Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} I’m giving you the version that best relates to the play, Medea. Jason is the son of Aeson. Pelias abrogated the throne of Iolcos and killed Aeson. He would have killed Jason too, but the centaur Chiron spirited him away to be raised on Mount Pelian. Later, Pelias offers Jason the throne if only he will capture and return with him the Golden Fleece. Jason gathers the greatest heroes and they take sale in the Argo. Along the way, Jason and the Argonauts are seduced by some beautiful women, endangered by bad weather, and attacked by monsters. They also run into the blind prophet Phineus, who tells them how to get to Colchis, the land of the Golden Fleece. Upon their arrival, King Aeëtes tells Jason that he will enable the young warrior to get the Golden Fleeece if only he completes some tasks. First, he must yoke two fire-breathing bulls together, plow the field of Ares, and sow it with dragon’s teeth.
Meanwhile, Aphrodite gets her son Eros (or Cupid) to strike King Aeëtes’ daughter, Medea, so that she will fall in love with Jason and help him. Medea helps Jason to accomplish his task. Before she does so, however, she makes Jason promise (before her and the gods) to love her and cherish her forever. He does.
Jason and Medea and the Argonauts take off. They take with them, Absyrtus, Medea’s brother. Medea kills her brother and chops him into little pieces. She discards those pieces in the ocean and King Aeëtes and his men try to catch Jason and his accomplices. Because the Greeks placed a high value on proper burials, King Aeëtes tries to catch all the pieces of his son’s body.
At some point, Jason and Medea return to Iolcos. They convince Pelias that he could be rejuvenated by her magic powers. She shows the daughters how to do this. She cuts up a goat into little pieces, boils him, says something like aba-cadabra, and out comes a young, healthy kid [goat]. She says that the same thing will happen to their father if they do the same thing. The daughters of Pelias comply, only when they look for Medea, she has skipped town with Jason. Pelias is dead.
Medea and Jason get away, supposedly to live happily ever after. Of course, this play is not about living happily ever after. In fact, it opens with the servants talking of how their mistress, Medea, is in grief. Jason has chosen to take another bride, the daughter of Kreon. Not only has he betrayed her as a spouse, but he has also, more or less, sentenced her to death. She and her sons will be exiled. Think about it: Who in the world is going to let Medea stay at his place? No one. So, for her, exiled does mean death. Jason, of course, minimizes it. But then, Jason is an idiot.
Medea is an iconoclastic play because the hero is both a woman and a foreigner. This makes her about as low as one can go in ancient Greek society. “Iconoclastic” means that the writer or artist basically broke the mold when he composed this. Formerly, Greek heroes were Greek, male, and of the nobility.
The play opens with the NURSE, probably a nurse-maid, a woman who raised the children of Medea and Jason.
Jason and Medea have two children together, sons. Medea cannot even bear to look at her sons and she spends much of the early part of the play bemoaning her fate as a rejected wife. The NURSE explains what has happened:
“How I wish the Argo never had reached the land/ of Cholchis....Nor ever had fallen in the glades of Pelion/ The smitten fir-tree to furnish oars for the hands/ Of heroes who in Pelias’ name attempted/ The Golden Fleece! For my mistress Medea/ Would not have sailed for the towers of the land of Iolcos,/ Her heart on fire with passionate love for Jason;/ Nor would she have persuaded the daughters of Pelias/ To kill their father, and now be living here/ In Corinth with her husband and children….But now there’s hatred everywhere. Love is diseased./ For, deserting his own children and my mistress,/ Jason has taken a royal wife to his bed,/ The daughter of the ruler of this land, Kreon./ And poor Medea is slighted, and cries aloud on the/ Vows they made to each other, the right hands clasped/ In eternal promise. She calls upon the gods to witness/ What sort of return Jason has made to her love./ She lies without food and gives herself up to suffering,/ Wasting away every moment of the day in tears” (1-25).
The NURSE speaks to the TUTOR at first, then to the CHORUS of Corinthian women. The NURSE and just about everybody else (except Jason and King Kreon) know that something bad is about to happen: “She listens when she is given friendly advice./ Except that sometimes she twists back her white neck and/ moans to herself, calling out on her father’s name,/ And her land, and her home betrayed when she came away with/ A man who is determined to dishonor her./ Poor creatures, she has discovered by her sufferings/ What it means to one to have lost one’s own country./ She has turned from the children and does no like to see them. I am afraid she may think of some dreadful thing,/ For her heart is violent. She will never put up with/ the treatment she is getting. I know her and fear her/ Lest she may sharpen a sword and thrust it to the heart,/ Stealing into the palace where the bed is made,/ Or even kill the king and the new-wedded groom,/ And thus bring a greater misfortune on herself./ She’s a strange woman. I know it won’t be easy/ To make an enemy of her and come off best” (29-45).
Here, the TUTOR reveals that MEDEA and her children will be exiled away from Corinth. The NURSE finds this almost unbelievable and the TUTOR responds: “What’s strange in that? Have you only just discovered/ That everyone loves himself more than his neighbor?/ Some have good reason, others get something out of it./ So Jason neglects his children for the new bride” (85-88).
NURSE. “Don’t bring them near their mother in her angry mood/ For I’ve seen her already blazing her eyes at them/ As though she meant some mischief and I am sure that/ She’ll not stop raging until she has struck at someone./ May it be an enemy and not a friend she hurts!” (91).
The NURSE tells the children to “Run away quickly into the house,/ And keep well out of her [Medea’s] sight./ Don’t go anywhere near, but be careful/ Of the wildness and bitter nature/ Of that proud mind./ Go now! Run quickly indoors./ It is clear that she soon will put lightning/ In that cloud of her cries that is rising/With a passion increasing. Oh, what will she do,/ Proud-hearted and not to be checked on her course,/ A soul bitten into wrong?” (98-110).
MEDEA. “Ah, I have suffered/ What should be wept for bitterly. I hate you/ Children of a hateful mother. I curse you/ And your father. Let the whole house crash” (111-114).
NURSE. “Ah, I pity you, poor creature./ How can your children share in their father’s/ Wickedness? Why do you hate them? Oh children,/ How much I fear that something may happen!/ Great people’s tempers are terrible, always/ Having their own way, seldom checked,/ Dangerous when they shift from mood to mood./ How much better to have been accustomed/ To live on equal terms with one’s neighbors./ I would like to be safe and grow old in a/ Humble way. What is moderate sounds best,/ Also in practice is best for everyone./ Greatness brings no profit to people./ God indeed, when in anger, brings/ Greater ruin to great men’s houses” (115-129).
Absolute power corrupts absolutely! And the higher you go, the harder you fall. MEDEA is, indeed, enraged: “Behold Themis, lady Artemis, behold,/ The things I suffer, though I made him promise,/ My hateful husband. I pray that I may see him,/ Him and his bride and all their palace shattered/ For the wrong they dare to do me without cause./ Oh, my father! Oh, my country! In what dishonor/ I left you, killing my own brother for it” (159-165).
NURSE. “Do you hear what she says, and how she cries/ On Themis, the goddess of Promises, and on Zeus,/ Whom we believe to be the Keeper of Oaths?/ Of this I am sure, that no small thing/ Will appease my mistress’ anger” ((166-170).
CHORUS. “Will she come into our presence?/ Will she listen when we are speaking/ To the words we say?/ I wish she might relax her rage/ And temper of her heart./ My willingness to help will never/ Be wanting to my friends./ But go inside and bring her/ Out of the house to us./ And speak kindly to her: hurry,/ Before she wrongs her own./ This passion of hers moves to something great” (171-182).
Passion over reason. That is one of the themes of this play.
NURSE. “Such a look she will flash on her servants/ If any comes near her with a message,/ Like a lioness guarding her cubs./ It is right, I think, to consider/ Both stupid and lacking in foresight/ Those poets of old who wrote songs/ For revels and dinners and banquets,/ Pleasant sounds for men living at ease;/ But none of them all has discovered/ How to put an end with their singing/ Or musical instruments grief,/ Bitter grief, from which death and disaster/ Cheat the hopes of a house. Yet how good/ If music could cure men of this…” (186-199).
In other words, all those heroic songs are, as Henry Ford would have said, “bunk”!
