Medea (play) Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Euripedes' tragedy Medea, first produced in 431 BC, is based on the myth of Jason and Medea.The concentrated action of the play is at Corinth, where Jason has brought Medea after the adventures of the Golden Fleece but has now left her to marry Creusa, the daughter of Creon, the king. The play opens with Medea grieving her loss and her elderly nurse fearing what she might do to herself or her children.
Creon, also fearing what Medea might do, arrives to send Medea into exile. Medea begins to plan the deaths of Jason, Creusa, and Creon, while Jason arrives to confront her and explain himself. He believes he could not pass up the opportunity to marry a royal princess, as Medea is only a barbarian woman, but hopes to someday join the two families, with Medea as his mistress. Medea, and the chorus of Corinthian woman, do not buy his story.
Next Medea is visited by Aegeus, King of Athens, who shares the prophecy that will lead to the birth of Theseus; Medea begs him to protect her, in return for her help in conceiving a child. Aegeus does not know what Medea is going to do in Corinth but promises to give her refuge in any case, if she can escape to Athens.
Medea returns to her scheming, weaving a wedding dress for Creusa which she has poisoned. She resolves to kill her own children as well, not because the children have done anything wrong themselves, but because she feels it is the best way to hurt Jason. She calls for Jason once more, falsely apologizes to him, and sends the poisoned dress with her children as a gift.
Offstage, while Medea ponders her actions, Creusa is killed by the poisoned dress, and Creon is also killed by the poison while attempting to save her. These events are related by a messenger. Medea is pleased, and rushes offstage with a knife to kill her children. As the chorus laments her decision the children are heard screaming.
Medea then appears above the stage in a chariot; this was probably accomplished using the mechane device usually reserved for the appearance of a god or goddess. She confronts Jason and escapes to Athens with the bodies of the children. The chorus is left contemplating the will of Zeus in Medea's actions.
The play is often seen as one of the first works of feminism, and Medea is seen as a feminist heroine. However, Euripides, rather than celebrating the strength and independence of Medea, may have been showing Athenian women how not to act. Medea is, after all, a barbarian from Colchis (οὐκ ἔστιν ἥτις του̂τ' ἂν ̔Ελληνὶς γυνὴ ἔτλη ποθ' , "there is no Greek woman who would have dared such deeds"), and the play is more likely an admonition than a celebration. Although the play is considered one of the great plays of the Western canon, the Athenian audience did not react as favourably, and awarded it only the third place prize at the Dionysia festival in 431.
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