The play Medea was written by Euripides and firstly played in 431 BC. Euripides was born in Salamis. His father was said to be a tradesman and his mother worked with herbs. When he was little supposedly an oracle predicted that he was going to be a “child of victories” thus he was trained in sports but the victories he was supposed to achieve were not in sports but within the field of literature. In his literary works he somewhat shows some sympathy to all members of society (even to women who in those days were not an “active” part of society). The author of this play I consider had a pretty harsh life since he was not accepted in his society and neither were his works and both of the wives he had were unfaithful. As Euripides himself said society was just not ready for the type of literature he created.
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It is said that in many of the literary works he created he points out the flaws of the heroines or women and depicts kings as tyrants or as people without any majesty. The fact that Euripides did this with his works especially with Medea has a lot to do with the voices of tradition and history. The reason for this thought is that during that time there were lots of wars, Peloponnesian war being perhaps the most important and influential to this work. I think the most relevant events that led to the development of this were the conclusion of the alliance between Athens and Corcyra which threatened Corinth and the growing power of Athens.
I think that history and the fact that Greece was undergoing such wars was an important determinant for the direction that this play took. Since the author most likely was influenced by these. I think that there was no possible way for the author to ignore what was going on in his surroundings. The first thing that makes me think about this is the setting of the play and the background it has.
As a background we have mythology, the myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece. It was a tradition in Ancient times to pass down stories about mythology, which is how Euripides got to know both the characters of Medea and Jason. In other words since before the story started we can see how tradition is important in the play but I think this goes further, not just in getting enrolled with the subject but in the elaboration of the play.
Throughout the play we see how social conventions are strongly portrayed. As stated before in this essay people say that Euripides showed some sympathy to women in his literary works. I think this is due to a conflict he had with the traditions of that time. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary a tradition is a customary pattern of though, action or behavior. The play reflects the role of women at the time, how they were treated but also I think it reflected the part of women which was frequently ignored.
At that time women´s role was to cook, have kids, take care of the house and of their husband and they were just allowed to be an active part of society when it was about religious festivities. We could say that this common pattern was a “tradition” at the time, since as I stated before a tradition is a commonly accepted pattern. Therefore voices of tradition did not just get the author acquainted with the characters of Medea and Jason but also helped the author construct the society within it. It helped him built the perfect balance in his play because in the play he did not just represented women as they were seen before (he did this through the chorus. Since as it can be seen in the play it did not matter how much the chorus spoke or how much they tried to be heard they were just completely ignored). It is the perfect balance for the play because of the fact that Euripides was portraying a side of women which before had been overlook. The character of Medea represents a strong woman who cannot stand to be changed and defeated; a woman who is proud and will not let a man use her as he pleases without having any consequences.
When talking about history we cannot forget the setting and the environment of the play. The play took place in Corinth right after Jason flees from Colchis along with Medea who had betrayed her family and her country for him. In Corinth the society was just the same as it was in Greece at that time, therefore the play was based in the history of that time. The society has a king, people who were warriors or nobles and peasants women were unheard and not taken into consideration by men.
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I think Euripides in a way portrayed the relation between countries at the time because as seen in the play Medea not only left her homeland but betrayed her country but stole something important from them. Afterwards she lived in exile in Corinth, bear two children and married to Jason. Except that this time Jason betrayed her with the daughter of King Creon. King Creon did not care about the situation Medea was undergoing, the only thing he cared for was that he and his family were well; he never thought or even considered the possibility that this could bring consequences. Medea convinces Creon to give her one more day to stay in Corinth and convinces the King of Athens to give her Assylum after she leaves Corinth. The King of Athens accept with the one condition that he could only grant her protection once she was in Athens and that he would not get involved in any matters regarding Corinth.
I think that the plot of the play could be based on the role and position of Corinth and Athens. From 435 to 431 BC Corinth was in war with Corcyra. This war soon made the Athens get involved. With this war the Peloponnesian war started. It is said that some of the causes for the Peloponnesian war were: “the bullying of Athens to allies or neutral cities and the growing power of the city”. From this I think that the fact that Euripides chose the King of Athens to be Medea´s savior in the play is to show the position of Athens compared with Corinth and he did this for the play to end tragically because I think that if he had chosen a city other than Athens the impotence for Corinth´s retaliation would not have been clear. Since Athens power was overwhelming at that time no one could argue that Medea could in fact be safe in there.
In other words, the voices of history and tradition in the play have a huge role. Tradition was important for the author to have acquaintance with the subject and for him to develop a suitable environment so that his work had a huge impact on the readers of that and of this time as well. So as said in the reflective statement I think that the purpose of Euripides for writing this play was to portray the role women had at that time but now that I take into consideration history and tradition I also think that his target was not just showing the place society gave to women but also women nature. Both of these ideas I think would not have been perfectly demonstrated had he not taken into consideration what these two cities were experiencing at the time and the commonly accepted conventions during that time.
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