The CHORUS speaks of MEDEA’s pain and how it was she who helped Jason to get to this land upon the first place. MEDEA keeps bringing up the oath that JASON made too, before her and before the gods. MEDEA makes an appeal to the Corinthian women. Remember, women are lower in caste than foreign men. MEDEA, being a foreigner as well, is at the bottom. MEDEA appeals for sympathy:
“Women of Corinth, I have come outside to you/ Lest you should be indignant with me; for I know/ That many people are over-proud, some when alone,/ And others when in company. And those who live/ Quietly, as I do, get a bad reputation./ For a just judgment is not evident in the eyes/ When a man at first sight hates another, before/ Learning his character, being in no way injured,/ And a foreigner especially must adapt himself./ I’d not approve of even a fellow-countryman/ Who by pride and want of manners offends his neighbors./ But on me this thing has fallen so unexpectedly,/ It has broken my heart. I am finished. I let go/ All my life’s job. My friends, I only want to die./ It was everything to me to think well of one man,/ And he, my own husband, has turned out wholly vile./ Of all things which are living, and can form a judgment/ We women are the most unfortunate creatures./ Firstly, with an excess of wealth it is required/ For us to buy a husband and take for our bodies/ A master; for not to take one is even worse./ And now the question is serious whether we take/ A good or bad one; for there is no easy escape/ For a woman, nor can she say no to her marriage./ She arrives among new modes of behavior and manners,/ And needs prophetic power, unless she has learnt at home,/ How best to mange him who shares the bed with her./ And if we work out all this well and carefully,/ And the husband lives with us and lightly bares his yoke,/ Then life is enviable. If not, Id rather die./ A man, when he’s tired of the company in his home,/ Goes out of the house and puts an end to his boredom/ And turns to a friend or companion of his own age./ But we are forced to keep our eyes on one alone./ What they say of us is that we have a peaceful time/ Living at home, while they do the fighting in war./ How wrong they are! I would much rather stand/ Three times in the front of battle than bear one child./ Yet what applies to me does not apply to you./ You have a country. Your family is here./ You enjoy life and the company of your friends./ But I am deserted, a refugee, thought nothing of/ By my husband, --something he won in a foreign land./ I have no mother or brother, nor any relation/ With whom I can take refuge in this sea of woe./ This much then is the service I would beg from you:/ If I can find the means or devise any scheme/ To pay my husband back for what he has done to me,--/ Him and his father-in-aw and the girl who married him,--/ Just to keep silent. For in other ways a woman/ Is full of fear, defenseless, dreads the sight of cold/ Steel; but, when once she is wronged in the matter of love,/ No other soul can hold so many thoughts of blood” (212-264).
Despair is a “sin” or an act of hubris! By oppressing others, we create situations in which violence can foment. In a sense, that makes us responsible for the violence.
Medea asks why KREON must exile her and her children:
KREON. “I am afraid of you,--why should I dissemble it?--/Afraid that you may injure my daughter mortally./ Many things accumulate to support my feeling./ You are a clever woman, versed in evil arts./ And are angry at having lost your husband’s love./ I hear that you are threatening, so they tell me,/ To do something against my daughter and Jason/ And me, too. I shall take precautions first./ I tell you, I prefer to earn your hatred now/ Than to be left soft-hearted and afterwards regret it” (280-289).
MEDEA. “This is not the first time, Kreon. Often previously/ Through being considered clever I have suffered much./ A person of sense ought never to have his children/ Brought u to be more clever than the average. For, apart from cleverness bringing them no profit/ It will make them objects of envy and ill-will./ If you put ideas before the eyes of fools/ They’ll think you foolish and worthless into the bargain;/ And if you are thought superior to those who have/ Some reputation for learning, you will become hated./ I have some knowledge myself of how this happens;/ For being clever, I find that some will envy me,/ Other subject to me. Yet all my cleverness/ Is not so much. Well, then, are you frightened, Kreon,/ That I should harm you? There is no need. It is not/ My way to transgress the authority of a king./ How have you injured me? You gave your daughter away/ To the man you wanted. O, certainly I hate/ My husband, but you, I think, have acted wisely;/ Nor do I grudge it you that your affairs go well./ May the marriage be a lucky one! Only let me/ Live in this land. For even though I have been wronged,/ I will not raise my voice, but submit to my betters” (290-312).
Notice how she uses logos in the above passage. Later, she will use ethos and pathos. See if you can identify that.
KREON. “What you say sounds gentle enough. Still in my heart/ I gently dread that you are plotting some evil,/ And therefore I trust you even less than before. /A sharp-tempered woman, or for that matter a man,/ Is easier to deal with than the clever type/ Who holds her tongue. No. You must go. No need for more/ Speeches. The thing is fixed. By no manner of means/ Shall you, an enemy of mine, stay in my country” (313-320).
KREON. “Your words are wasted. You will never persuade me” (322).
MEDEA: “Will you drive me out, and give no heed to my prayers?” (323).
KREON: “I will, for I love my family more than you” (324).
MEDEA. “O my country! How bitterly I remember you!” (325).
MEDEA. “O what an evil to men is passionate love!” (327).
MEDEA then takes another tactic. This next appeal is mostly pathos: “Allow me to remain here just for this one day,/ So I may consider where to live in my exile,/ And look for support for my children, since their father/ Chooses to make no kind of provision for them./ Have pity on them! You have children of your own./ It is natural for you to look kindly on them./ For myself I do not mind if I go into exile./ It is the children being in trouble that I mind” (337-344).
KREON. “There is nothing tyrannical about my nature,/ And by showing mercy I have often been the loser,/ Even now I know that I am making a mistake./ All the same you shall have your will. But this I tell you,/ That if the light of heaven tomorrow shall see you/ You and your children I the confines of my land,/ You die. This word I have spoken is firmly fixed./ But now, if you must stay, stay for this day alone./ For in it you can do none of the things I fear” (345-353).
MEDEA talks to the CHORUS next. They feel pity for her, but she knows what she is doing: “Do you think that I would ever have fawned on that man/ Unless I had some end to gain or profit in it?/ I would not even have spoken or touched him with my hands./ But he has got to such a pitch of foolishness/ That, though he could have made nothing of all my plans/ By exiling me, he has given me this one day/ To stay here, and in this I will make dead bodies/ Of three of my enemies,--father, the girl and my husband” (364-371).
She considers the ways. She has to be careful or she will be killed. Besides, she is skilled in the magic arts. She will poison them. Also, she needs to find a place to stay when she runs away: “Bitter I will make their marriage for them and mournful,/ Bitter the alliance and the driving me out of the land./ Ah, come, Medea, in your plotting and scheming/ Leave nothing untried of all those things you know./ Go forward to the dreadful act. The test has come/ For resolution. You see how you are treated. Never/ Shall you be mocked by Jason’s Corinthian wedding,/ Whose father was noble, whose grandfather Helios./ You have the skill. What is more, you were born a woman,/ And women, though most helpless in doing good deeds,/ Are of every evil the cleverest of contrivers” (396-406).
CHORUS. “You sailed away from your father’s home,/ With a heart on fire you passed/ The double rocks of he sea./ And now in a foreign country/ You have lost your rest in a widowed bed,/ You are driven forth, a refugee/ In dishonor from the land” (421-427).
Dishonor is a big deal in this culture--usually just for royal male heroes. The play is named after Medea, however, and she is a warrior. She will not be dishonored.
CHORUS. “Good faith has gone, and no more remains/ In great Greece a sense of shame./ It has flown way to the sky./ No father’s house for a haven/ Is at hand for you now, and another queen/ Of your bed has dispossessed you and/ Is mistress of your home” (428-434).
JASON comes into the room and basically blames Medea, the victim: “This is not the first occasion that I have noticed/ How hopeless it is to deal with a stubborn temper./ For, with reasonable submission to our ruler’s will,/ You might have lived in this land and kept your home./ As it is you are going to be exiled for your loose speaking./ Not that I mind myself. You are free to continue/ Telling everyone that Jason is a worthless man./ But as to your talk about the king, consider/ Yourself most lucky that exile is your punishment./ I, for my part, have always tried to calm down/ The anger of the king, and wished you to remain./ But you will not give up your folly, continually/ Speaking ill of him, and so you are going to be banished./ All the same, and in spite of your conduct, I’ll not desert/ My friends, but have come to make some provision for you,/ So that you and the children may not be penniless/ Or in need of anything in exile. Certainly/ Exile brings many troubles with it. And even/ If you hate me, I cannot think badly of you” (435-453).
MEDEA. “O coward in every way,--that is what I call you,/ With bitterest reproach for your lack of manliness,/ You have come, you, my worst enemy, have come to me!/ It is not an example of over-confidence/ Or of boldness thus to look your friends in the face,/ Friends you have injured,--no, it is the worst of all/ Human diseases, shamelessness. But you did well/ To come, for I can speak ill of you and lighten/ My heart, and you will suffer while you are listening” (454-462).
