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Medea, Euripides
Lysistrata, Aristophanes
Bhagavad Gita
The Thousand and One Nights
From The Poem of the Cid
From The Divine Comedy Inferno, Dante Alighieri
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Heptameron, Marguerite de Navarre
Gargantua and Pantagruel, François Rabelais
From Don Quixote de la Manacha, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
The Tempest, William Shakespeare
Euripides (c. 485 BCE – 405 BCE) is one of the great Athenian playwrights. Of the 90 plays he wrote only 19 survive. Euripides often focused on the darker side of humanity, and this is evidenced in Medea. Euripides differs rather significantly from many of his Greek contemporaries insofar as who he gave voice to in his plays. Euripides’s plays often focus on the outsiders of a Greek society: slaves, women, foreigners, etc. Typically, these are the people that do not possess power or the ability to dictate their individual moments/decisions. In the case of the text we are reading, the play focuses on a foreign woman (Medea) who has settled in Corinth with her husband Jason (of Jason and the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece) and their two sons. As you read, take note of how Medea responds to the men that have controlled and continue to try to control her life. Consider what kind of world Medea lives in and how she responds to her situation and place in society. Do you see an intersection or a corollary in today’s society and the world we inhabit?
The difference of Medea’s world might be best thought through the idea of “Justice.” Justice has been a concept that has preoccupied philosophers, writers, and governments for a long time—watch this brief video that discusses the nuances of Justice in the West. There is a power dynamic at play within this text and you must ask, how might justice be best served here? The ruling elite want to proclaim that they are just and right, but this seems to serve their self-interest. Importantly, within Greek democracy, citizenship only extended to the free male population. Medea, as a woman and an outsider, stands outside of perceived power and therefore justice. Justice is usually in the purview of those that rule or govern (how is justice determined and defined within our society?), but how does control of law and order relate to justice and morality? This leads to further questions that I want you to consider as you read: How are we to understand “Justice” and its relationship to power? How does this text show the ideas of justice and power intersecting? Is Medea capable of achieving justice through traditional means? To what extent are Medea’s actions just and who might be the one “getting justice”? Where is the line between justice and morality?
Medea, daughter of Aiêtês, King of Colchis.
Jason, chief of the Argonauts; nephew of Pelias, King of Iôlcos in Thessaly.
Creon, ruler of Corinth.Aegeus, King of Athens
Nurse of Medea.
Two Children of Jason and Medea.
Attendant on the children.
A Messenger.
Chorus of Corinthian Women, with their Leader. Soldiers and Attendants.
The scene is laid in Corinth. The play was first acted when Pythodôrus was Archon, Olympiad 87, year 1 (B.C. 431). Euphorion was first, Sophocles second, Euripides third, with Medea, Philoctêtes, Dictys, and the Harvesters, a Satyr-play.
[The Children and their Attendant come in.]
[He moves towards the house, but the Nurse checks him.]
[The Children and the Attendant go in.]
[During the last words the Leader of the Chorus has entered. Other women follow her.]
[The Nurse goes into the house.
[During the last words Medea has come out from the house.
[Exit Creon with his suite.]
[Medea goes into the House.]
[Enter from the right Jason.]
[She catches sight of her own hand which she has thrown out to denounce him.]
[He goes slowly away.]
[While Medea is waiting downcast, seated upon her door-step, there passes from the left a traveller with followers. As he catches sight of Medea he stops.]
[Aegeus and his train depart.]
[She claps her hands: the Nurse comes out from the house.]
[The Nurse departs.]
[Enter Jason.]
[The Children come from the house, followed by their Attendant.]
[As the Children go to Jason, she suddenly bursts into tears. The Children quickly return to her: she recovers herself, smiling amid her tears.
[A handmaid goes into the house.]
[The handmaid has returned bearing the Gifts.]
She goes quickly into the house. Jason and the Children with their Attendant depart.]
[Enter the Attendant with the two Children: Medea comes out from the house.]
[The Attendant goes into the house.]
[The Children go in.]
[A handmaid brings the Children out again.]
[She has kept them hitherto at arm’s length: but breaks down, and she gathers them passionately into her arms.]
[She follows the Children into the house.]
[Medea comes out alone from the house.]
[Exit Messenger.]
[She goes into the house.]
[Many of the Women are now beating at the barred door to get in. Others are standing apart.]
[Enter hurriedly Jason and Attendants.]
[While the Attendants are still battering at the door Medea appears on the roof, standing on a chariot of winged Dragons, in which are the children’s bodies.]
[She rises on the chariot and is slowly borne away.]
[He casts himself upon the earth.]
“Medea.” is produced by Project Gutenberg and is released under a Public Domain license.
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Introduction to World Literature Anthology Copyright © 2021 by Christian Beck is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.