Medea (2)

A tragedy by the Athenian poet, Euripides, which was produced in 431 BCE.

The play is set in the city of Korinth (Corinth) after Iason (Jason) and Medea have stolen the Golden Fleece from Medea’s father, king Aietes, and been given sanctuary by the tyrant of Korinth, Kreon (Creon).

Despite the fact that Iason and Medea have two young children, Kreon wants Iason to marry his daughter, who was not mentioned by name in the play; when Medea learns of the marriage she becomes visibly deranged and everyone, except Iason, can see that she is on the verge of a mental breakdown.

When Kreon informs Medea that she and her two sons are to be banished from Korinth, her overt psychotic behavior vanishes and she becomes calm and calculating; she makes two very clever alliances before anyone can perceive the depth of her evil plotting.

She binds the women of Korinth, who play the role of the chorus in the play, and the visiting ruler from the city of Athens, Aegeus, with solemn oaths; Medea makes the women of Korinth, who despise Iason for his unmanly and selfish behavior, swear that they will not thwart her revenge on Iason and Kreon; Medea entices Aegeus to swear that he will give her sanctuary after she is banished from Korinth.

With these two advantages, Medea then arranges for some poisoned gifts to be delivered to Kreon’s daughter; the gifts are enchanted and bring a particularly gruesome death to the young bride-to-be; when Kreon sees his once lovely daughter he cradles what is left of her charred body in his arms; the magical curse is transferred to him and he also dies horribly.

Medea is not finished; she then takes a sword and slaughters her two young boys; after taunting Iason with the depth of her revenge, Medea makes her escape to Athens on a chariot provided by her grandfather, Helios (the Sun).

There are several very moving parts of this play; one especially dramatic scene is when Iason stands before Medea and boldly explains that his marriage to Kreon’s daughter is really for Medea’s benefit and that, when he and his new wife have children, Medea’s sons will have the advantage of royal half-brothers; Iason makes no apologies for his choices and says that the fact that Medea has been banished from Korinth is her own fault because she will not accept the good fortune that the marriage to Kreon’s daughter will bring; Medea’s response to Iason’s temerity is eloquent and provocative.

Another interesting scene is where the nurse, who is completely loyal to Medea and seeks an end to Medea’s mental hardship, wonders aloud why music has never been developed which can cure illness; she laments that the music used at banquets and celebrations is unnecessary because people engaged in those events are already in good health and high spirits.

Although rather short, this is an excellent play and, aside from the blood and gore, is engaging and well presented; you must remember that the plays presented in Athens are comparable to present day Hollywood movies in that a movie might proclaim that it is based on a true story or a popular book but we all know that literature and truth are always sacrificed for the sake of drama and action; the same was true for Greek plays; many of the assumed facts of the story of Iason and the Argonauts are not to be found or are contradicted in this play; just like a modern movie audience, it’s assumed that the Greek audience knew the background of the story line, but not too well.