Mythical Barbarians

The amazons

Frequently shown armed for war

Seen wearing pointed hats, tunics, trousers, leopard skins

Weapons consist of bow and arrow, battle axe, spears and swords

Respected as warriors, Homer describes them as “the equals of men”

Seen in mythology battling against heracles and Achilles

Some of the fascination of the amazons for Greek men could have come from erotic fantasy

One of Heracles’ labours was to recover the girdle of the queen of the amazons

amazons often shown as young, athletic and desirable

Often shown with one or both breasts showing

Depicted on women’s perfume containers, showing appeal was universal

The amazons offered an image of gender and societal freedomves

How they were set apart from Greek women

nomads, living outdoors

Fought in battles

Had sexual freedom

Unmarried

Herodotus mentions that amazons must kill an enemy in battle before they could marry

Medea

the plot

medea is married to Jason, who marries a younger woman

medea comes up with a plan to get revenge on Jason which involves killing glauce (his new bride) and her father king creon

she eventually decides that she must kill her children to inflict the most pain on jason

She goes on to kill her children then leaves in a chariot

characterisations

jason

to a modern audience, seen as smug and unsympathetic

To an ancient audience, may have been less negative views

dismissive of women throughout the play

uses sexual relationships to further himself

Easily manipulated by Medea

creon

easily deceived by Medea

More perceptive than Jason

loses authority to Medea as does not want to seem a tyrant and tries to compromise

dies trying to help his daughter

aegeus

Medea persuades him to offer her sanctuary in Athens

is keen for medeas help with his issues producing a child with his wife

Able to empathise with Medea

context

performed in 431 BC, in the first year of the peloponnesian war, 50 years since the battle of salamis

the kings are presented as weak and sympathetic, as Athens was a democratic state

Medea is smart and comfortable with deception, posing a threat to an Athenian audience

Medea as a barbarian

Jason describes her country as primitive

Jason is blamed for bringing his barbarian wife to greece

her name is similar to “Mede” which is a Greek word for Persians

reference to the sea shows the difference between Greece and medeas homeland

gender and barbarians

the audience would have been adult Athenian males

Medea can be othered as she is a young intelligent female living in exile in greece

The nurse expresses more Greek views, that a woman should not cross her husband

Medeas status as a foreigner allows her to be objective on her view of Greek marriage

complains that a woman is powerless

required to go through the difficult and dangerous process of having children

Medea’s anger is heroic and male

compared to a wild bull in the prologue

uses typically feminine qualities to succeed

seduction, manipulation, deceit

poisoning is a feminine way of murder

click to edit

themes

family

family relationships are important

The choral interlude 1051-1086 focuses on the anguish of parents

Medeas love for her children causes her to waver in her decision

men and women

Jason and Medea clash throughout the play

Medea expresses wider ideas of how women are treated in the ancient world

Complains that her cleverness means she can’t be trusted

the gods

Jason and Medea both appeal to the gods to avenge their treatment

Medea appears godlike in her dragon powered chariot at the end of the play