MEDEA goes on to cite her accomplishments: “And first I will begin from what happened first./ I saved your life, and every Greek knows I saved it/ Who was a ship-mate of your aboard the Argo,/ When you were sent to control the bulls that breathed fire/ And yoke them, and when you would sow that deadly field./ Also that snake, who encircled with his many folds/ The Golden Fleece and guarded it and never slept,/ I killed, and so gave you the safety of the light./ And I myself betrayed my father and my home,/ And came with you to Pelias’ land of Iolcos./ And then, showing more willingness than wisdom,/ I killed him, Pelias, with a most dreadful death/ At his own daughters’ hands, and took away your fear./ This is how I behaved to you, you wretched man,/ And you forsook me, took another bride to bed/ Though you had children; for, if that had not been,/ You would have had an excuse for another wedding/ Faith in your word has gone. Indeed I cannot tell/ Whether you think the gods whose names you swore by then/ Have ceased to rule and that new standards are set up,/ Since you must know you have broken your word to me./ O my right hand, and the knees which you often clasped/ In supplication, how senselessly I am treated/ By this bad man, and how my hopes have missed their mark!/ Come, I will share my thoughts as though you were a friend,--/ You! Can I think that you would ever treat me well?/ But I will do it, and these questions will make you/ Appear the baser. Where am I to go? To my father’s?/ Him I betrayed and his land when I came with you./ To Pelias’ wretched daughters? What a fine welcome/ They would prepare for me who murdered their father!/ For this is my position,--hated by my friends/ At home, I have, in kindness to you, made enemies/ Of others whom there was no need to have injured./ And how happy among Greek women you have made me/ On your side for all this! A distinguished husband/ I have,-for breaking promises. When in misery/ I am cast out of the land and go into exile,/ Quiet without friends and all alone with my children,/ That will be a fine shame for the new-wedded groom,/ For his children to wander as beggars and she who saved him. O God, you have given to mortals a sure method/ Of telling the gold that is true from the counterfeit;/ Why is there no mark engraved upon men’s bodies,/ By which we could know the true ones form the false ones?” (463-507).
She will not be shamed. Her children--her legacy--will not be beggars.
JASON. “Since you insist on building up your kindness to me,/ My view I that Cypris [Aphrodite] was alone responsible/ Of men and gods for the preserving of my life./ You are clever enough,--but really I need not enter/ Into the story of how it was love’s inescapable/ Power that compelled you to keep my person safe./ O this I will not go into too much detail./ In so far as you helped me, you did well enough./ But on this question of saving me, I can prove/ You have certainly got from me more than you gave./ Firstly, instead of living among barbarians,/ You inhabit a Greek land and understand our ways,/ How to live by law instead of the sweet will of force./ And all the Greeks considered you a clever woman./ You were honored for it; while, if you were living at/ The ends of the earth, nobody would have heard of you./ [I think Jason is projecting here; he likes the fame and fortune that he has achieved] For my part, rather than stores of gold in my house,/ Or power to sing even sweeter songs than Orpheus, I’d choose the fate that made me a distinguished man./ There is my reply to your labors./ Remember it was you who started the argument” (514-534).
So he says that she used to be a barbarian until she met up with Jason. He also says she is lucky because she is famous! Jason is ruled by his head, by his desire for power. He also lies to himself about his own greatness; he never, ever suspects that she will do to him something like she has already done to her own family.
Now JASON tells her that he is doing her and the kids a big favor. Later, she will echo these words in order to get him to let down his guard. She will say what he says here, only she will say it about herself. She will seem repentant and Jason will believe it--because he wants to believe it: “Remember it was your attack on my wedding with the princess:/ Here I will prove that, first it was a clever move,/ Secondly, a wise one, and, finally, that I made it/ In your best interests and the children’s. Please keep calm./ When I arrived here from the land of Iolcos,/ Involved, as I was, in every kind of difficulty,/ What luckier chance could I have come across than this,/ An exile to marry the daughter of the king?/ It was not,--the point that seems to upset you—that I/ Grew tired of your bed and felt the need of a new bride;/ Nor with any wish to outdo your number of children./ We have enough already. I am quite content./ But,--this was the main reason--that we might live well,/ And not be short of anything. I know that all/ A man’s friends leave him stone-cod if he becomes poor./ Also that I might bring my children up worthily/ Of my position, and, by producing more of them/ To be brothers of yours, we would draw the families/ Together and all be happy. You need no children./ And it pays me to do good to those I have now/ By having others. Do you think this a bad plan?/ You wouldn’t if the love question hadn’t upset you./ But you women have got into such a state of mind/ That, if your life at night is good, you think you have/ Everything; but, if in that quarter things go wrong,/ You will consider your best and truest interests/ Most hateful. It would have been better far for men/ To have got their children in some other way, and women/ Not to have existed. Then life would have been good” (535-563).
As you can see, Jason thinks pretty highly of himself.
MEDEA. “Surely in many ways I hold different views/ From others, for I think that the plausible speaker/ Who is a villain deserves the greatest punishment./ Confident in his tongue’s power to adorn evil,/ He stops at nothing. Yet he is not really wise./ As in your case. There is no need to put on the airs./ Of a clever speaker, for one word will lay you flat./ If you were not a coward, you would not have married/ Behind my back, but discussed it with me first” (567-575).
Is JASON a plausible speaker, full of logic?
JASON. “And you, no doubt, would have furthered the proposal,/ If I had told you of it, you who even now/ Are incapable of controlling your bitter temper” (576-578).
MEDEA. “It was not that. No, you thought it was not respectable/ As you got on in years to have a foreign wife” (579-580).
Foreigners are dishonored. Foreign males are below the status of native females. A foreign female is on the bottom.
JASON. “Make sure of this: it was not because of a woman/ I made the royal alliance in which I now live,/ But, as I said before, I wished to preserve you/ And breed a royal progeny, to be brothers/ To the children I have now, a sure defense to us” (581-585).
Again, Medea will echo these words later.
The only problem with that logic is that the children will surely die in exile.
MEDEA. “Let me have no happy fortune that brings pain with it,/ Or prosperity which is upsetting to the mind!” (587).
JASON. “Change your ideas of what you want, and show more sense./ Do not consider painful what is good for you,/ Nor, when you are lucky, think yourself unfortunate” (588-590).
Later, Medea will say that she sees the light, that she now has more sense. She will even say that she is lucky. But not now:
MEDEA. “You an insult me. You have somewhere to turn to./ But I shall go from this land into exile. Friendless” (591-592).
JASON. “It was you who chose yourself. Don’t blame others for it” (593). Blame the victim again!
MEDEA. “And how did I choose it/ Did I betray my husband?” (594).
He offers her money and says he will get some of his friends abroad to help her.
JASON. “Cease your anger and you will profit” (603).
MEDEA. “I shall never accept the favors of friends of yours,/ Nor take a thing from you, so you need not offer it./ There is no benefit in the gifts of a bad man” (604-605).
A good mother, thinking of her children before everything else, might have accepted this money. Medea, however, is out of control with her feelings.
CHORUS. “When love is in excess/ It brings a man no honor/ Nor any worthiness./ But if in moderation Cypris comes,/ There is no other power at all so gracious./ O goddess, never on me let loose the unerring/ Shaft of your bow in the poison of desire” (615-621).
CHORUS. “Let my heart be wise./ It is the gods’ best gift./ On me let mighty Cypris/ Inflict no worldly wars or restless anger/ To urge my passion to a different love./ But with discernment may she guide women’s weddings,/ Honoring most what is peaceful in bed” (622-628).
CHORUS. “There is no sorrow above/ The loss of a native land” (636-637).
CHORUS. “I have seen it myself,/ Do not tell of a secondhand story./ Neither city nor friend/ Pitied you when you suffered/ The worst of sufferings./ O let him die ungraced whose heart/ Will not reward his friends,/ Who cannot open an honest mind/ No friend will he be of mine” (638-646).
King Aigeus comes next. He is her friend, and he expresses sympathy when Medea tells her of her fate. On the other hand, he gives practical advice:
AIGEUS. “Then let him go, if, as you say, he is so bad” (683).
MEDEA. “A passionate love,--for an alliance with a king” (684).
AIGEUS. “Indeed, Medea, your grief was understandable” (687).
MEDEA. “I am ruined. And there is more to come: I am banished” (688).
AIGEUS lets her know that he has had troubles of his own. He and his wife have not been able to have children. In return for giving MEDEA a place to stay, she will mix a potion that will enable AIGEUS and his wife to have sons.
