Conceptions of women and the foreigner Essay

In the ancient classic life, wo work crusades position was always considered to be quite a insignificant as comp ared to the piece of the Greek men. However, in close to tragedies women were the major and integral shells who revealed close to insights on the way the women happened to be treat and in some(prenominal) case thought in the entire society. Medea is maybe the most complex and fascinating character when we assist closely to the Greeks drama. She is an extensive and an ultimate mixture of villain, heroine as well as the dupe as dis typifyed in the play.She was conjoin to Jason who was a Greek man who she had decided to follow from the unknown land. Her adore was deep and when Jason decided to leave her in order to marry Creons daughter she was extremely tearing (Euripides1907, lines. 1-24). From there we resonate her getting involved in some acts of revenge. Her acts of mop up are the ultimate start up of revenge towards her children and her ex-husband. De spite wholly this catastrophes, Medea is a character to sympathize with. She decided to give up all that she had because of her love for Jason.She patroniseed her family and murdered her brother, she left her home because of the love she had for Jason to a foreign land and she became a get to please his husband yet she had no any desire to have children (Euripides, 1907,line,248). Even after Jason had cognize of all the sacrifices that Medea had had for him, he still had to leave her for a Greek princess. Medeas love was quite immense and Jasons betrayal cease up damaging her mind completely and revenge became the just now blow that she had in her power. She ended up killing the Greek princess using the cleverest chess that was available and her children.Though Medea is visualised as one of the most f recompenseening characters, it is crucial to compare her ethical concerns and the scheming shallow hollows of her ex husband. Medea accompanies her Antigone as the most definin g heroines in the ancient Greek drama. She ended up defying her primary(prenominal) role as the help little and happy housewife and refutes to accept betrayal without revenging. Medea decided to abandon all the gender roles in the ancient society of Greek. She defied some perceptions of gender through personation both fe anthropoid and male tendencies.She decided to detach herself from all the cleaning ladyly emotions and acted in a way that the society did non see appropriate for women. In the ancient Greek, murder was an issue that was never associated with the women though Medea in the play committed a series of murder including her own children (Euripides, 1907, 207-213). It is thence imperative to analyze at length the concepts of women and the extraterrestrial beings in the Greek tragedies basing the rationale as represent by Medea. In the play, Medea is portray as a foreign witch. She is treated irrationally throughout the play by various people at divergent times.Sh e consequently changes her whole character and finally triumphs over Jason. She is feasibly seen as the soulfulness woman and Aristotles hero portend as well as the goddess. Womens rights have been neglected throughout the play and women have no voice. Medea changes all that in her revenge against Jason and her own children. Foreigners and women were loathed and had no any place in the society and were not alleged(a) to have any powerful position. It is a play portraying chauvinism, women treated unfairly and their convey portrayed as lonesome(prenominal) meant to bear children.Though to an extent we see the evil deeds of Medea, we besides have a glimpse on the reasons behind her deeds. She is a foreigner and to the Greeks she will always be a Barbarian. Her acts recognise it even hard for her as she gets despised more. Even other women treat her suspiciously. Medea is portrayed as a foreigner in her land and in her own home who has no any common feature with the Corinth wo men. All she had was Jason and the children. Before she got married she was viewed as a princess and later became an outcast. Women and foreigners in the Greek tragedy were portrayed as disenfranchised, slaves and were unrepresented.The acts of Medea have contradicted the view of the society that the women are the primary(prenominal) givers of life and that the men end up taking it away. It is quite unacceptable because of the fact she is the mother to the children. Killing a phallus of the family was usually frowned upon in the ancient Greece like it is done today. Medea has portrayed extreme pride which is usually uninspired as one of the characteristic of the male species. She decided to sacrifice all that she had even her reputation in order to restore her own reputation (Sophocles, Euripides & Aeschylus, 2004).It has always been a common belief that the major impuissance in a woman is the children and in this case this is not so. Her pride has prevailed other maternal(p) in stincts. Medea aims to seek vengeance in the same intense force to rectify a situation nevertheless like a man would. A woman who is seeking for revenge usually challenges the societal views of women as passive and weak. Medea is dwelling on self pity until she contrives to a scheme that will