medeaexilefinal.doc

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rather I noticed something far %ess idy%%ic than a&&%e &ie$ I noticed that I was

a foreigner, an extranjero as I new myse%f to be then$I %earned 2rst-hand that human beings oftentimes ignore or fear

whatever a&&ears foreign or strange to each individua%$ In twe%fth grade my

A3 4ng%ish 5iterature &rofessor assigned the c%ass to read the Medea by the

ancient 6ree tragedian 4uri&ides$ 4uri&ides &aints the main character,

obvious%y nown as Medea, as a stranger in a foreign %and)a to&ic not so

foreign to me$ 7his conventiona% weaving of e8i%e and a%ienation in turn

estab%ishes uneasiness between Medea and the s&ectators *the audience

itse%f and the cast of characters who interact with her+ in order to com&%icate

&erce&tions of Medea9s character$ 4ven though Medea cannot be ty&i2ed as

a tragic heroine, her inherent a%ienation and foreign attitudes confound the

audience so much that they u%timate%y sym&athi:e with her$ 7he sorceress Medea is herse%f the so%e re&resentation of the un nown

throughout the tragedy$ ;rigina%%y from 0o%chis, Medea esca&es with he gave 3%easure to the &eo&%e of her %and of e8i%e,

And she herse%f he%&ed three of [her] enemies)father, the gir%, and [her]

husband@ * CD+$ 7he enemies Medea s&ea s of are 0reon the Eing, his


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daughter 6%auce, and .ow, friends, has come the time of my trium&h over My

enemies, and now my foot is on the road$ .ow I am con2dent they wi%% &ay

the &ena%ty@ *4uri&ides C#D-C#C+$ 7he tragic heroine out%ined in Aristot%e9s

Poetics is neither so quic nor ha&&y to s&ea of her enemies9 im&ending

doom$ 0%assifying Medea as a conventiona% tragic heroine thus because

much %ess a&&ea%ing$ 4uri&ides, nown more or %ess as the >bad boy@ of

6ree tragedy, hence succeeds in diverging from the acce&ted Aristote%ian


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&erfections &enned by o&hoc%es * Oedipus being the so-ca%%ed &innac%e of

6ree tragedy+$ 7he audience now shifts uneasi%y in each of his or her own

seats as they try to 2gure out what Medea9s motives are, what drives her to

such a &oint of near insanity$ 7he audience is sti=ed by the contradictory

attitude Medea dis&%ays whether she is the e8ce%%ent orator that Aegeus

encountered or the miserab%y ha&&y *meaning she is ha&&iest when thin ing

of i%%ing someone %i e, oh I don9t now, a &rincess or a ing+ witch that the

chorus constant%y wee&s over$ Interesting%y, 4uri&ides deve%o&s Medea9s character sometimes

through the words of others$ or e8am&%e, the .urse wai%s for Medea at the

beginning of the &%ay, stating >48ce&t that sometimes she twists her white

nec and Moans to herse%f, ca%%ing out her father9s name, And her %and, and

her home betrayed when she came away with A man who now is

determined to dishonor her$ 3oor creature, she has discovered by her

suFerings What it means to one not to have %ost one9s own country@

*4uri&ides J- D+$ 7he .urse refers to Medea as a >&oor creature@ conveying

the sym&athies ty&ica%%y reserved for heroes and heroines$ 7his

unconventiona% a&&ea% to &athos ty&ica%%y %eaves the reader wondering

whether Medea can be c%assi2ed as a tragic heroine or not$ I mean this

woman has a%ready i%%ed her brother and cho&&ed him u& and strewed the

body &arts into the water, %eaving her father behind to, we%%, &ic u& the

&ieces$ 7he .urse e8udes a &ost-cathartic audience9s reaction in that

e%ements of &ity and fear e8ist, where the .urse &ities Medea9s >suFerings@


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yet fears any chance of e8&eriencing MedeaKs misfortune >[w]hat it means

to one not to have %ost one9s own country@* D+$Medea9s ear%y recognition of her betraya% is foreign in itse%f$ 7y&ica%%y in

6ree tragedy, the &rotagonist)a %abe% which Medea does not fu%%y embody,

if at a%%)s&ends the entirety of the drama discovering his or her own

hamartia or tragic =aw$ Medea9s %amentations and regrets as a resu%t of this

betraya% dis&%ay her com&%ete acce&tance and innate comfort with her =aws$

Medea9s overa%% ease in terms of her hamartia heightens the uneasiness

a%ready estab%ished between the sorceress and the s&ectators$ Medea does

not act as a common citi:en wou%d and she does not %ament her inBustice)

she on%y grieves for the comfort of home$ 7herein %ays the irony re%ated to

Medea9s e8i%e though she caused her own e8&u%sion, Medea &ines for the

&revious esteem she e8&erienced in 0o%chis$ 7his irony e8ists insomuch as Medea dis&%ays no consistency in her

desires$ he &revious%y wished to =ee her home and succeeded by i%%ing her

brother and wrea ing havoc in 0o%chis$ .ow she wishes to return$ Medea9s

%ac of thorough e8amination a&&ears foreign to the audience who wou%d

imagine a sorceress &ossessing a een sense of Budgment)a 7iresias of

sorts, or even the uries$ Medea now seems to be thin ing irrationa%%y though

she is a&&arent%y the wisest of minds$ It is unsett%ing that such a woman

s i%%ed in the crafts of divinity and the occu%t wou%d be b%inded by such

foo%ishness as %ove$ Lowever, a%% humans &ossess this same stu&idity)harsh

words, but true nonethe%ess)when matters of %ove arise$ 7hus, the audience

is once again thrown 4uri&ides e8&resses Medea9s vu%nerabi%ity which the


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trusted the

words of a 6ree *4uri&ides C" -OJ!+Medea fee%s the &ressures of her e8i%e as much more of an interna% con=ict

than an environmenta% one)meaning it is not the actua% society surrounding

her which attributes to her a%ien status$ It is the woman, the mind of the

woman herse%f s&eci2ca%%y, which e8i%es herse%f from the %and$ Medea %istens

to herse%f more often than she %istens to others$ ;ne &rime e8am&%e is her

com&%ete refusa% to %eave 0reon9s ingdom$ It is as if Medea %istens to 0reon

but a%% the whi%e thin s of how she can ruin his %ife$ In eFect, she %istens but

she does not hear1 she does not comprehend 0reon9s words because she

chooses not to$Unfortunate%y, 0reon a%%ots Medea too much time to strategi:e the

demise of >the who%e of trusted the words of a 6ree @)of


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re&resent his nationa%ity the 6ree s are &ortrayed as both witty and

untrustworthy$ Medea, though, rea%i:es too %ate her >mista e@ she fe%% for

that age-o%d deity 5ove which, again, is com&%ete%y a%ien to her$ Medea now

not on%y fee%s foreign to the %and surrounding her, she now fee%s foreign to

herse%f for she has never fe%t this sort of obsession before$ Medea cannot

hand%e the fact that someone, a man such as When I considered this I saw that I had shown 6reat %ac of

sense, and that my anger was foo%ish$ .ow I agree with you$ I thin that you

are wise In having this other wife as we%% as me, and I Was madN.ow, I

give in, and admit that then I was wrong$ I have come to a better

understanding now@ *4uri&ides OOP-OO#, O"P-O" +$ Lowever, this admittance

of foo%ishness is more or %ess a deceitfu% and we%% &%ayed method of accruing

sym&athy on Medea9s &art)the witch is %ying, fo% s$ Medea may be foreign

to the %and, but she is no stranger to words *and neither is


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