MEDEA: "I will end your childlessness, and I will make you able/ To beget children. The drugs I know can do this" (701-702).
AIGEUS: "For many reasons, woman, I am anxious to do/ This favor for you. First, for the sake of the gods, / And then for the birth of children which you promise, / For in that respect I am entirely at my wits' end" (703-706).
There is a caveat, however. MEDEA will have to find her own transportation.
AIGEUS: "BUt this much I must warn you of beforehand: / I shall not agree to take you out of this country; / But if you by yourself can reach my house, then you / Shall stay there safely. To none I can give you up. / But from this land you must make your escape yourself, / For I do not wish to incur blame from my friends" (709-714).
MEDEA wants it in writing, so to speak. She wants him to swear an oath before the gods. This echoes Jason's original pledge to Medea, an oath he made before her and before the gods, and the reason that she gave up everything in the first place. AIGEUS, of course, is a little hurt, but he relents.
AIGEUS. “Do you not trust me? What is it rankles you?” (717).
MEDEA. “I trust you, yes. But the house of Pelias hates me./ And so does Kreon. If you are bound by this oath,/ When they try to drag me from your land, you will not/ Abandon me; but if our pact is only words,/ With no oath to the gods, you will be lightly armed,/ Unable to resist their summons. I am weak,/ While they have wealth to help them and a royal house” (718-724).
AIGEUS. “You show much foresight for such negotiations” (725).
PREMEDITATION:
MEDEA. “Swear by the plain of Earth, and Helios, father/ Of my father, and name together all the gods…” (730-731).
AIGEUS. “That I will act or not act in what way? Speak” (732).
MEDEA. “That you yourself will never cast me from your land,/ Nor, if any of my enemies should demand me,/ Will you, in your life, willingly hand me over” (733-735).
AIGEUS. “I swear by the Earth, by the holy light of Helios,/ By all the gods, I will abide by this you say” (736-737).
MEDEA. “Enough. And, if you fail, what shall happen to you?” (738).
AIGEUS. “What comes to those who have no regard for heaven” (739).
MEDEA. “Go on your way. Farewell. For I am satisfied,/ And I will reach your city as soon as I can,/ Having done the deed I have to do and gained my end” (740-742).
She then proceeds to tell the chorus of her plans.
MEDEA. “I shall send one of my servants to find Jason/ And request him to come once more into my sight./ And when he comes, the words I’ll say will be soft ones./ I’ll say that I agree with him, that I approve/ The royal wedding he has made, betraying me./ I’ll say it was profitable, an excellent idea./ But I shall beg that my children may remain here:/ Not that I would leave in a country that hates me/ Children of mine to feel their enemies’ insults,/ But that by a trick I may kill the king’s daughter/ For I will send the children with gifts in their hands/ To carry to the bride, so as not to be banished,--/A finely woven dress and a golden diadem” (758-770).
MEDEA. “I weep to think of what a deed I have to do/ Next, after that; for I shall kill my own children./ My children, there is none who can give them safety./ And when I have ruined the whole of Jason’s house,/ I shall leave the land and flee form the murder of my/ Dear children, and I shall have done a dreadful deed./ For it is not bearable to be mocked by enemies./ So it must happen. What profit have I in life?/ I have no land, no home, no refuge from my pain./ My mistake was made the time I left behind me/ My father’s house, and trusted the words of a Greek,/ Who, with heaven’s help, will pay me the price for that./ For those children he had from me he will never/ See alive again, nor will he on his new bride/ Beget another child, for she is to be forced/ To die a most terrible death by these my poisons./ Let no one think me a weak one, feeble-spirited,/ A stay-at-home, but rather just the opposite,/ One who can hurt my enemies and help my friends;/ For the lives of such persons are most remembered” (775-794).
Chorus suggests that she shouldn’t do this. She says they don’t understand her.
CHORUS. “But can you have the heart to kill your flesh and blood?” (800).
MEDEA. “Yes, for this is the best way to wound my husband” (801).
CHORUS. “And you too. Of women you will be most unhappy” (802).
What about this act will impact her chorus of women? Won’t she be making them complicit? Below, she speaks to the NURSE, but the CHORUS is nearby:
MEDEA. “Say nothing of these decisions which I have made,/ If you love your mistress, if you were born a woman” (806-807).
CHORUS. “O where will you find the courage/ Or the skill of hand and heart,/ When you set yourself to attempt/ A deed so dreadful to do?/ How, when you look upon them,/ Can you tearlessly hold the decision/ For murder? You will not be able,/ When your children fall down and implore you,/ You will not be able to dip/ Steadfast your hand in their blood” (832-841).
Now, Medea starts using Jason's own words in order to convince him that everything he had said earlier was true and that she has come to "see the light":
MEDEA. “Jason, I beg you to be forgiving towards me/ For what I said. It is natural for you to bear with/ My temper, since we have had much love together./ I have talked with myself about this and I have/ Reproached myself. ‘Fool’ I said, ‘why am I so mad?’/ Why am I set against those who planned wisely?/ Why make myself an enemy of the authorities/ And of my husband, who does the best thing for me/ By marrying royalty and having children who/ Will be as brothers to my own? What is wrong with me? Let me give up anger, for the gods are kind to me./ Have I not children, and do I not know that we / In exile from our country must be short of friends? / When I considered this I saw that I had shown / Great lack of sense, and that my anger was foolish/ Now I agree with you. I think that you are wise/ In having this other wife as well as me, and I / Was mad. I should have helped you in these plans of yours, / Have joined in the wedding, stood by the marriage bed,/ Have taken pleasure in attendance on your bride” (845-864).
Note how MEDEA seems to have changed her tune. She has not. She is simply playing on Jason’s credulity: “But we women are what we are,--perhaps a little / Worthless; and you men must not be like us in this, / Nor be foolish in return when we are foolish. / Now I give in, and admit that then I was wrong. / I have come to a better understanding now” (865-869).
She calls her children to come and say goodbye to Dad, to “say goodbye to him, / And with your mother, who just now was his enemy, / Join again in making friends with him who loves us” (871-873).
She churns it up a notch here: “We have made peace, and all our anger is over. / Take hold of his right hand,--O God, I am thinking / Of something which may happen in the secret future. / O children, will you just so, after a long life, / Hold out your loving arms at the grave? O children, / How ready to cry I am, how full of foreboding!/ I am ending at last this quarrel with your father, / And, look, my soft eyes have suddenly filled with tears” (874-881).
JASON: "I approve of what you say. And I cannot blame you / Even for what you said before. It is natural / For a woman to be wild with her husband when he / Goes in for a secret love. But now your mind has turned / To better reasoning. In the end you have come to / The right decision, like the clever woman you are" (884-889).
He is so clueless....
He then asks her why she is crying when everything is going to work out so well? "I was thinking about these children," she says. Note that it is "these" children, not "our children." She is already distancing herself emotionally so that she can carry out her terrible deed. She adds icing to the cake when she says, "It is not that I distrust your words, / But a woman is a frail thing, prone to crying" (903-904).
MEDEA then makes a case for keeping the children in Corinth. She will leave, but the innocent children should be allowed to remain with their father. Her plan, of course, is to have the children deliver the poisoned dress and diadem to the new bride. Jason responds that he doesn't think that Kreon will go for this, but Medea asks Jason to appeal to his new bride, to get her to beg Kreon, her father, for this favor. Jason has more confidence when it comes to his way with women:
"I will, and with her I shall certainly succeed" (920).
MEDEA plays on Jason's vanity: "If she is like the rest of us women, you will" (921).
She then offers to give Jason's bride a god-created wedding dress and diadem: "And I too will take a hand with you in this business, / For I will send her some gifts which are far fairer, / I am sure of it, than those which now are in fashion,/ A finely-woven dress and a golden diadem, / And the children shall present them. Quick, let one of you / Servants bring here to me that beautiful dress. / She will be happy not in one way, but in a hundred, / Having so fine a man as you to share her bed, / And with this beautiful dress which Helios of old, My father's father, bestowed on his descendants. / There, children, take these wedding presents in your hands. / Take them to the royal princess, the happy bride, / And give them to her. She will not think little of them" (922-934).
JASON objects at first. His bride-to-be is happy enough with acquiring him as a husband. She doesn't need these other things. He might be offended too, because she is perhaps suggesting that he isn't such a great provider. Such a suggestion would be harmful to his idea of his masculinity:
""No, don't be foolish, and empty your hands of these. / Do you think the palace is short of dresses to wear? / Do you think there is no gold there? Keep them, don't give them / Away. If my wife considers me of any value, / She will think more of me than money, I am sure of it" (935-939).