avenge how more she has been hurt. Wallowing is usually a quality that is attributed to the women in the society.Medea was so sad with her life after her conjugal union to Jason ended that she alone wanted to die. The common opinion in the society is that the women usually use trickery and magic trick in order to achieve their main goals in life. Medea in this case is not an exception as she persuades Creon to permit her to stay at least one day in Corinth as she pretends that she is preparing for deport term in the actual sense she was just planning on how she will carry out the murder acts to her enemies as well as children (Euripides1907, pp. 198). Medea in the entire play has defied the stereotypes of both female and male characters.She has shown some immense emotions portrayed by both sexes. At times she acts as an ultimate man and others as a woman. The Greeks had an immense suspicion when it came to foreigners and always thought of all of them to be barbarians. With Medea, Euripides has confronted this prejudice issue by deciding to honor foreigners with some roles of a tragic heroine and making her one of the most intelligent character in the entire play. The playwright has also confirmed numerous Greek stereotypes of the foreigners through making Medea too passionate, wild and vengeful.Medea is a very powerful and tragic heroine who gets to achieve successful vengeance and ends up escaping with impunity. In some scenarios, she is portrayed to be a submissive and weak who commits no any crime (Paul, 2006, pp. 1321-4853). Allan (2003, pp. 143) asserts that downstairs Medeas personality there lies a credible, coherent and an effective character who portrays an immense sense of judge and whose humiliation and revenge drive her to go for the revenge. He also notes that Medeas actions and plans were affected by her main status as a foreigner and a woman and not as a mortal avenger.Euripides in his play is fascinated by the acts of women as well as the contradictions that do exist in the Greek understanding of the term gender. His discussion of the women is so sophisticated. Medeas starting speech to the chorus is the most rational and eloquent statement on the injustices that befall the women species. He recognizes that the major position of the female and their dash of subordination to men are coming from the social order that prevails in Greece. Medea is not really a role model as far as feminist is concerned.Euripides has portrayed the difficulties that women went through. He portrays an image of a real woman who has suffered and has been twisted by her suffering. It is not a story on women liberation but rather it is a war that ex ists between sexes. The other key is a major stem. Medeas strangeness has been emphasized from the beginning. In the very first opening lines, the nurse reminds us that Medea is from an exotic and a remote land. The foreignness aspect is portrayed as barbaric, exotic, fearful and unknown. The issue of exile has also been portrayed in the play.Modern readers and audiences have a great difficulty when trying to conceive on the concept of exile and how much it was horrible for the Greeks. Homes and cities were considered as the major source of protection. Wandering with no friends and shelter was seen as a great fate which was much horrible than death itself. Medea just for the sake of husband made herself to be the exile. She goes away from home, have no friends or family who can offer protection to her. The theme of exile has been link with womens position.In emphasizing some of the circumstances in which women have to bear after marriage like leaving their homes and staying with strangers. Medea reminds us of the worst conditions in exile. Her position is a grave situation since she is already an exile in reality and portrays the fact that all women in reality are exiles. She is a foreigner thus to all the Greeks she will always remain a barbarian. In the play the issue of cleverness and cunning is also evident. These traits though they ought to be admired cause a lot of suffering to Medea.Her intellect, force and strength exceed her station of operation. Though the Greeks to an extent have some respect for her, they are seen treating her smugly just because she is a woman and a foreigner. She is surrounded by some people who are less capable and less intelligent than her. She is despised because of her own talents that ought to have won her praise. Since she is a foreigner she therefore behaves without morality and any restraint. In the chorus, we see how much Medea is pitied but also it reveals that women ought to endure.We see Medea entering and deliv ering a monologue on the sufferings that women go through. Though women are creatures that can feel and think, they have to endure some indignities in the society. Men are meant to bear arms but women are supposed to bear children (Medea 214-224, 2006, pp. 115). The theme of women and their position has been emphasized in the play. To just allege that Euripides was a great feminist can only be a major oversimplification and anachronism. What is factual is that Euripides is fascinated by the difficulties and womens position.Through examining the treatment that women are accorded, Euripides has also