daughter the old father died too.
While Medea is pleased with her current success she decides to take it one step further. Since Jason brought shame upon her for trying to start a new family, Medea resolves to destroy the family he was willing to give up by killing their sons. Medea does have a moment of hesitation when she considers the pain that her children's deaths will put her through. However, she steels her resolve to cause Jason the most pain possible and rushes offstage with a knife to kill her children. Determined to stop Medea, the chorus runs after her only to hear the children scream. Jason then rushes onto the scene to confront Medea about murdering Creon and Glauce, and he quickly discovers that his children have been killed as well. Medea then appears above the stage with the bodies of her children in a chariot given to her by the sun god Helios. When this play was put on, this scene was accomplished using themechane device usually reserved for the appearance of a god or goddess. She confronts Jason, reveling in his pain at being unable to ever hold his children again:
I do not leave my children's bodies with thee; I take them with me that I may bury them inHera's precinct. And for thee, who didst me all that evil, I prophesy an evil doom.
Although Jason calls Medea most hateful to gods and men, the fact that the chariot is given to her by Helios indicates that she still has the gods on her side. AsBernard Knox points out, Medea's last scene with concluding appearances parallels that of a number of indisputably divine beings in other plays by Euripides. Just like these gods, Medea "interrupts and puts a stop to the violent action of the human being on the lower level, … justifies her savage revenge on the grounds that she has been treated with disrespect and mockery, … takes measures and gives orders for the burial of the dead, prophesies the future," and "announces the foundation of a cult."[24]
She then escapes to Athens in the divine chariot. The chorus is left contemplating the will ofZeus in Medea's actions:
Manifold are thy shapings,Providence! / Many a hopeless matter gods arrange / What we expected never came to pass / What we did not expect the gods brought to bear / So have things gone, this whole experience through!
This deliberate murder of her children by Medea appears to be Euripides' invention, although some scholars believeNeophron created this alternate tradition.[25] Herfilicide would go on to become the standard for later writers.[26]Pausanias, writing in the late 2nd century AD, records five different versions of what happened to Medea's children after reporting that he has seen a monument for them while traveling in Corinth.[27]
Catulle Mendès adaptedMedea into his playMedée in 1898, in three acts and in verse.Alfons Mucha drew a poster for a performance of this play starringSarah Bernhardt.
Jean Anouilh adapted the Medea story in his French dramaMédée in 1946
Ben Bagley's Shoestring Revue performed a musical parodyoff-Broadway in the 1950s which was later issued on anLP and aCD, and was revived in 1995. The same plot points take place, butMedea in Disneyland is a parody, in that it takes place in aWalt Disney animated cartoon.
In 1983,kabuki MasterShozo Sato createdKabuki Medea uniting Euripides' play and classical Kabuki storytelling and presentation.[33] It debuted at Wisdom Bridge Theater in Chicago.[34][35]
The 1990 playPecong, bySteve Carter, is a retelling ofMedea set on a fictional Caribbean island around the turn of the 20th century
A 1993 dance-theatre retelling of the Medea myth was produced by Edafos Dance Theatre, directed by avant-garde stage director and choreographerDimitris Papaioannou.
John Fisher wrote acamp musical version ofMedea entitledMedea the Musical that re-interpreted the play in light ofgay culture. The production was first staged in 1994 inBerkeley, California.[39]
Neil LaBute wroteMedea Redux, a modern retelling, first performed in 1999 starringCalista Flockhart, as part of his one-acttrilogy entitledBash: Latter-Day Plays. In this version, the main character is seduced by her middle-school teacher. He abandons her, and she kills their child out of revenge.
Michael John LaChiusa created a Broadway musical adaptation work forAudra McDonald entitledMarie Christine in 1999. McDonald portrayed the title role, and the show was set in 1890s New Orleans and Chicago.
Liz Lochhead'sMedea previewed at the Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow as part of Theatre Babel's[43]Greeks in 2000 before the Edinburgh Fringe and national tour. "What Lochhead does is to recast MEDEA as an episode-ancient but new, cosmic yet agonisingly familiar- in a sex war which is recognisable to every woman, and most of the men, in the theatre", wroteThe Scotsman.
