Medea the play by Euripides

Medea the play by Euripides

It represents one of the most recognizable and widely known plays of the ancient days. The play Medea is a renowned study highlighting the case of injustice and ruthless revenge. As Euripides retells of the legend, the Colchian princess marries the hero Jason.in the beginning of the play-action, Jason decides to cast off the media. He marries the daughter, the king of Corinth, Creon. The Medea has put a determination inscribing that she will punish Jason for murdering the corinthian princess and the only son. Where she carries out the murder and hurriedly escapes using the Sun-god Helios, which was a chariot that was meant for the grandfather. Along with the monstrosity of the Medea’s actions, Euripides is successful in evocation of sympathy for her.

Sophocles is described to be younger according to the contemporary of Aeschylus while slightly older than the modern of the Euripides. His birth happened as a village that was outside the Athens walls called Colonus. His father, Sophillus, was super-rich through the manufacturing of the armor. It was enabling Sophocles to acquire the best education. Through his beauty, physically athletic prowess and music skills led him to be chosen in 480 at the age of sixteen to harboring the anthem for the celebration of the decisive Greek sea victory against the Persians during the battle of Salamis. The information that is reflected in the information on Sophocles civic creates a suggestion that he was a popular and a favorite with active participation in the society and practiced outstanding artistic talents.

These but just a few aspects relating to Sophocles’ living, They explicate the distinct and implication of the steady attachments to the Athens, religion, social and governmental forms. He was a wealthy man since his birth, who has highly educated a personal ally to the state with easy terms and conditions for leading families.

Dramatic and literary accomplishment

The ancient leadership and authorities credit Sophocles with various leading and minor exciting innovations, inclusive of his invention on scene paintings and other pictorial props that develop the atmosphere and locale. Increment the size of the chorus by three members, which were an innovation made through the introduction of a third actor in the dramatic performance.This boosted the additional of the dramatization through the addition of the characters, which also widened the interactions in the play.

The historical context of the play

End of the Golden age of the Athens

The year which the Euripides made the production of the play Medea was the same period in which the devastating Peloponnesian war started. Claims indicated that the leading cause of the war was a rise of Athens to greatness, which was seen as a threat to Spartans, thus making them fearful. However, the stiff competition and rivalry on a trade involving the Corinth may also have attributed to the conflict.

Euripides’ life was spanned on the quiet periods preceding the Peloponnesian war by the end, despite his death that occurred earlier before the Athens, the last victory. Before his death, Euripides had flown his city for refuge in Calmer within Macedonia.

Women, marriage during the ancient Greek customs

There are complaints’ from Medea that Jason’s wedding could have less weight if Jason had followed the conventional procedures of divorce by Athens. Despite women under exceptional certainties obtaining a divorce, any of the Athenian men could rid themselves of their wives I a simple way by just renouncing their marriage publicly. The unions were arrangements from the parents, excluding any input and decision from the daughter. Therefore the Medea’s flight with Jason was a scandalous impertinence. Where the daughter was expected to raise the endowment if she came from a wealthy family. After the marriage, the wife was subjective to the husband by providing care to the children and slaves who had the legal obligations of belonging to the husband. Athenian women had no taste of independence in their lives, where they received no education, and lived in separate houses from their husbands. The ideal women were at minimal scenes mentioned among men, whether on good or bad instances. It was under the law that the Athenian men were forbidden in marring the Athenian women. Still, instances were developed where the men kept aside foreign concubine, who was more educated than their counterparts. The children sired during such unisons were not recognized officially as citizens of Athens, similar to the children of Jason and Medea were not formally known as citizens of Corinth, as Creusa’s descendants by Jason enjoyed the full significance of the Corinthian citizenship.

