”Medea” by Euripides Essay

Unclean, repugnant child destroyer. Medeas murder of her children means she can non be regarded as a true tragicalal gun. To what tip do you agree with this in view of Euripidess presentations of Medea in the exodos?The ambit of Medea presented by Euripides in the exodos is uncertainnesslessly largely horrifying and appalling to the hearing. Medea manifestly presents her entrust for revenge and it is difficult to sympathise with her char symbolizeer. However, in galore(postnominal) respects her character fits the image of a tragic hero. Although, it is widely controversial to associate Medea with heroic aspects in modern days, from an ancient Hellenics perspective her actions and personality might well match aspects of the tragic hero such as consistency, appropriation, noble state, and tragic flaw. This essay will explore whether her presentation in the exodos as well as her actions in other circumstances justify her tragic hero status. firstborn of all, Medea has always enjoyed a good reputation and high-rank in society. Her heroic identity symbolises the fact that she is a grand- fe young-begetting(prenominal) child of the Sun. Moreover, Medea was a princess of Colchis and dis persisted a vast knowledge of enchantments and medicine. When Jason abandons her in a foreign basis she bring into beings a dispossessed refugee and her pride suffers. It has also been stated by the Chorus in the playOf all breed and hardships no(prenominal) is worseThan to be deprived of your native land. L.651-652It bets intolerable for her to be rejected & homeless in a foreign land. We can infer this by the use of words such as pains and hardships which emphasises her outstanding position through an accumulation of two similar meanings. Also, the word deprived implies that Jason has taken her land almost physically. Here, the role of chorus modifies the structure in the play as they appearance break up the acts in the play. Thus, Euripides attaches an important role of the chorus to construct the play. Her behaviour has been farther explored by E.R Dodds who states that members of an ancient classic society acknowledged anything which exposes a man to the contempt or ridicule of his fellows, which causes them to miss face, as un chokeable.According to Aristotle, a tragic hero must hold noble, respected kind status. It can be argued therefore that Medeas murder of her children in exodos was a desperate and impulsive response to the pressure of social conformity (Dodds) and a diseased attempt to gain back her reputation. Such actions argon common in Greek tragedies such as The Oresteia where Atreus admitted an even larger horrific act of revenge against his sidekick who had liaison with Atreuss wife. Similarly, while Medea loses face when Jason abandons her, Atreuss reputation suffers when his wife commits adultery. Nevertheless, later Atreuss takes care of his brothers son. This, as opposed to Medea, can be considered as tragic heros adept of guilt or, perhaps, the way to dispense justice.On the other hand, Medea doesnt regret her actions. Her experience of guilt does not exist. Contrarily, she seems to be proud of her murder as she uses cynical and sarcastic techniques while she responds to Jasons accusations in stichomythia Go home your wife waits to be buried. The mention of Jasons would-be wife is extremely cruel and inapt as previously, Medea mercilessly murdered her. In the exodos, Medea and Jason have a short and sharp exchange after Jason sees the dead bodies of his children. Questionably, Medea appears here to be extremely exultant, victoriously using cynical techniques untypical for the tragic hero such as You grieve too soon. Old age is coming. It is clear that Medea identifies her murder with a triumph over Jason. This opposes the fact that Medea can be regarded as a tragic hero because members of an ancient Greek society, despite their desire for high reputation, had a sense of guilt and justice which is described by E.R Dodds as a gradually growing sense of guiltwhich transformed into a punishment and chassis of cosmic justice. This implies that Medea as a tragic hero should regret her actions however, this never occurs.Instead, at the goal of the play, Medea and the bodies of her children are taken away by the gods in the shape of Deus ex Machina. Up until the exodos, Medea has had some features of a tragic hero. However in the exodos, the absence of any kind of regrets opens up a count over whether Medeas presentation can be truly regarded as a tragic hero. Here, the gods seem to appear strangely sympathetic in her murderous sufferings and surprisingly shocking in supporting Medeas actions and punishing Jason. It can be argued that the gods support Medea and Deus ex Machina occurs in order to dispense justice by not allowing Jason to bury his children and leaving him unsatisfied. Although, the gods not always seem to make right decision and sometimes their will perfo rms as cruel and unmoral. It isnt just the fact that Medea kills her children that seem to be questioning Medeas heroic aspects. It is also true that Medea does not die. The play is in fact the only surviving Greek tragedy where the tragic hero doesnt die.Furthermore, Medea is a woman driven by male desire. Her desire for revenge leads to her overcoming the sense of maternal instinct. Therefore, the Greek audience couldnt completely regard