Notes on E U R I P I D E S' M E D E A - by Greg McCart
MEDEA: THEATRE OF FEAR
Euripides' Medea is a theatre of fear. The tragedy confronts and dramatizes human revulsion over and fascination with aberrant behaviour, including political injustice, social alienation, personal betrayal, family destructiveness, and the killing of children. The play depicts the collapse of households and kingdoms in a context of an elemental, cosmic conflict driven, in part, by arbitrary alliances of gods, goddesses and demons.
Medea is a theatre of fear of the foreigner, of racial otherness. Medea is from the northern wilds of Kolchis on the eastern side of the Pontos Euxenos, the 'Hospitable Sea', now the Black Sea. Her original language is, to the ears of Greeks, incomprehensible, a series of 'baa-baas', a barbarian language and culture. Jason points out how grateful Medea should feel because he brought her from a barbarian country at the ends of the earth to the propriety of Greece and personal fame (lines 536-544). Only her marriage to Jason gives her any rights in Greece, and once he deserts her, she has no rights at all; she is a helpless refugee. The fall from power, fame and influence to exclusion, mockery and helplessness is too much for Medea to bear. The Greeks of Corinth soon learn the repercussions of harbouring a powerful and vengeful foreigner in their midst. The inveterate human fear of the racial other, in this play, swamps reason and tolerance.
Medea is a theatre of fear of the supplanter, of the power of the rebellious inferior. Women in the patriarchy of ancient Greece were considered inferior to men. This is spelt out clearly by Aristotle in the fourth century BC but is an evident given in all the remaining fifth-century tragedies. The male patriarchs of that century in Athens were haunted by the fearful memory of the Amazons, the female tribe of marauding warriors who killed men and who had, according to legend, been suppressed by the renowned Athenian ruler, Theseus. Powerful women, who supplanted the role of men, were doomed figures in tragedy - Klytaimestra, Elektra, Antigone, Phaidra - while self-sacrificing women, such as Alkestis and Iphigeneia, were celebrated. Medea was a powerful supplanter who was not doomed but who ensured that she would be honoured by Athens itself even after she had murdered the princess, the king, and her children and had destroyed Jason. Medea is a rebellious inferior who gets away with it.
Medea is a theatre of fear of the witch. Medea's personal goddess is Hekate who was often compounded in Greek mythology with Demeter and other goddesses of the earth or chthonic goddesses. On one occasion in the play, Medea actually prays to Hekate to give her strength and defeat her enemies. It is Medea's knowledge of poisons and drugs which gives her power. She uses this power to demonstrate her passionate love for Jason by killing her own brother, thwarting her own father, having King Pelias dismembered by his own daughters, and killing Kreon and his daughter. She is the consummate witch - a figure to be feared. At the same time, however, Medea is also a consummate actor and she is able to charm the people of Corinth in such a way that she earns their respect as well as their fear.
Medea is a theatre of fear of passion. The ancient Greeks created Western philosophy with its preference for subjugating emotion to reason. They attempted to promote rational argument and persuasion over passion and brute force. Sophrosune or 'thinking in the right way on any particular occasion' was highly praised. Choruses in the tragedies often prayed that they would be able to distinguish between sensible moderation and the extremes of passion. In the Medea, the chorus prays for love tempered by restraint rather than 'fits of passionate excess' (lines 627-628) but the play itself is an example of passion overpowering reason and the savage consequences. Ungovernable, lawless passion dominates the tragedy. Medea's love for Jason leads to death and destruction for others. Jason’s love for the princess leads to his own destruction and the deaths of Kreon and the princess. Even that most sacred love of parent for child gives way before passion. The play presents the darker side of Aphrodite's interventions in the lives of men and women. Euripides provides a terrifying reminder of the consequences of thwarted passion.
Medea is a theatre of fear of the collapse of nations. Nations, communities and tribes rely on the security of leadership for their own security. If the ruling class is firmly in control and the transition of power after the death or defeat of a ruler is smooth, then the community is safe. The background to Euripides' Medea is
full of stories of the disruption to rightful transition. The very first place which the Argonauts visit is Lemnos where the wives of the island killed every male because they had neglected them in favour of prostitutes. Jason and the Argonauts fathered new children in place of the dead rulers. Medea herself helped destroy her father's power in Kolchis by enabling Jason to secure the golden fleece. She also caused Iolkos to lose its king, Pelias, at the hands of his own daughters because Pelias refused to hand the kingdom over to Jason, the rightful heir. In the play, she destroys the ruler of Corinth and deprives it of legitimate progeny by killing the princess. It made sense to Kreon to have Jason, a previous claimant to the throne in Iolkos, marry his daughter and establish an unchallenged royal house in Corinth. But he had not counted on the determination of Medea, the destroyer of kingdoms.
Medea is a theatre of fear of the disintegration of the cosmos. Medea claims, on a few occasions, descendancy from the Sun. She also prays to Gaia, the Earth-goddess, and has Aigeus swear by her particularly in order to secure her own protection. Jason is descended from the god of Storms. These two characters therefore represent different elemental forces: the fixity of the Earth and the predictability of the Sun as opposed to the fluidity of the water and the destructiveness of storms. When these elements are 'married', that is, when they work together, then the world is a safe place to live in. But when they war with each other, they cause tidal waves, drought, and host of cosmic dangers for mortals. The play Medea is an allegory of just such a cosmic conflict.
Medea is a theatre of fear of having our children murdered. This is the frightening crime, the incomprehensible passion, the incommensurate loss. Our fear of and fascination with this horror endures. Medea reminds us, warns us, frightens us.
Taken from: http://playingwithtragedy.usq.edu.au/content/PDF/6.2_Medea_Notes.pdf
Accessed March 12, 2007