MEDEA reasons with JASON that this is a peace-offering. She reminds him too, that it is god-created. No matter how rich Kreon might be, he doesn't own any god-created garments.
The CHORUS talks about the upcoming murder of the princess. They do nothing but talk ab
Meanwhile, Aphrodite gets her son Eros (or Cupid) to strike King Aeëtes’ daughter, Medea, so that she will fall in love with Jason and help him. Medea helps Jason to accomplish his task. Before she does so, however, she makes Jason promise (before her and the gods) to love her and cherish her forever. He does.
Jason and Medea and the Argonauts take off. They take with them, Absyrtus, Medea’s brother. Medea kills her brother and chops him into little pieces. She discards those pieces in the ocean and King Aeëtes and his men try to catch Jason and his accomplices. Because the Greeks placed a high value on proper burials, King Aeëtes tries to catch all the pieces of his son’s body.
At some point, Jason and Medea return to Iolcos. They convince Pelias that he could be rejuvenated by her magic powers. She shows the daughters how to do this. She cuts up a goat into little pieces, boils him, says something like aba-cadabra, and out comes a young, healthy kid [goat]. She says that the same thing will happen to their father if they do the same thing. The daughters of Pelias comply, only when they look for Medea, she has skipped town with Jason. Pelias is dead.
Medea and Jason get away, supposedly to live happily ever after. Of course, this play is not about living happily ever after. In fact, it opens with the servants talking of how their mistress, Medea, is in grief. Jason has chosen to take another bride, the daughter of Kreon. Not only has he betrayed her as a spouse, but he has also, more or less, sentenced her to death. She and her sons will be exiled. Think about it: Who in the world is going to let Medea stay at his place? No one. So, for her, exiled does mean death. Jason, of course, minimizes it. But then, Jason is an idiot.
Medea is an iconoclastic play because the hero is both a woman and a foreigner. This makes her about as low as one can go in ancient Greek society. “Iconoclastic” means that the writer or artist basically broke the mold when he composed this. Formerly, Greek heroes were Greek, male, and of the nobility.
The play opens with the NURSE, probably a nurse-maid, a woman who raised the children of Medea and Jason.
Jason and Medea have two children together, sons. Medea cannot even bear to look at her sons and she spends much of the early part of the play bemoaning her fate as a rejected wife. The NURSE explains what has happened:
“How I wish the Argo never had reached the land/ of Cholchis....Nor ever had fallen in the glades of Pelion/ The smitten fir-tree to furnish oars for the hands/ Of heroes who in Pelias’ name attempted/ The Golden Fleece! For my mistress Medea/ Would not have sailed for the towers of the land of Iolcos,/ Her heart on fire with passionate love for Jason;/ Nor would she have persuaded the daughters of Pelias/ To kill their father, and now be living here/ In Corinth with her husband and children….But now there’s hatred everywhere. Love is diseased./ For, deserting his own children and my mistress,/ Jason has taken a royal wife to his bed,/ The daughter of the ruler of this land, Kreon./ And poor Medea is slighted, and cries aloud on the/ Vows they made to each other, the right hands clasped/ In eternal promise. She calls upon the gods to witness/ What sort of return Jason has made to her love./ She lies without food and gives herself up to suffering,/ Wasting away every moment of the day in tears” (1-25).
The NURSE speaks to the TUTOR at first, then to the CHORUS of Corinthian women. The NURSE and just about everybody else (except Jason and King Kreon) know that something bad is about to happen: “She listens when she is given friendly advice./ Except that sometimes she twists back her white neck and/ moans to herself, calling out on her father’s name,/ And her land, and her home betrayed when she came away with/ A man who is determined to dishonor her./ Poor creatures, she has discovered by her sufferings/ What it means to one to have lost one’s own country./ She has turned from the children and does no like to see them. I am afraid she may think of some dreadful thing,/ For her heart is violent. She will never put up with/ the treatment she is getting. I know her and fear her/ Lest she may sharpen a sword and thrust it to the heart,/ Stealing into the palace where the bed is made,/ Or even kill the king and the new-wedded groom,/ And thus bring a greater misfortune on herself./ She’s a strange woman. I know it won’t be easy/ To make an enemy of her and come off best” (29-45).
Here, the TUTOR reveals that MEDEA and her children will be exiled away from Corinth. The NURSE finds this almost unbelievable and the TUTOR responds: “What’s strange in that? Have you only just discovered/ That everyone loves himself more than his neighbor?/ Some have good reason, others get something out of it./ So Jason neglects his children for the new bride” (85-88).
NURSE. “Don’t bring them near their mother in her angry mood/ For I’ve seen her already blazing her eyes at them/ As though she meant some mischief and I am sure that/ She’ll not stop raging until she has struck at someone./ May it be an enemy and not a friend she hurts!” (91).
The NURSE tells the children to “Run away quickly into the house,/ And keep well out of her [Medea’s] sight./ Don’t go anywhere near, but be careful/ Of the wildness and bitter nature/ Of that proud mind./ Go now! Run quickly indoors./ It is clear that she soon will put lightning/ In that cloud of her cries that is rising/With a passion increasing. Oh, what will she do,/ Proud-hearted and not to be checked on her course,/ A soul bitten into wrong?” (98-110).
MEDEA. “Ah, I have suffered/ What should be wept for bitterly. I hate you/ Children of a hateful mother. I curse you/ And your father. Let the whole house crash” (111-114).
NURSE. “Ah, I pity you, poor creature./ How can your children share in their father’s/ Wickedness? Why do you hate them? Oh children,/ How much I fear that something may happen!/ Great people’s tempers are terrible, always/ Having their own way, seldom checked,/ Dangerous when they shift from mood to mood./ How much better to have been accustomed/ To live on equal terms with one’s neighbors./ I would like to be safe and grow old in a/ Humble way. What is moderate sounds best,/ Also in practice is best for everyone./ Greatness brings no profit to people./ God indeed, when in anger, brings/ Greater ruin to great men’s houses” (115-129).
Absolute power corrupts absolutely! And the higher you go, the harder you fall. MEDEA is, indeed, enraged: “Behold Themis, lady Artemis, behold,/ The things I suffer, though I made him promise,/ My hateful husband. I pray that I may see him,/ Him and his bride and all their palace shattered/ For the wrong they dare to do me without cause./ Oh, my father! Oh, my country! In what dishonor/ I left you, killing my own brother for it” (159-165).
NURSE. “Do you hear what she says, and how she cries/ On Themis, the goddess of Promises, and on Zeus,/ Whom we believe to be the Keeper of Oaths?/ Of this I am sure, that no small thing/ Will appease my mistress’ anger” ((166-170).
CHORUS. “Will she come into our presence?/ Will she listen when we are speaking/ To the words we say?/ I wish she might relax her rage/ And temper of her heart./ My willingness to help will never/ Be wanting to my friends./ But go inside and bring her/ Out of the house to us./ And speak kindly to her: hurry,/ Before she wrongs her own./ This passion of hers moves to something great” (171-182).
Passion over reason. That is one of the themes of this play.
NURSE. “Such a look she will flash on her servants/ If any comes near her with a message,/ Like a lioness guarding her cubs./ It is right, I think, to consider/ Both stupid and lacking in foresight/ Those poets of old who wrote songs/ For revels and dinners and banquets,/ Pleasant sounds for men living at ease;/ But none of them all has discovered/ How to put an end with their singing/ Or musical instruments grief,/ Bitter grief, from which death and disaster/ Cheat the hopes of a house. Yet how good/ If music could cure men of this…” (186-199).
In other words, all those heroic songs are, as Henry Ford would have said, “bunk”!