In 2000,Wesley Enoch wrote and directed a modern adaptation titledBlack Medea, which was first produced by Sydney Theatre Company's Blueprint at the Wharf 2 Theatre, Sydney, on 19 August 2000. Nathan Ramsay played the part of Jason, Tessa Rose played Medea, andJustine Saunders played the Chorus. Medea is re-characterised as an indigenous woman transported from her homeland to the city and about to be abandoned by her abusive social-climbing husband.[44]
Tom Lanoye (2001) used the story of Medea to bring up modern problems (such as migration and man vs. woman), resulting in a modernized version of Medea. His version also aims to analyze ideas such as the love that develops from the initial passion, problems in the marriage, and the "final hour" of the love between Jason and Medea.
Kristina Leach adapted the story for her playThe Medea Project, which had its world premiere at theHunger Artists Theatre Company in 2004 and placed the story in a modern-day setting.[45]
In November 2008, Theatre Arcadia, under the direction of Katerina Paliou, stagedMedea at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (University of Alexandria, Egypt). The production was noted (by Nehad Selaiha of the weeklyAl-Ahram) not only for its unexpected change of plot at the very end but also for its chorus of one hundred who alternated their speech between Arabic and English. The translation used was that of George Theodoridis.
US Latina playwrightCaridad Svich's 2009 playWreckage, which premiered at Crowded Fire Theatre in San Francisco, tells the story of Medea from the sons' point of view, in the afterlife.
Paperstrangers Performance Group[46] toured a critically acclaimed production ofMedea directed by Michael Burke to U.S. Fringe Festivals in 2009 and 2010.
Bart Lee's interpretation of Medea, renamedMedea, My Dear, was performed in Surrey and later toured the south of England from 2010 to 2011.
17 February – 6 March 2016 in Austin at theLong Center for the Performing Arts starring Franchelle Stewart Dorn as Medea and directed by Ann Ciccolella.
May 2016 – MacMillan Films released a full staging of the originalMedea which was staged for camera. The DVD release shows the entire play. complete with the Aegis scenes, choral odes and triumphant ending. Directed by James Thomas and starring Olivia Sutherland, the staging features Peter Arnott's critically acclaimed translation.
Chico Buarque and Paulo Pontes, Gota d'Água (musical play set in 1970s Rio de Janeiro, based on Euripides, 1975). Several times revived, including a 2016/2017 production starring Laila Garin (celebrated for her title role in the highly regarded musical biography of Elis Regina, staged in Brasil in 2015).
February 2017: the play was staged in South Korea, directed by Hungarian theatre directorRóbert Alföldi, withLee Hye-young in the titular role.[48]
In some editions of the theatrical play, Medea would be played as a man instead of a woman to show a unique and perhaps more culturally accepted point of view.
In some play adaptations, Jason is played as a sympathetic figure who is manipulated by Medea, rather than a conniving opportunist.
Asian-American filmmakerMichael Justin Lee reinterpreted the story into anoir short film set in modern-day America starringAmy Gordon as Medea. (2018)[49]
OedipusEnders, a documentary broadcast onBBC Radio 4 on 13 April 2010, discussed similarities betweensoap opera and Greek theatre. One interviewee revealed that the writers for theITV police drama seriesThe Bill had consciously and directly drawn onMedea in writing an episode for the series.[53]
PlaywrightMike Bartlett was inspired to create a modern-day suburbanMedea after adapting the Euripides play for a theatre production in 2012. Bartlett's 2015–2017 BBC1 miniseriesDoctor Foster follows the structure of the Greek tragedy.[54] A Korean remake of the series,The World of the Married, became the highest-rated cable drama in Korean history, with its final episode reaching a nationwide rating of 28.371%.[citation needed]
^abcEuripides (2001)."Medea", in Euripides I. David Kovacs (ed. & tr.). Cambridge, MA; London, England: Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press. p. 277.ISBN9780674995604.
^abHelene P. Foley.Reimagining Greek Tragedy on the American Stage. University of California Press, 1 Sep 2012, p. 190
^Tessitore, Aristide. "Euripides’ ‘Medea’ and the Problem of Spiritedness." The Review of Politics, vol. 53, no. 4, 1991, pp. 587–601. JSTOR,JSTOR1407307. Accessed 27 Apr. 2023.
