Uncomfortable Situations Encouraging Critical Reflection in Euripides' Medea

Euripides was an unorthodox thinker who questioned traditional social and religious views. He is considered a misogynist by some as he portrayed women as more likely than men to be driven by passion to do cruel and terrible things, as in Medea. The women in his plays, however, were always driven to these extremities by the actions of men, a concept against the beliefs of the dominant patriarchy.

Unfortunately, his views were not taken lightly by the "democratic" society of the time (Euripides was once prosecuted for impiety), so although the Medea encourages critique of the patriarchy, it does not do so overtly. And even though some elements of the Medea can be read in support of the patriarchy, the majority of the situations in it would have been confronting and uncomfortable to the mainly male Grecian audiences.

Indeed, we need to but look to the set to see one such situation that would have been confronting to the Grecian audiences. The entirety of the play is staged on the front steps of Jason?s house ? the one "neutral" territory between male and female relations. The steps symbolize the no-mans-land between the home, the source of power for women, and the public domain, the place of power for men. But even in this impartial territory, Medea, a woman, has power. She cannot leave the house, yet she holds this enormous power; more than enough to scare the pants off of the audience, and make them wonder how she has such power.

But this wonder soon turns to horror when Medea destroys her humanity in order to kill her own children, declaring, "I?m dead." After the play, and before the catharsis sets in, the audience is set pondering what it was that drove a woman to do such things, and to do them so cruelly. Euripides? dominant theme shines through: women driven to extremes by the actions of men.

Another confronting and uncomfortable situation for the audience would have been the horrendously vile way in which the king and princess are killed. To even think of hurting the royal house in Grecian society would have been stomach turning to the audience; to murder them with black arts ? beyond thought. However, a point the audience would be made to consider in this situation is the fact that Medea, a female, is capable of organizing the assassination of the greatest ruling powers within the society. The power inherent in Medea, shown in the lines

"His bride: she writhes and dies, when I decide.

Who calls me pliant, powerless?"

would have encouraged the audience to critically reflect on the play and the society in chaos that it represents; even though that society is their own.

Medea?s power, however, is not so visible at the beginning of the play. We open after the Nurse?s prologue to the sounds of Medea?s plaintive moans and cries, a noise perfectly fitting into the patriarchal gender prescription of the emotionally unstable Woman. This pleasing image (to the Grecian male audience at least) is soon shattered. Medea goes on through the rest of the play to swap personas like clothes; she is cunning, conniving and manipulative, the perfect antithesis of a perfect Grecian woman. And the Grecian male?s defense of "she is like that because she is a foreigner" is destroyed when we take a look at the chorus.

In the Medea, the chorus is composed purely of women ? Grecian women ? whose generic task it is to comment on the play?s action and present society?s opinion in regards as to what is happening on stage. However, they do so calmly, clearly and rationally, without any hint of the thought-clouding emotion that is to be expected of the socially prescribed Grecian Woman. It is ironic and confronting that Euripides has cast the chorus ? to whom the entire audience must listen ? as a group of women who, marginalized by society, would in real life have no voice at all. By doing so he forces the audience (composed chiefly of men) to listen to the sound opinions and reasoning of women, challenging society?s fundamental expectation of women to be thoughtless and emotional.

However, the greatest sign for the audience that the society on stage ? their society ? is in ruins is dialectical argument at the end of the play. Medea, in the deus ex machina high above Jason, commands the last hate-filled argument between the two; and Jason, representing the perfect Athenian man, is beaten! As Medea says, "you?ll die like the fool you are." What an image for the predominantly male audiences of the time!! The person who represents the epitome of their society completely and utterly destroyed by a woman!!

This situation, along with all the other uncomfortable situations that confront the audience, have their effect thus: they encourage the audience to think. To critically think about what exactly their society is, how it is arranged, and how women could rise up from their gender prescribed prisons and wreak havoc on society! Unfortunately, a probable step towards the male audience member?s catharsis after viewing the Medea would be to go home and beat their wives, ensuring that they stay in their place in the Grecian society.

The Medea, by confronting its predominantly male audience with uncomfortable and unpleasant situations, helps to encourage critical reflection upon the patriarchal society in which they lived. It demonstrates the inaccuracy of gender specific character traits, and the underlying fragility and ultimate failure of the Grecian patriarchal social order. The Medea shows how easily Grecian society could fall apart as a result of its arrogant, intolerant and suppressive nature by presenting the audience with uncomfortable situations in the play and in doing so promotes critical consideration upon it.