The CHORUS speaks of MEDEA’s pain and how it was she who helped Jason to get to this land upon the first place. MEDEA keeps bringing up the oath that JASON made too, before her and before the gods. MEDEA makes an appeal to the Corinthian women. Remember, women are lower in caste than foreign men. MEDEA, being a foreigner as well, is at the bottom. MEDEA appeals for sympathy:
“Women of Corinth, I have come outside to you/ Lest you should be indignant with me; for I know/ That many people are over-proud, some when alone,/ And others when in company. And those who live/ Quietly, as I do, get a bad reputation./ For a just judgment is not evident in the eyes/ When a man at first sight hates another, before/ Learning his character, being in no way injured,/ And a foreigner especially must adapt himself./ I’d not approve of even a fellow-countryman/ Who by pride and want of manners offends his neighbors./ But on me this thing has fallen so unexpectedly,/ It has broken my heart. I am finished. I let go/ All my life’s job. My friends, I only want to die./ It was everything to me to think well of one man,/ And he, my own husband, has turned out wholly vile./ Of all things which are living, and can form a judgment/ We women are the most unfortunate creatures./ Firstly, with an excess of wealth it is required/ For us to buy a husband and take for our bodies/ A master; for not to take one is even worse./ And now the question is serious whether we take/ A good or bad one; for there is no easy escape/ For a woman, nor can she say no to her marriage./ She arrives among new modes of behavior and manners,/ And needs prophetic power, unless she has learnt at home,/ How best to mange him who shares the bed with her./ And if we work out all this well and carefully,/ And the husband lives with us and lightly bares his yoke,/ Then life is enviable. If not, Id rather die./ A man, when he’s tired of the company in his home,/ Goes out of the house and puts an end to his boredom/ And turns to a friend or companion of his own age./ But we are forced to keep our eyes on one alone./ What they say of us is that we have a peaceful time/ Living at home, while they do the fighting in war./ How wrong they are! I would much rather stand/ Three times in the front of battle than bear one child./ Yet what applies to me does not apply to you./ You have a country. Your family is here./ You enjoy life and the company of your friends./ But I am deserted, a refugee, thought nothing of/ By my husband, --something he won in a foreign land./ I have no mother or brother, nor any relation/ With whom I can take refuge in this sea of woe./ This much then is the service I would beg from you:/ If I can find the means or devise any scheme/ To pay my husband back for what he has done to me,--/ Him and his father-in-aw and the girl who married him,--/ Just to keep silent. For in other ways a woman/ Is full of fear, defenseless, dreads the sight of cold/ Steel; but, when once she is wronged in the matter of love,/ No other soul can hold so many thoughts of blood” (212-264).
Despair is a “sin” or an act of hubris! By oppressing others, we create situations in which violence can foment. In a sense, that makes us responsible for the violence.
Medea asks why KREON must exile her and her children:
KREON. “I am afraid of you,--why should I dissemble it?--/Afraid that you may injure my daughter mortally./ Many things accumulate to support my feeling./ You are a clever woman, versed in evil arts./ And are angry at having lost your husband’s love./ I hear that you are threatening, so they tell me,/ To do something against my daughter and Jason/ And me, too. I shall take precautions first./ I tell you, I prefer to earn your hatred now/ Than to be left soft-hearted and afterwards regret it” (280-289).
MEDEA. “This is not the first time, Kreon. Often previously/ Through being considered clever I have suffered much./ A person of sense ought never to have his children/ Brought u to be more clever than the average. For, apart from cleverness bringing them no profit/ It will make them objects of envy and ill-will./ If you put ideas before the eyes of fools/ They’ll think you foolish and worthless into the bargain;/ And if you are thought superior to those who have/ Some reputation for learning, you will become hated./ I have some knowledge myself of how this happens;/ For being clever, I find that some will envy me,/ Other subject to me. Yet all my cleverness/ Is not so much. Well, then, are you frightened, Kreon,/ That I should harm you? There is no need. It is not/ My way to transgress the authority of a king./ How have you injured me? You gave your daughter away/ To the man you wanted. O, certainly I hate/ My husband, but you, I think, have acted wisely;/ Nor do I grudge it you that your affairs go well./ May the marriage be a lucky one! Only let me/ Live in this land. For even though I have been wronged,/ I will not raise my voice, but submit to my betters” (290-312).
Notice how she uses logos in the above passage. Later, she will use ethos and pathos. See if you can identify that.
KREON. “What you say sounds gentle enough. Still in my heart/ I gently dread that you are plotting some evil,/ And therefore I trust you even less than before. /A sharp-tempered woman, or for that matter a man,/ Is easier to deal with than the clever type/ Who holds her tongue. No. You must go. No need for more/ Speeches. The thing is fixed. By no manner of means/ Shall you, an enemy of mine, stay in my country” (313-320).
KREON. “Your words are wasted. You will never persuade me” (322).
MEDEA: “Will you drive me out, and give no heed to my prayers?” (323).
KREON: “I will, for I love my family more than you” (324).
MEDEA. “O my country! How bitterly I remember you!” (325).
MEDEA. “O what an evil to men is passionate love!” (327).
MEDEA then takes another tactic. This next appeal is mostly pathos: “Allow me to remain here just for this one day,/ So I may consider where to live in my exile,/ And look for support for my children, since their father/ Chooses to make no kind of provision for them./ Have pity on them! You have children of your own./ It is natural for you to look kindly on them./ For myself I do not mind if I go into exile./ It is the children being in trouble that I mind” (337-344).
KREON. “There is nothing tyrannical about my nature,/ And by showing mercy I have often been the loser,/ Even now I know that I am making a mistake./ All the same you shall have your will. But this I tell you,/ That if the light of heaven tomorrow shall see you/ You and your children I the confines of my land,/ You die. This word I have spoken is firmly fixed./ But now, if you must stay, stay for this day alone./ For in it you can do none of the things I fear” (345-353).
MEDEA talks to the CHORUS next. They feel pity for her, but she knows what she is doing: “Do you think that I would ever have fawned on that man/ Unless I had some end to gain or profit in it?/ I would not even have spoken or touched him with my hands./ But he has got to such a pitch of foolishness/ That, though he could have made nothing of all my plans/ By exiling me, he has given me this one day/ To stay here, and in this I will make dead bodies/ Of three of my enemies,--father, the girl and my husband” (364-371).
She considers the ways. She has to be careful or she will be killed. Besides, she is skilled in the magic arts. She will poison them. Also, she needs to find a place to stay when she runs away: “Bitter I will make their marriage for them and mournful,/ Bitter the alliance and the driving me out of the land./ Ah, come, Medea, in your plotting and scheming/ Leave nothing untried of all those things you know./ Go forward to the dreadful act. The test has come/ For resolution. You see how you are treated. Never/ Shall you be mocked by Jason’s Corinthian wedding,/ Whose father was noble, whose grandfather Helios./ You have the skill. What is more, you were born a woman,/ And women, though most helpless in doing good deeds,/ Are of every evil the cleverest of contrivers” (396-406).
CHORUS. “You sailed away from your father’s home,/ With a heart on fire you passed/ The double rocks of he sea./ And now in a foreign country/ You have lost your rest in a widowed bed,/ You are driven forth, a refugee/ In dishonor from the land” (421-427).
Dishonor is a big deal in this culture--usually just for royal male heroes. The play is named after Medea, however, and she is a warrior. She will not be dishonored.
CHORUS. “Good faith has gone, and no more remains/ In great Greece a sense of shame./ It has flown way to the sky./ No father’s house for a haven/ Is at hand for you now, and another queen/ Of your bed has dispossessed you and/ Is mistress of your home” (428-434).
JASON comes into the room and basically blames Medea, the victim: “This is not the first occasion that I have noticed/ How hopeless it is to deal with a stubborn temper./ For, with reasonable submission to our ruler’s will,/ You might have lived in this land and kept your home./ As it is you are going to be exiled for your loose speaking./ Not that I mind myself. You are free to continue/ Telling everyone that Jason is a worthless man./ But as to your talk about the king, consider/ Yourself most lucky that exile is your punishment./ I, for my part, have always tried to calm down/ The anger of the king, and wished you to remain./ But you will not give up your folly, continually/ Speaking ill of him, and so you are going to be banished./ All the same, and in spite of your conduct, I’ll not desert/ My friends, but have come to make some provision for you,/ So that you and the children may not be penniless/ Or in need of anything in exile. Certainly/ Exile brings many troubles with it. And even/ If you hate me, I cannot think badly of you” (435-453).
MEDEA. “O coward in every way,--that is what I call you,/ With bitterest reproach for your lack of manliness,/ You have come, you, my worst enemy, have come to me!/ It is not an example of over-confidence/ Or of boldness thus to look your friends in the face,/ Friends you have injured,--no, it is the worst of all/ Human diseases, shamelessness. But you did well/ To come, for I can speak ill of you and lighten/ My heart, and you will suffer while you are listening” (454-462).
