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
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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