revealed some of the injustices in the society. He is savvy of how art has been wrongly used in defaming the character of women and how smart it has been used in recognizing that most fables and myths of the Greeks male dominated orders through teaching women on how to accept as well as enjoy subjugation. Medea who is a woman and a foreigner has portrayed numerous specifics of the life of Greeks that are universal in todays society.A woman when she gets married ought to leave her home in order to join her own family. Therefore she is portrayed as an outsider. Women are not meant to socialize freely as men, while men can roam wildly and featherbed with other women. Medea has made herself as the main spokesman on the suffering of women thus has secured the secrecy and loyalty of the main chorus. Foreigners were people who were disliked in Greek. In the play we see how much King Aeetess hated the foreigners. A great anger filled King Aeetes heart as he listened.He did not like foreigners, any more than Greeks did, he wanted them to keep away from his country, and he himself express to himself, if these strangers had not eaten at my table I would kill them (Jimmison, 2009). The image of Medea and the barbarian king was irrational, magic, frightening and issues to do with some supernatural powers had no any place in the Greek mythology. As a foreigner, Medea only expect ed suffering since this myth was created in the Greek image of a Barbarian woman. Medea has shown numerous heroic meter qualities that were uncommon among the Greek women.She is even willing to kill her brother just to be with Jason. In Greek, women murdering acts were quite rare and this is something that was not supposed to happen at al. To some extent, Medea is reacting to the inferior status of injustice that women were accorded. rudimentary to the entire plot, is Medeas foreign origins and how they are really related to to her main actions. Generally women in the play have been portrayed as creatures with very few rights. As far as men were concerned, women were only supposed to cook and clean, do some house chores and bear children.They had no imperative votes like the right to own property, vote or choose their own husbands and they had to be presented in any legal minutes that were taking place. They were just like slaves. Though some of Medeas actions were untypical of what a Greek woman was supposed to possess, to some extent she also had emotions and attitudes of a common woman. She speaks against some of the womens rights and how they have no any choice to whom they decide to get married to and men can get rid of a woman in order to get whatever they wanted (Euripides, 1907,pp. 231-247).In the play we see Medea portraying some emotional attitudes of a woman and a mother. She says, Poor heart, let them go, have pity upon the children (Euripides, 1907,pp, 1057). withal in the play women are portrayed as faithful. Medea talks of how she helped her ex husband during his quest of the lucky Fleece and even helped him to escape to an extent of killing his own brother for him (Euripides, 1907,pp. 476-483). The fact that she decided to betray her family just to be with Jason shows her sense of loyalty. Though women and foreigners were portrayed as minorities with no say, the play also shows that they were resourceful and clever.Instead of using physic al force in accomplishing her plans of revenge, she went ahead to use her mind instead. She asserts, it is best to make away with them with poison (Euripides, 1907,pp384-385). She poisons Jasons wife as well as the King of Corinth though she poisons them indirectly. Medeas act of murder against her own children is because of her barbarian origins. The major reason why Jason decided to let go of Medea and marry a princess is in order for her to have a higher status and material riches through getting married to the kings daughter (Euripides, 1907,pp553-554).It is lucid hence to note that Jason had a belief that Medeas foreign origins were a burden and a distracter to him since there was a stigma that was related to that. Medeas foreign status is also a major burden to her. Once they got separated, she became an outsider and had no any place to go since barbarians were never highly thought in the Greek society. If Medea was not a foreigner, then it is possible that Jason would not h ave divorced her. Medea is a play that portrays the real ancient Greeks and their attitudes towards the foreigners and women.Women were supposed to be seen and not heard and thus Medea surprises the Greek society since she goes against the norms. Women were supposed to bear children and take shell out of their husbands. The womens rights were less considered and there was no way women could equal men. The foreigners had no any right and were also treated unfairly. It is a play revealing some of the heroic acts of women and what they had to go to get noticed in the society. Works Cited Allan, William. Euripides Medea. 2002. London Duckworth, pp. 143 Euripides.Medea. 1907. USA Oxford University Press. Euripides, Sophocles & Aeschlus. Five Great Greek tragedies. USA Courier Dover publications. 2004. Jimmison. The musical theme of foreigner in Euripides and Senecas Medea. Retrieved 11, July, 2010