The Greek theater

It traces its evolvement from the rituals conducted in honor of Dionysus. Three of the playwrights presented three tragedies with one of the satyr play that imitated one of the disasters. For the invitation of the tetralogy was a beneficial honor with the winning of the coveted prize from the festival being cherished. Despite the dramas being of religious forms, the audience was by no means solemn. During the Euripides reign, the Dionysus was carried on with the theater in a procession that was revered as the god of who, seen as the inspiration of music and poetry. The festival was conducted during March for three days hosting a competition that the media made Performance of the first play of the conventional tetralogy.

Comparison and contrast

To Greece, human beings are considered to be a part of the vast web of life and, most significantly, about an individual is how they are connected with others as well as the society at large. Through religion, art, and philosophy, tried to make a representation and an explanation to the whole order of things and not the individualism along with the law, where fate is utmost in control of the human operations.

Presently human beings are viewed to be a unique individual and contemporary philosophy, art, and religion conforming to a world view where the individuals are evaluated as central or responsible.

Women in ancient Greece have indispensably lived in a split community away from their spouses and fathers, where they also hold few rights. The women were expected to live in separate quarters and eat separately from their men, they infrequently had outs, and if one had were expected not to walk publicly without having a male escort. They had no freedom of ownership of property nor money. They had no choice of choice for their husbands, obliged from achieving education, with no allowance of terminating their marriages following extreme conditions.

Presently women have equal rights and freedoms as the men have where through amendments such as the equal rights amendment act and the governing bodies providing equality in terms of job opportunities in the workplace and leadership positions.

At that time, various Greek city-states exercised a wide range of diverse ruling systems within the period of fertile political evaluation. Within Athens, a form of radical democracy guaranteed equality among the citizens where they were allowed full participation freely for the city leadership.

Currently, the different forms of democracy inexistence within many of the developed countries have very little in the ordinary when compared with the Athenian democracy, the most straightforward reasoning being that modern democracies are serving broader and diversified populations extending their ideas to all.

Themes

Revenge

Within the Euripides Medea’s revenge; price causes and necessity is the centerfold of the drama. Euripides develops the Medea’s desire for retaliation for being plausible despite being wronged by her husband for marrying the beautiful daughter of the king of Corinth’s by Jason, she has been banished from the city by the king such as a way of preventing her from avenging on his daughter. Medea is obliged to return to her father’s land since she left for marriage without blessings from her father while marrying Jason. Therefore she is unlawfully wounded emotionally and legitimately outraged. Medea restrains at the aspect that she may be the laughing stock to the Corinth. Despite Aegeus offering her a secure future in Athens, Medea remains unsolaced. What she seeks is only revenge. Women within Corinth recognizes that the act of vengeance will not only hurt her husband as intended but also in a much deeper way hurt her too. Jason also knows her as self-inflicted pain and inquires that she acknowledge her error. Medea retorts that her pain is more worth the price for avenging herself upon Jason. Medea’s revenge is excessive and perverse.

Passion

The theme of love overcomes one’s best sense lags behind the idea of revenge in the Euripides provocative play. To the ancient Greeks, desire is considered with the chorus expressing within the song following Medea scornful rejection on an offer of money from Jason. The chorus emphasis out that excessive love brings none either of glory nor reputation. The problem with Medea is that she dedicated to love Jason so much to the extent of leaving their homeland, also killing her brother for slowing off the pursuers. Medea is seen to enjoy with no moderation but excessively.

The themes are about the customs during the ancient days where the acts of revenge and passion explicated in the society, for instance, in the love life of Medea. That is full of frustrations that have been developed by the unlimited effects of excessive loving causing her more harm. Lastly, due to the lack of control of her love life, this is developing out the actions that are illustrated in the themes that are inclusive and discussed in the play.

The usage of foreign elements in the play and description have caused the development of characteristics and characters more adequately by a good illustration of ideas, which enables the readers of the play to develop the intent and the flow of ideas within the play. They also help in the relation of opinions on the link between the ancient culture and the current customs such as religious practices, love life political comparisons, and social life. The reader can develop questions and derive answers within the play since there is an easy comparison of ideas from the two distinct environments with different time frames. They are thus creating out the relevance of the play to the readers.