Medea Blog Prompt

            The point of The Medea, aside from the major conflict of gender roles, is the tension Medea faces as a foreigner in a new land. Though not discussed explicitly in the play, Medea is a princess from a land to the far East. Having betrayed her father by helping Jason take the Golden Fleece from his land, Medea effectively surrendered her home and chose a new life with Jason. When the conflict breaks out in the play, Medea and her children are faced with exile from Corinth by King Creon, and because Medea burned her bridge with her father, she has no where to go in the world. The concept of the foreigner is relatively unique in Greece at that point in history because travel and trade was not very open, preventing the flow of human movement.

           

Medea:Yet what applies to me does not apply to you.

            You have a country. Your family home is here.

            You enjoy life and the company of your friends.

            But I am deserted, a refugee, thought nothing of

            By my husband – something he won in a foreign land.

            I have no mother or brother, nor any relation

            With whom I can take refuge in this sea of woe.

            (Lines 250-256)         

            In reference to this passage, I think the most important words are “home,” “refugee,” and “foreign.” Each of these words plays a different role in capturing the situation that Medea is currently locked in. “Home,” is important because it is the thing that Medea does not have; she has nothing to retreat to now that Jason has left her to be exiled from Corinth. “Refugee,” becomes a word of significance because it demonstrates Medea’s current situation. A refugee is someone who flees home because of negative outside stimuli and is sent to a new land to escape the danger. In essence, a refugee is much like a vagabond in that she has no home to go back to. “Foreign,” is a word that is repeated several times, showing that Euripedes might be trying to give it some importance. It is also a word that further demonstrates that Medea is completely alienated from the land she is in and has nowhere left to turn to.

            While most readers understand the point to have something to do with gender roles, The Medea has others significances too that are often overlooked. Medea’s pain and sadness is evident from the passage, caused by her subdued gender role. From looking over the passage, it is clear the Euripedes is not accidentally repeating that fact that Medea is not at home in Greece. Being a foreign has special implications for Medea because, though her husband has left her, any native Greek would be able to go home to a family of some kind, a luxury Medea does not have. Medea would not devote such a substantial passage to her status in Greece for plot purposes alone; rather there must be something more to her words.