Cyclops, Alcestis, Medea (Loeb Classical Library)

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Chrysanthos Mentis Bostantzoglou makes a parody of this tragedy in his comedy Medea (1993). [35] [36]

In 1983, kabuki Master Shozo Sato created Kabuki Medea uniting Euripides play and classical Kabuki storytelling and presentation. [31] It debuted at Wisdom Bridge Theater in Chicago. [32] [33] It can be argued that in the play Euripides portrays Medea out to be an enraged woman who kills her children to get revenge on her husband Jason because of his betrayal of their marriage. Medea is often cited as an example of the "madwoman in the attic" trope, in which women who defy societal norms are portrayed as mentally unstable. [16] Although, Medea is not the only character in the play to use deception; other characters, such as Jason and Creon, also use lies and manipulation. A competing interpretation is that Medea kills her children out of kindness because she cares and worries for them and their well-being. Once Medea commits to her plan to kill Creon and Jason's new bride, she knows her children are in danger of being murdered. Medea is not paranoid. In another version of the myth, the people of Corinth kill her children to avenge the deaths of Creon and his daughter Glauke. At this time in myth and history, helping one's friends and hurting one's enemies was considered a virtue. Thus, by this ethic, the Corinthians will do right by avenging their king and princess. Conversely, a focus on Medea's rage leads to the interpretation that "Medea becomes the personification of vengeance, with her humanity 'mortified' and 'sloughed off'" (Cowherd, 129). [17] Medea's heritage places her in a position more typically reserved for the male in her time. Hers is the power of the sun, appropriately symbolized by her great radiance, tremendous heat and boundless passion. [12] In this view Medea is inhuman and her suffering is self-inflicted just as Jason argues in his debate with her. And yet, if we see events through Medea's eyes, we view a wife intent on vengeance and a mother concerned about her children's safety and the life they can be expected to live. Thus, Medea as wife kills Creon and Glauke in the act of vengeance. Medea as a mother thinks that her children will be better off killed by her kind hand than left to suffer at the hands of an enemy, intent on vengeance. And so, Medea saves her children from this brutality and a worse fate by killing them herself, providing them with as peaceful an outcome as she can.

Reference

In Hippolytus (428 bc; Greek Hippolytos) Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sexual desire, destroys Hippolytus, a lover of outdoor sports who is repelled by sexual passion and who is instead devoted to the virgin huntress Artemis. Aphrodite makes Phaedra, wife of Theseus, the king of Athens, fall violently in love with her stepson Hippolytus. Phaedra is deeply ashamed of her illicit passion, but when Hippolytus angrily rejects her love she is so mortified by his denunciation that she cannot forbear from falsely accusing him of rape before she kills herself. Her accusation provokes Theseus into pronouncing a curse on his son that eventually leads to Hippolytus’ death. But Artemis reveals Hippolytus’ innocence before he dies, and the young man is able to forgive his father, thus freeing Theseus from the dreadful stain of bloodguilt. Given the nature of its plot, the play is remarkable for its propriety. Andromache The play begins with a prologue in which Apollo tells the audience of his history with Admetus, who treated him well when he was forced by Zeus to serve Admetus as a slave. In gratitude for this piety and kindness, Apollo has convinced the Moirae to allow Admetus to escape his fated death—but only if he can find someone to voluntarily die in his place. Only Alcestis, Admetus’ wife, will agree to this. The plot of Doctor Foster is actually 2,500 years old, reveals writer Mike Bartlett". Radio Times . Retrieved 4 November 2019. Kovacs, David, ed. and trans. Euripides: Cyclops, Alcestis, Medea. Loeb Classical Library 12. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001: An accurate prose translation with facing Greek text; can be viewed online through the Perseus Project. The play was staged at the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End, in a translation by Alistair Elliot. [34] The production opened on 19 October 1993. [34]

Euripides portrayal of women in his plays has been somewhat bizarre. His female characters kill out of revenge, kill out of jealousy and kill because a god possessed them too. In Alcestis and Andromache Euripides does produce classic heroic female characters. The women in Medea and The Bacchae are not your typical heroines but serve to show the same theme of female liberation as the women in Alcestis and Andromache. While Alcestis is straight forward with its message, the other three plays mask their true intentions from the people they are created to oppose. Euripides might have been misinterpreted by his society because it was dominated by the very people he wrote his plays against. Euripides disguises some of his radical ideas to those …show more content… May 2016– MacMillan Films released a full staging of the original Medea which was staged for camera. The DVD release shows the entire play. complete with the Aegis scenes, choral odes and triumphant ending. Directed by James Thomas and starring Olivia Sutherland, the staging features Peter Arnott's critically acclaimed translation. Daughter of Creon, Glauce is the young, beautiful princess for whom Jason abandons Medea. Her acceptance of the poisoned coronet and dress as "gifts" leads to the first murder of the play. Although she never utters a word, Glauce's presence is constantly felt as an object of Medea's jealousy. (Glauce is also referred to as Creusa.) Aegeus Thanatos, the divine personification of death, enters and explains that he has come to claim Alcestis. Apollo fails to convince Thanatos to spare the poor woman, but before he departs, Apollo hints that Heracles will ultimately take Alcestis from Thanatos by force. Yet the gods also belong to a world that is remote from humans, and they often exhibit a gross misunderstanding of mortals and their emotions. Indeed, Apollo’s “gift” to Admetus—which sets the play in motion—winds up causing great suffering, suggesting that the gods may harm mortals even when trying to help them. In fact, in the end it is not the god Apollo but the mortal Heracles who saves the day by restoring Alcestis to Admetus.Analyzes how dionysus kills their oppressor, pentheus, in a style that sends the message to all those who oppose new ideas. euripides warns society not to go up against anything with divine approval. The chorus, which consists of fifteen old men of Pherae, enters the orchestra and divides into two semi-choruses. Confused by the silence and the absence of groans and cries, the men ask each other whether Alcestis, “the best of wives to her husband,” is dead or still alive. They know this is the fated day, but they secretly hope for some miracle or any kind of good news. Noticing a maidservant stepping out of the palace, they realize that they are about to find out. First Episode