Medea

I took some main points from lecture and talked about them in Medea.

Nature of community in Medea

Just like in lecture today, in Medea men are the dominant gender. They own everything, run the city, and participate in all the activities of the city. In Medea, she talks about her frustration that men have all the power and that her husband Jason can just divorce her and take her house and kids and go marry another woman, leaving Medea with nothing.

Another important aspect of community is the importance of speech. This is seen in Medea when she sweet talks Creon into letting her stay for an extra day, tricking Jason into believing that she is okay with the divorce and re-marriage, and when she talked to the King of Athens and was able to stay in Athens in exchange for helping the King become fertile again.

Nature of the stories in Medea

In lecture, we talked about how Greek tragedies' plots are about horrible mistakes that lead to greater suffering. Well, in Medea, her initial mistake was leaving her hometown to marry Jason because he ultimately ended up leaving her for another wife which caused greater suffering to Medea than when she had to leave her family behind. As for Jason, his initial mistake was falling for Medea's scheme and accepting the gifts Medea gave to Jason's new wife. Ultimately, Jason's new wife died as well as his sons, which was far greater suffering than the initial divorce from his original wife.