Euripides - M E D E A
One of the most important features of classical literature, writers through the ages, operating structure is given by the same issues. This tradition is slowly losing its power but continues also in our century, which penned by different authors with the same name, it has reached so many works today. In a basic form, we can say that Tragedy is a kind of thinking that contributes to the perception of human life and their idealization in the classical tradition.
Euripides, the last one of the famous writers in the 5th century, was able to win only a total of five races, including one after his death. Euripides has almost 90 plays and he won these only five races not because he failed, but because his plays didn’t clear enough to understand by the Greek people in those times. As we see, if he had failed, we wouldn’t be reading his plays today.
In his early years, Euripides believed that mind and idea existed as a divine substance in human beings. So he basically thinks that human beings are Godlike. Euripides, like Socrates, expressed the empty rhetoric against the worst effects of the breed. The nice words only caress our souls, as he emphasized these aspects in most of his plays. Also, he was often prone to physical research and criticized the traditional religion or beliefs. In his plays, the time has requested an era where everything was to be discussed and debated. Also, the universe and human interference have re-recognition and identification. Sophistic culture pulls the old thinking which made this period a mirror task. Euripides gives place to new ideas and currents of the time. He leads to the philosopher known as the author of the stage. As we see, his main interest was always humans, and he impressed the humanism by sophistic thinking based on reasonable techniques.
Another point of criticism of Euripides is the incorrect behaviors of the Gods. For example, Zeus’ addiction to love and sexuality because Euripides thought that Gods should be smarter than human beings. For that reason, he obviously wanted to tell the current problems of the people and the society, but in an indirect way. And this way is, of course, Tragedy.
In Medea, Iason (Jason), the King of Iolcos, does not trust the kingdom of Pelias, who is Jason’s stepbrother, until the underage of Jason. When Jason grows up, he has a duty that might be explained like this: without anyone’s help, he must first yoke a pair of fire-breathing bulls to a plow and sew dragon's teeth into the earth. If he will be successful, the other dragon work is driven to a field of wheat bread in this way; so it is basically to kill the giants of the earth.
When Jason thinks about the impossibility of this duty, Medea, the daughter of Aietes, who is a witch and master of any kind of sorcery, magic or voodoo, falls in love with Jason and decides to help him, but she has a condition which is marriage. He accepts and marries with her and makes his duty, successfully. Jason and Medea live together in Corinth, happily, for several years. During these times, they have two sons. But after these several years, one day, Medea learns that Jason cheated on her with the Princess of Corinth. Although Jason’s thought is only the power of the Princess, Medea becomes insane.
She wants to take revenge. She thinks that it must be painful and bloody. She poisons some clothes and jewelry and sends them to the Princess. When the princess wears them, she burns and her father comes to help her but he also burns with her. They all get their share. At last, all the palace burns and Medea kills her own children within her madness and shows them to her husband, Jason.
In conclusion, when we look at the play in a detailed way, we can see Euripides uses Medea’s humane more than her witchcraft. He tells us that cheating a woman makes her insane and exposes what she can do as a woman. In another word, she can kill her own children with not only without feeling motherhood but also for giving a good lesson to her husband. Euripides demonstrates how male power is related to status and combines it with the extreme female anger to criticize gender norms.