MEDEA goes on to cite her accomplishments: “And first I will begin from what happened first./ I saved your life, and every Greek knows I saved it/ Who was a ship-mate of your aboard the Argo,/ When you were sent to control the bulls that breathed fire/ And yoke them, and when you would sow that deadly field./ Also that snake, who encircled with his many folds/ The Golden Fleece and guarded it and never slept,/ I killed, and so gave you the safety of the light./ And I myself betrayed my father and my home,/ And came with you to Pelias’ land of Iolcos./ And then, showing more willingness than wisdom,/ I killed him, Pelias, with a most dreadful death/ At his own daughters’ hands, and took away your fear./ This is how I behaved to you, you wretched man,/ And you forsook me, took another bride to bed/ Though you had children; for, if that had not been,/ You would have had an excuse for another wedding/ Faith in your word has gone. Indeed I cannot tell/ Whether you think the gods whose names you swore by then/ Have ceased to rule and that new standards are set up,/ Since you must know you have broken your word to me./ O my right hand, and the knees which you often clasped/ In supplication, how senselessly I am treated/ By this bad man, and how my hopes have missed their mark!/ Come, I will share my thoughts as though you were a friend,--/ You! Can I think that you would ever treat me well?/ But I will do it, and these questions will make you/ Appear the baser. Where am I to go? To my father’s?/ Him I betrayed and his land when I came with you./ To Pelias’ wretched daughters? What a fine welcome/ They would prepare for me who murdered their father!/ For this is my position,--hated by my friends/ At home, I have, in kindness to you, made enemies/ Of others whom there was no need to have injured./ And how happy among Greek women you have made me/ On your side for all this! A distinguished husband/ I have,-for breaking promises. When in misery/ I am cast out of the land and go into exile,/ Quiet without friends and all alone with my children,/ That will be a fine shame for the new-wedded groom,/ For his children to wander as beggars and she who saved him. O God, you have given to mortals a sure method/ Of telling the gold that is true from the counterfeit;/ Why is there no mark engraved upon men’s bodies,/ By which we could know the true ones form the false ones?” (463-507).
She will not be shamed. Her children--her legacy--will not be beggars.
JASON. “Since you insist on building up your kindness to me,/ My view I that Cypris [Aphrodite] was alone responsible/ Of men and gods for the preserving of my life./ You are clever enough,--but really I need not enter/ Into the story of how it was love’s inescapable/ Power that compelled you to keep my person safe./ O this I will not go into too much detail./ In so far as you helped me, you did well enough./ But on this question of saving me, I can prove/ You have certainly got from me more than you gave./ Firstly, instead of living among barbarians,/ You inhabit a Greek land and understand our ways,/ How to live by law instead of the sweet will of force./ And all the Greeks considered you a clever woman./ You were honored for it; while, if you were living at/ The ends of the earth, nobody would have heard of you./ [I think Jason is projecting here; he likes the fame and fortune that he has achieved] For my part, rather than stores of gold in my house,/ Or power to sing even sweeter songs than Orpheus, I’d choose the fate that made me a distinguished man./ There is my reply to your labors./ Remember it was you who started the argument” (514-534).
So he says that she used to be a barbarian until she met up with Jason. He also says she is lucky because she is famous! Jason is ruled by his head, by his desire for power. He also lies to himself about his own greatness; he never, ever suspects that she will do to him something like she has already done to her own family.
Now JASON tells her that he is doing her and the kids a big favor. Later, she will echo these words in order to get him to let down his guard. She will say what he says here, only she will say it about herself. She will seem repentant and Jason will believe it--because he wants to believe it: “Remember it was your attack on my wedding with the princess:/ Here I will prove that, first it was a clever move,/ Secondly, a wise one, and, finally, that I made it/ In your best interests and the children’s. Please keep calm./ When I arrived here from the land of Iolcos,/ Involved, as I was, in every kind of difficulty,/ What luckier chance could I have come across than this,/ An exile to marry the daughter of the king?/ It was not,--the point that seems to upset you—that I/ Grew tired of your bed and felt the need of a new bride;/ Nor with any wish to outdo your number of children./ We have enough already. I am quite content./ But,--this was the main reason--that we might live well,/ And not be short of anything. I know that all/ A man’s friends leave him stone-cod if he becomes poor./ Also that I might bring my children up worthily/ Of my position, and, by producing more of them/ To be brothers of yours, we would draw the families/ Together and all be happy. You need no children./ And it pays me to do good to those I have now/ By having others. Do you think this a bad plan?/ You wouldn’t if the love question hadn’t upset you./ But you women have got into such a state of mind/ That, if your life at night is good, you think you have/ Everything; but, if in that quarter things go wrong,/ You will consider your best and truest interests/ Most hateful. It would have been better far for men/ To have got their children in some other way, and women/ Not to have existed. Then life would have been good” (535-563).
As you can see, Jason thinks pretty highly of himself.
MEDEA. “Surely in many ways I hold different views/ From others, for I think that the plausible speaker/ Who is a villain deserves the greatest punishment./ Confident in his tongue’s power to adorn evil,/ He stops at nothing. Yet he is not really wise./ As in your case. There is no need to put on the airs./ Of a clever speaker, for one word will lay you flat./ If you were not a coward, you would not have married/ Behind my back, but discussed it with me first” (567-575).
Is JASON a plausible speaker, full of logic?
JASON. “And you, no doubt, would have furthered the proposal,/ If I had told you of it, you who even now/ Are incapable of controlling your bitter temper” (576-578).
MEDEA. “It was not that. No, you thought it was not respectable/ As you got on in years to have a foreign wife” (579-580).
Foreigners are dishonored. Foreign males are below the status of native females. A foreign female is on the bottom.
JASON. “Make sure of this: it was not because of a woman/ I made the royal alliance in which I now live,/ But, as I said before, I wished to preserve you/ And breed a royal progeny, to be brothers/ To the children I have now, a sure defense to us” (581-585).
Again, Medea will echo these words later.
The only problem with that logic is that the children will surely die in exile.
MEDEA. “Let me have no happy fortune that brings pain with it,/ Or prosperity which is upsetting to the mind!” (587).
JASON. “Change your ideas of what you want, and show more sense./ Do not consider painful what is good for you,/ Nor, when you are lucky, think yourself unfortunate” (588-590).
Later, Medea will say that she sees the light, that she now has more sense. She will even say that she is lucky. But not now:
MEDEA. “You an insult me. You have somewhere to turn to./ But I shall go from this land into exile. Friendless” (591-592).
JASON. “It was you who chose yourself. Don’t blame others for it” (593). Blame the victim again!
MEDEA. “And how did I choose it/ Did I betray my husband?” (594).
He offers her money and says he will get some of his friends abroad to help her.
JASON. “Cease your anger and you will profit” (603).
MEDEA. “I shall never accept the favors of friends of yours,/ Nor take a thing from you, so you need not offer it./ There is no benefit in the gifts of a bad man” (604-605).
A good mother, thinking of her children before everything else, might have accepted this money. Medea, however, is out of control with her feelings.
CHORUS. “When love is in excess/ It brings a man no honor/ Nor any worthiness./ But if in moderation Cypris comes,/ There is no other power at all so gracious./ O goddess, never on me let loose the unerring/ Shaft of your bow in the poison of desire” (615-621).
CHORUS. “Let my heart be wise./ It is the gods’ best gift./ On me let mighty Cypris/ Inflict no worldly wars or restless anger/ To urge my passion to a different love./ But with discernment may she guide women’s weddings,/ Honoring most what is peaceful in bed” (622-628).
CHORUS. “There is no sorrow above/ The loss of a native land” (636-637).
CHORUS. “I have seen it myself,/ Do not tell of a secondhand story./ Neither city nor friend/ Pitied you when you suffered/ The worst of sufferings./ O let him die ungraced whose heart/ Will not reward his friends,/ Who cannot open an honest mind/ No friend will he be of mine” (638-646).
King Aigeus comes next. He is her friend, and he expresses sympathy when Medea tells her of her fate. On the other hand, he gives practical advice:
AIGEUS. “Then let him go, if, as you say, he is so bad” (683).
MEDEA. “A passionate love,--for an alliance with a king” (684).
AIGEUS. “Indeed, Medea, your grief was understandable” (687).
MEDEA. “I am ruined. And there is more to come: I am banished” (688).
AIGEUS lets her know that he has had troubles of his own. He and his wife have not been able to have children. In return for giving MEDEA a place to stay, she will mix a potion that will enable AIGEUS and his wife to have sons.
MEDEA: "I will end your childlessness, and I will make you able/ To beget children. The drugs I know can do this" (701-702).
AIGEUS: "For many reasons, woman, I am anxious to do/ This favor for you. First, for the sake of the gods, / And then for the birth of children which you promise, / For in that respect I am entirely at my wits' end" (703-706).
