Lecture 15

Question 1

Eruipides

Answer 1

• 88 plays, 18 survive
• 5 victories
• during his life, often grouped with Socrates as a radical intellectual
• unprecedented and incredibly influential approach to inner lives of characters and in particular those who were oppressed (slaves, women)

Question 2

Philosophy

Answer 2

• philos “friend” + sophos “wise”
• Greek philosophy, beginning in early 6th c. BCE, counted the mythological worldview with a rational worldview
• instead of anthropomorphic gods, philosophers theorized forces (such as Fire or Reason) to explain the universe
• concerned with the nature of the universe and with the nature of human action (i.e. goodness and justice)
• these systems sort of question the gods
• no talk of gods at all in Medea
• Sophism is related to this thought of philosophy

Question 3

Sophism

Answer 3

• “wise”
• -An outgrowth of rational thinking, Sophism suggested truth was rooted in human experience
• In turn, Sophism prioritized persuasion as key element of human knowledge
• Sophism became notorious for teaching people how to make good arguments for bad causes (in legal or political matters)
• thought of as a charlatan

Question 4

Jason and the Argonauts

Answer 4

• Jason: heir to the throne of Iolkos
• throne is usurped by uncle Pelias
• given impossible task that’s designed to kill him to find the golden fleece
• Group of heroes gather to help (Hercules (bails), Theseus, others) called Argonauts

Question 5

The Golden Fleece

Answer 5

• Three more impossible tasks
• Plow field with fire-breathing oxen (yolk them)
• Sow field with the dragon teeth
• fight warriors who spring up

Question 6

Medea

Answer 6

• from Colchis
• daughter of king
• granddaughter of Helios
• Niece of Circe
• helps Jason with the three tasks her father assigns him

Question 7

Madea’s Betrayals in Colchis

Answer 7

• Medea aids Jason to steal the fleece, giving him advice and magical protection from fire breathing bulls and advice to complete tasks
• She kills her young brother to secure escape for herself and Jason

Question 8

Jason’s Nostos

Answer 8

• In some versions, Jason returns and finds that his father has died. IN others Jason’s father has grown old, and Medea uses her magic to restore him to his youth
• Pelias’ daughters ask Medea to rejuvenate their father as well, but Medea fakes the ritual, and tricks his daughter into chopping up their father alive as part of the ritual, but Medea doesn’t complete the spell
• Jason and Medea again flee, this time to Corinth

Question 9

Madea and Jason in Corinth

Answer 9

• Jason is engaged to be married to the duaghter of the King
• Madea knows and is clearly upset at the beginning of the play
• Madea has not yet heard she’s going to be exiled
• She has nowhere to go
• Creon tells Medea that she must go into exile and Medea sks for one more day

Question 10

Medas’ Commentary p. 785

Answer 10

• commentary on women’s place in society
• talking about dowry
• a master for our bodies or a husband
• divorce was not respectable which was not an option for Medea in any case cause divorced women typically go to live with their fathers again
• men can have multiple “soul-mates” but women can only have one
• they have to stay home in “safety” while they go fight
• says she’d rather stand three times in the battlefield than bear one child

Question 11

Athen and Peacekeeping

Answer 11

Often in these tragedies Athens acts as a peacekeeping role

• Ageis the king of Athens offers Medea refuge
• He’s traveling because he can’t have any sons

Question 12

View of Jason

Answer 12

• tries to be persuasive
• speech on 792
• things Medea should be thankful he brought her from the barbarian world to the Greek world
• says he made her famous
• argues the marriage is a good idea because it will just be a bigger family and that everyone will get along and this will give them money cause he’s lost his kingdom

Question 13

Medea’s Reaction to Jason’s speech

Answer 13

• sees through it
• knows he’s trying to be clever
• he’s broken the one law that matters, the law of oaths
• Medea knows that the princess does not like her sons
• says he tries to talk his way out of everything, but he won’t get away with it this time

Question 14

Chorus and Medea

Answer 14

• in the beginning they pity her, they say Jason wronged her
• butts in on p. 793 saying it was criminal to desert his wife
• tends to be a very weak figure
• bystanders that chime in to keep the plot going
• don’t try to interfere
• have an impulse to do something but they don’t do it

Question 15

Gifts to Princess

Answer 15

• A crown that sets her hair on fire and fixes to her head that can’t be removed
• A poisoned robe that attaches to the flesh and tear it away

Question 16

Alternate Account

Answer 16

• Medea’s children are killed by the people of Corinth, in retaliation for the deaths of the princess and Creon
• In both versions, an altar is built near Corinth to honor the children after their deaths
• Some believe that Euripides was the first to introduce the variant of the story in which Medea kills her children

Question 17

Alternate Account’s affect on our experience

Answer 17

-comparable to a revamped version of a classic movie. Many times the classic version is preferred

Question 18

Alternate Account and impression of Medea

Answer 18

• she doesn’t seem as bad because she’s not killing her children
• idea in this play that once the princess is killed the kids are going to die one day or another so Medea argues that by her killing them she’s doing them a favor before the others get to them and make them suffer. Out of a degree of kindness. However main goal is to punish Jason
• children bringing gifts to princess seals their fate

Question 19

Mechane

Answer 19

• crane which was used to lift a character above the Greek stage. The character was usually a god, who would arrive at the end of the play, and usually resolve the events of the play in some way
• In Medea it is Medea who appears in this divine position aboard her dragon chariot
• This is when she curses Jason and has the bodies of her children with her
• Gets a chariot from Helios to help her escape and prophesizes that Jason is going to die a worthless death