NOTE: Remember, I have to cancel class on Thursday due to the Interscholastic Meet, which will take over the entire building on Thursday. So we'll reconvene on Tuesday to discuss our next work, the Greek tragedy, Medea.
If you want to know more about the backstory to this play, read pages 160-180 in Hamilton's Mythology on "The Quest of the Golden Fleece." Basically, this is the story of the Greek hero Jason's quest to obtain the magic Golden Fleece, and how Medea, the daughter of King AEetes helps him obtain it, sacrificing her own family--and literally, her own brother--to save him. According to the myths, while they were being chased by her father in ships, "Medea herself struck her brother down and cutting him limb from limb cast the pieces into the sea. The King stopped to gather them, and the Argo (his ship) was saved" (Hamilton 175). However, once they return successfully to Greece and have a few kids, Jason decides to marry for money and cast her off to start a new family. The play, Medea, is about her revenge against Jason for forcing her to abandon her family simply to be abandoned in the end.
So read the play and then answer two of the following as always:
Q1: What is the role of the Chorus in the play? Unlike a song, the Chorus is actually a character that both talks to the audience and interacts with the characters. What relationship does the Chorus seem to have with Medea, and why is it a necessary/important voice in the drama? Think about the role of tragedy in general as we discussed on Tuesday.
Q2: How does Medea compare to some of the dangerous women in The Odyssey, such as Calypso and Circe? How does Euripides characterize her as a woman, rather than merely as a myth or a 'witch'? Are we supposed to feel sympathy for her?
Q3: Similarly, how might Jason compare to other heroes in The Odyssey, such as Odysseus and Telemachus? Is he the true victim in this play, or like Odysseus, another cunning trickster/deceiver? How much credence should we give to Medea's lament in the play that "when a man is base, how can we know?/Why is there no sign stamped upon his body?"
Q4: In this play, we almost expect something to stop Medea from killing her children or someone to reconcile the two, almost like Zeus in Book 24 of The Odyssey. Instead, the unthinkable happens, and Jason cries out, "the gods have sent the vengeance/that you deserve to crash down on my head." Why is Medea allowed to escape without punishment or penalty? Why do only the children die in this play? Is this justice...or is it like The Odyssey, the strange will of the gods?
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