There is a caveat, however. MEDEA will have to find her own transportation.
AIGEUS: "BUt this much I must warn you of beforehand: / I shall not agree to take you out of this country; / But if you by yourself can reach my house, then you / Shall stay there safely. To none I can give you up. / But from this land you must make your escape yourself, / For I do not wish to incur blame from my friends" (709-714).
MEDEA wants it in writing, so to speak. She wants him to swear an oath before the gods. This echoes Jason's original pledge to Medea, an oath he made before her and before the gods, and the reason that she gave up everything in the first place. AIGEUS, of course, is a little hurt, but he relents.
AIGEUS. “Do you not trust me? What is it rankles you?” (717).
MEDEA. “I trust you, yes. But the house of Pelias hates me./ And so does Kreon. If you are bound by this oath,/ When they try to drag me from your land, you will not/ Abandon me; but if our pact is only words,/ With no oath to the gods, you will be lightly armed,/ Unable to resist their summons. I am weak,/ While they have wealth to help them and a royal house” (718-724).
AIGEUS. “You show much foresight for such negotiations” (725).
PREMEDITATION:
MEDEA. “Swear by the plain of Earth, and Helios, father/ Of my father, and name together all the gods…” (730-731).
AIGEUS. “That I will act or not act in what way? Speak” (732).
MEDEA. “That you yourself will never cast me from your land,/ Nor, if any of my enemies should demand me,/ Will you, in your life, willingly hand me over” (733-735).
AIGEUS. “I swear by the Earth, by the holy light of Helios,/ By all the gods, I will abide by this you say” (736-737).
MEDEA. “Enough. And, if you fail, what shall happen to you?” (738).
AIGEUS. “What comes to those who have no regard for heaven” (739).
MEDEA. “Go on your way. Farewell. For I am satisfied,/ And I will reach your city as soon as I can,/ Having done the deed I have to do and gained my end” (740-742).
She then proceeds to tell the chorus of her plans.
MEDEA. “I shall send one of my servants to find Jason/ And request him to come once more into my sight./ And when he comes, the words I’ll say will be soft ones./ I’ll say that I agree with him, that I approve/ The royal wedding he has made, betraying me./ I’ll say it was profitable, an excellent idea./ But I shall beg that my children may remain here:/ Not that I would leave in a country that hates me/ Children of mine to feel their enemies’ insults,/ But that by a trick I may kill the king’s daughter/ For I will send the children with gifts in their hands/ To carry to the bride, so as not to be banished,--/A finely woven dress and a golden diadem” (758-770).
MEDEA. “I weep to think of what a deed I have to do/ Next, after that; for I shall kill my own children./ My children, there is none who can give them safety./ And when I have ruined the whole of Jason’s house,/ I shall leave the land and flee form the murder of my/ Dear children, and I shall have done a dreadful deed./ For it is not bearable to be mocked by enemies./ So it must happen. What profit have I in life?/ I have no land, no home, no refuge from my pain./ My mistake was made the time I left behind me/ My father’s house, and trusted the words of a Greek,/ Who, with heaven’s help, will pay me the price for that./ For those children he had from me he will never/ See alive again, nor will he on his new bride/ Beget another child, for she is to be forced/ To die a most terrible death by these my poisons./ Let no one think me a weak one, feeble-spirited,/ A stay-at-home, but rather just the opposite,/ One who can hurt my enemies and help my friends;/ For the lives of such persons are most remembered” (775-794).
Chorus suggests that she shouldn’t do this. She says they don’t understand her.
CHORUS. “But can you have the heart to kill your flesh and blood?” (800).
MEDEA. “Yes, for this is the best way to wound my husband” (801).
CHORUS. “And you too. Of women you will be most unhappy” (802).
What about this act will impact her chorus of women? Won’t she be making them complicit? Below, she speaks to the NURSE, but the CHORUS is nearby:
MEDEA. “Say nothing of these decisions which I have made,/ If you love your mistress, if you were born a woman” (806-807).
CHORUS. “O where will you find the courage/ Or the skill of hand and heart,/ When you set yourself to attempt/ A deed so dreadful to do?/ How, when you look upon them,/ Can you tearlessly hold the decision/ For murder? You will not be able,/ When your children fall down and implore you,/ You will not be able to dip/ Steadfast your hand in their blood” (832-841).
Now, Medea starts using Jason's own words in order to convince him that everything he had said earlier was true and that she has come to "see the light":
MEDEA. “Jason, I beg you to be forgiving towards me/ For what I said. It is natural for you to bear with/ My temper, since we have had much love together./ I have talked with myself about this and I have/ Reproached myself. ‘Fool’ I said, ‘why am I so mad?’/ Why am I set against those who planned wisely?/ Why make myself an enemy of the authorities/ And of my husband, who does the best thing for me/ By marrying royalty and having children who/ Will be as brothers to my own? What is wrong with me? Let me give up anger, for the gods are kind to me./ Have I not children, and do I not know that we / In exile from our country must be short of friends? / When I considered this I saw that I had shown / Great lack of sense, and that my anger was foolish/ Now I agree with you. I think that you are wise/ In having this other wife as well as me, and I / Was mad. I should have helped you in these plans of yours, / Have joined in the wedding, stood by the marriage bed,/ Have taken pleasure in attendance on your bride” (845-864).
Note how MEDEA seems to have changed her tune. She has not. She is simply playing on Jason’s credulity: “But we women are what we are,--perhaps a little / Worthless; and you men must not be like us in this, / Nor be foolish in return when we are foolish. / Now I give in, and admit that then I was wrong. / I have come to a better understanding now” (865-869).
She calls her children to come and say goodbye to Dad, to “say goodbye to him, / And with your mother, who just now was his enemy, / Join again in making friends with him who loves us” (871-873).
She churns it up a notch here: “We have made peace, and all our anger is over. / Take hold of his right hand,--O God, I am thinking / Of something which may happen in the secret future. / O children, will you just so, after a long life, / Hold out your loving arms at the grave? O children, / How ready to cry I am, how full of foreboding!/ I am ending at last this quarrel with your father, / And, look, my soft eyes have suddenly filled with tears” (874-881).
JASON: "I approve of what you say. And I cannot blame you / Even for what you said before. It is natural / For a woman to be wild with her husband when he / Goes in for a secret love. But now your mind has turned / To better reasoning. In the end you have come to / The right decision, like the clever woman you are" (884-889).
He is so clueless....
He then asks her why she is crying when everything is going to work out so well? "I was thinking about these children," she says. Note that it is "these" children, not "our children." She is already distancing herself emotionally so that she can carry out her terrible deed. She adds icing to the cake when she says, "It is not that I distrust your words, / But a woman is a frail thing, prone to crying" (903-904).
MEDEA then makes a case for keeping the children in Corinth. She will leave, but the innocent children should be allowed to remain with their father. Her plan, of course, is to have the children deliver the poisoned dress and diadem to the new bride. Jason responds that he doesn't think that Kreon will go for this, but Medea asks Jason to appeal to his new bride, to get her to beg Kreon, her father, for this favor. Jason has more confidence when it comes to his way with women:
"I will, and with her I shall certainly succeed" (920).
MEDEA plays on Jason's vanity: "If she is like the rest of us women, you will" (921).
She then offers to give Jason's bride a god-created wedding dress and diadem: "And I too will take a hand with you in this business, / For I will send her some gifts which are far fairer, / I am sure of it, than those which now are in fashion,/ A finely-woven dress and a golden diadem, / And the children shall present them. Quick, let one of you / Servants bring here to me that beautiful dress. / She will be happy not in one way, but in a hundred, / Having so fine a man as you to share her bed, / And with this beautiful dress which Helios of old, My father's father, bestowed on his descendants. / There, children, take these wedding presents in your hands. / Take them to the royal princess, the happy bride, / And give them to her. She will not think little of them" (922-934).
JASON objects at first. His bride-to-be is happy enough with acquiring him as a husband. She doesn't need these other things. He might be offended too, because she is perhaps suggesting that he isn't such a great provider. Such a suggestion would be harmful to his idea of his masculinity:
""No, don't be foolish, and empty your hands of these. / Do you think the palace is short of dresses to wear? / Do you think there is no gold there? Keep them, don't give them / Away. If my wife considers me of any value, / She will think more of me than money, I am sure of it" (935-939).
MEDEA reasons with JASON that this is a peace-offering. She reminds him too, that it is god-created. No matter how rich Kreon might be, he doesn't own any god-created garments.
The CHORUS talks about the upcoming murder of the princess. They do nothing but talk ab
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