1. A Different Kind of Tragedy
Euripides Medea Part 1
Medea
what’s it about?
Background production, playwright, context, myth
A Different Kind of Tragedy?
Agon
tragic sophistic
A Different Kind of Tragedy
Theme in Medea
discuss …
Background
Production, Historical Context, Myth
Agon
Jason vs. Medea (pp. 47 ff.)
Theme Again
Gender, Ethnicity
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2.
Euripides’ Medea
What’s it About?
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3. What’s it About? (themes, issues)
What’s it About? (themes, issues)
revenge - lover scorned
family ties
twisted love
justice (personal)
vendetta
revenge
betrayal
love lost
outcast
barbarian
self-service
pride
betrayal / unfaithfulness
fear of outsiders
origin, roots (m’s betrayal)
broken promises – marriage
hubristic jason
deserves punishment
meaning of marriage
m: = love
j: = social-ladder, secure
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4. Production, Playwright, Context, Myth
Background
Production, Playwright, Context, Myth
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5. Playwright, Play Euripides Production 485/4 or 480–ca. 406 22 entries
Playwright, Play
Euripides
485/4 or 480–ca. 406
22 entries
4 wins
Production
431 BCE
Patriotic themes??
“From of old the children of Erechtheus are / Splendid” (Chorus, p. 27)
485/4 or 480–ca. 406
competed 22 times
455 on…
4 wins
Biographical tradition
reclusive
studious
NERD
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6. 1-13-99 CLA77, Andrew Scholtz Jason, son of Aeson uncle Pelias
“Why did the winged oars of the Argo | ever weave between those gnashing blue | fjords toward the land of Colchis?” (p. 33)
Golden Fleece
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7. Medea’s Background maps Chariot of the Sun 1-13-99
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8. maps 1-13-99 CLA77, Andrew Scholtz
Medea demonstrates how to rejuvenate creatures – part of her plan to destroy Jason’s evil uncle.
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9. Play Analysis (pages refer to Dover ed.)
Play Analysis (pages refer to Dover ed.)
prologue (pp. 1 ff.)
Nurse, Tutor, Medea (off stage)
parodos (5 ff.)
Chorus, Nurse, Medea (off stage)
episode 1 (8 ff.)
Medea, Creon – entrapment
stasimon 1 (14 f.)
misogyny, women’s silence reversed
episode 2 (15 ff.)
AGŌN: Jason, Medea
stasimon 2 (20 f.)
“may safe marriage, reasonable love be mine”
episode 3 (21 ff.)
Medea, Aegeus
stasimon 3 (27 f.)
Athens no land for Medea
episode 4 (28 ff.)
Jason, Medea – entrapment
stasimon 4 (31 f.)
murder approaches
episode 5 (32 ff.)
Tutor, Medea’s monologue
anapestic (chanted) interlude (35 f.)
Chorus: sorrows of parenthood
episode 6 (36 ff.)
Medea, Messenger (poisonings described)
stasimon 5 (40 f.)
desperate hopes (dochmiacs)
exodos (41 ff.)
catastrophe, Medea’s dea ex machina
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10. Euripidean Dramaturgy
Euripidean Dramaturgy
A Different Kind of Tragedy?
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11. Euripidean Dramaturgy
Euripidean Dramaturgy
Realism
Anachronism
Intellectualism
Experimentalism
genre-bending
Originality
Plotting, suspense
Framing-closure
prologue
deus ex machina
Euripides
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12.
“Sophocles said that he portrayed people as they ought to be and Euripides as they are” (Aristotle Poetics ch. 25)
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13. A Different Kind of Tragedy?
A Different Kind of Tragedy?
“I was at the place / Where the old draught-players sit, by the holy fountain, …” (Tutor, p. 3)
“For not on us did Phoebus (= Apollo), lord of music, / Bestow the lyre’s divine / Power, for otherwise I should have sung an answer / To the other sex” (Chorus, 14)
“When love is in excess / It brings a man no honor” (Chorus, 20)
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14. Agōn: Tragic Sophistic
Agōn: Tragic Sophistic
Jason vs. Medea (pp. 15 ff.)
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15. Character Dynamics … chorus helps us side with her helps see m’s side
Character Dynamics …
chorus helps us side with her
helps see m’s side
j is determined
blaming the victim
j maybe thinks he’s justified
j feels no guilt at all
covering bases
j ignorant
he was feeling guilty!
damage control
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16. “To make the weaker argument appear the stronger” – Protagoras
Sophistic
“To make the weaker argument appear the stronger” – Protagoras
sophos
sophia
sophistēs
sophistic
sophism
sophistry
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17. Agon Analysis (pp. 15 ff.) Medea: arguments Jason: arguments Medea
Agon Analysis (pp. 15 ff.)
Medea: arguments
M. helped-saved J.
at cost
J. broke vows.
Where to go?
shameful betrayal
Jason: arguments
Aphrodite saved J.
though Medea helped
M. gained more than gave.
by moving to Greece
Prudent match (argument from expediency).
for J., for M., for children
Women as trouble. (Tips his hand?)
Medea
“a hypocrite who is too glib only multiplies the danger that it puts him in”
“you felt your glory tarnished by an aging, oriental wife”
J. should have persuaded M.
Jason
“has nothing to do with women”
generous motives
compare arguments: m offers straightforward evidence, fact-based - she argues the kreitton logos
jason treats her arguments as a force to be reckoned with - posing danger to himself
I’ll have to choose my words with no uncommon skill … if I am to sail .. through your lashing, dangerous tongue”
his arguments are sophistically based, the weaker argument in every case
dodges and spin - the attempt to adjust appearances not the facts
yet her arguments take a surprising turn - they assume a masculine persona for her
“come now, tell me frankly as if we two were friends” - the greek makes clear that she means male friends
“were you not a coward it was your duty to convince me, not to go sneaking off to marry” - in an Athenian context, at least, he may divorce for any reason he likes. to form a more prestigious match perfectly acceptable
for the audience, his arguments will have failed to convince, but her arguments will fail to fit - she argues like a greek man. yet she is a barbarian woman
he fails to see how transparent his dodge is
she, how unconventionally she must come across
CLA77, Andrew Scholtz