^Macintosh, Fiona (2007)."Oedipus and Medea on the Modern Stage". In Brown, Sarah Annes; Silverstone, Catherine (eds.).Tragedy in Transition. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell. p. 193.ISBN978-1-40-513546-7.[Medea] has successfully negotiated her path through very diverse cultural and political contexts: either by being radically recast as 'exemplary' mother and wife, or by being seen as proto-feminist wrongly abandoned by a treacherous husband.
^Williamson, Margaret (1990). "A Woman's Place in Euripides' Medea". In Powell, Anton (ed.).Euripides, Women, and Sexuality (1st ed.). London, UK: Routledge. pp. 16–31.ISBN0-415-01025-X.
^Haralu, L. (2017). Madwomen and Mad Women: An Analysis of the Use of Female Insanity and Anger in Narrative Fiction, From Vilification to Validation. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. (Accession No. 10643100)
^[Carrie E. Cowherd. "The Ending of the 'Medea.'" The Classical World, vol. 76, no. 3, 1983, pp. 129–35. JSTOR,https://doi.org/10.2307/4349445. Accessed 6 Dec. 2022.]
^abcLush, B. (2014). Combat Trauma and Psychological Injury in Euripides’ Medea.Helios,41(1), 25–57.
^HyginusFabulae 25;OvidMet. 7.391ff.;SenecaMedea;Bibliotheca 1.9.28 favors Euripides' version of events, but also records the variant that the Corinthians killed Medea's children in retaliation for her crimes.
^abFrom the programme and publicity materials for this production.
^Kaggelaris, N. (2016)."Sophocles' Oedipus in Mentis Bostantzoglou's".Κοράλλι:74–81. Retrieved1 June 2018.Medea" [in Greek] in Mastrapas, A. N. - Stergioulis, M. M. (eds.)Seminar 42: Sophocles the great classic of tragedy, Athens: Koralli
^Christian Science MonitorZoe Caldwell's 'Medea,' a theatrical mountaintop; Medea Tragedy by Euripides, freely adapted by Robinson Jeffers. Directed by Robert Whitehead
Hall, Edith (1991).Inventing the Barbarian: Greek Self-definition through Tragedy. Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-814780-5.
Haralu, L. (2017). Madwomen and Mad Women: An Analysis of the Use of Female Insanity and Anger in Narrative Fiction, From Vilification to Validation. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. (Accession No. 10643100)
Lootens, Barbara J. "Images of Women in Greek Drama."Feminist Teacher, vol. 2, no. 1, 1986, pp. 24–28.JSTOR,JSTOR25680553. Accessed 27 Mar. 2023.
McDonald, Marianne (1997). "Medea as Politician and Diva: Riding the Dragon into the Future". In Ckauss, James; Johnston, Sarah Iles (eds.).Medea: Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy, and Art. Princeton University Press.ISBN0-691-04376-0.
Mitchell-Boyask, Robin (2008).Euripides: Medea. Translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. Hackett Publishing.ISBN978-0-87220-923-7.
Powell, Anton (1990).Euripides, Women and Sexuality. Routledge Press.ISBN0-415-01025-X.
Pucci, Pietro. "Survival in the Holy Garden."The Violence of Pity In Euripides’ “Medea,” vol. 41, Cornell University Press, 1980, pp. 91–130.JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.cttq44w0.6. Accessed 27 Mar. 2023.
Saïd, Suzanne (2002). "Greeks and Barbarians in Euripides' Tragedies: The End of Differences?". In Harrison, Thomas (ed.).Greeks and Barbarians. Translated by Antonia Nevill. Taylor & Francis.ISBN0-415-93959-3.
Tessitore, Aristide. "Euripides’ ‘Medea’ and the Problem of Spiritedness." The Review of Politics, vol. 53, no. 4, 1991, pp. 587–601. JSTOR,JSTOR1407307. Accessed 27 Apr. 2023.
Tigani, Francesco (2010),Rappresentare Medea. Dal mito al nichilismo, Aracne.ISBN978-88-548-3256-5
Medea public domain audiobook atLibriVox