Medea as a tragic hero and yet the audience () shudder at the ruthless of her anger and heat for vengeance (Easterling). It is unclear whether Medea aims to portray herself as a woman or to employ the heroic male weapon. She often sympathise with females as a groupWe were born women useless for honest solves, unless in all kinds of evil skilled practitioners l.406-407Here, Medea uses first person plural verb in order to become a representative of females. However, the fact that she lacks her maternal instinct and kills her children in reaction to her dishonour and her violence, which she herself abhors follow the composition of a male desire. At this point, it is difficult to define Medea as a tragic hero because she plainly contradicts the idea of consistency in that she portrays herself sometimes as a representative of oppressed women and sometimes as a male hero.It is largely controversial to argue that Medeas presentation in the play (particularly in the exodos) is good and appropriate (Aristotle). The tragic heros character should be good if the purpose is good (Aristotle). Euripidess presentation of Medea at the beginning of the play is to make the audience disgrace her dramatic position however, if we consider the fact that previously Medea has committed two acts of murder in order to connect Jason it is difficult to sympathise her. The murder of her children is a highly horrifying act of the play as the children assert for help (Help, help, for the gods sake Shes killing us).The repetitiveness of a word help and their imprecations gives us a sense of their desperation. In this way, Medea fits her image of a tragic hero because according to Aristotle, fear and gentleness must be aroused in circumstances in which a tragic incident mingled with those who are near or dear to one another. Indeed, we pity characters in the exodos as the act of murder has been done at the expense of innocent children pleading for help. On the other hand, it has been investigated by P.E Easterling that Euripides more imitators have tended to present Medeas behaviour as that of madwomen. This is because the way in which Medea murders her children is largely brutal as she uses a sword and seem to be murdering them in a mercilessly pattern. Therefore, even the Ancient Greek audience seems to reject the idea of Medea being good and appropriate.In addition, for Medea to fully fit the image of a Greek tragic hero it is essential that she has her tragic flaw which contributes to the pin. It is necessary for the tr agic heroes to be wrapped in themystery () with that something beyond which we can only see through them, and which is the source of their posture and their fate alike (Anderson) Without this, tragedy cannot be regarded as a tragedy itself. Therefore, in context of Medea, the same of something beyond can be considered her excessive pride and obsession with the laughter of my enemies. Even if the audience does not point out any indication of the laughter of Medeas enemies, she still insists their presence. She does not perceive the support of the women of Corinth (meaning the Chorus) or -perhaps, she does not want to perceive it. Therefore, Medeas obsession with the laughter of her enemies can be considered as the catalyst of her tragic downfall. However, it might be believed that this obsession cannot be regarded as the catalyst of her tragic downfall because it is clear that Medea fully acknowledges her flaws and in her horrific act in the exodos she recognises that whats shes do ing is wrong. In the row 1077 she saysI understandThe horror of what I am going to doEvidently, Medea appears to be aware of her tragic flaw and to accept the consequences. In this case, Medea cannot be regarded as a tragic hero because she acknowledges her flaws. Therefore, the Greek audience could not be entertained or surprised by Medeas actions. We do not pity her because she accepts her tragic flaws throughout the play. Medeas self-awareness of her immorality contradicts Andersons belief that the message of tragedy is that men are better than they think they are. The message needs to be said over and over lest the race lose faith in itself entirely.There is a large distinction between the recognition of a tragic hero in Ancient Greece and the modern world. We associate heroic aspects with goodness, appropriation and a well-developed sense of forgiveness. The presentation of Medea in the exodos as well as her actions throughout the play, strongly contradict with the principles of Christianity and her character appears as irrelevant to modern ideas. Unfortunately, Medea from the Ancient Greeks point of view can be regarded as a tragic hero to a significant extent. The horrific act of murdering her children is insane and sickening however, it is without doubt that it fits with the image of a tragic hero in a several respects.BibliographyAristotle, Poetics. Trans. S.H. Butcher. www.classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics/htmlAccessed 5th January 2012P.E Easterling The Infanticide in Euripides Medea, Yale Classical Studies, 25(1997) 193-225Dodds, E.R. The Greeks and the Irrational. University of California Press, (2000).Allan, William. Euripides Medea Duckworth Companions for Greek and Roman tragedy. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, (2002)Anderson, The Essence of TragedyNorthrop Frye, The Mythos of AutumnWord count 1,496