{"id":392,"date":"2023-05-19T20:04:47","date_gmt":"2023-05-19T20:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/?p=392"},"modified":"2023-06-05T08:12:28","modified_gmt":"2023-06-05T08:12:28","slug":"how-married-is-medea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/how-married-is-medea\/","title":{"rendered":"How Married is Medea?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>J. Michael Walton<\/strong><a href=\"#end\" name=\"back\">*<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Abstract<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"abstract\">This article revisits the Euripides play to consider the nature of the relationship between Medea and Jason. We all recognize the difference of status between the Greek, if not Corinthian, Jason, and the \u201cbarbarian\u201d Medea. But if, as the varying terms used in the play for \u201chusband\u201d and \u201cwife\u201d seem to indicate, the two were never \u201cmarried\u201d then, I suggest, Euripides might have been drawing attention to a contemporary issue in Athens after Pericles\u2019 citizenship law, where non-Athenians could claim none of the protections relating to marriage and divorce.<br><br><strong>Keywords<\/strong>: Medea, husband, marriage, status, playwright, Athens<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Soho Place theatre in London has recently staged a production of <em>Medea<\/em> directed by Dominic Cooke, with the superb Sophie Okenedo in the lead. I will not be, able to see it and can only record the favourable impressions of critic Deborah Levy, \u201cstunning and devastating production,\u201d in <em>The New Statesman<\/em>&nbsp; (14-20 April 2023). The production sounds full of interesting ideas, from having the chorus sitting in the audience to all the male parts being played by the same actor. This latter brings to mind the one-woman performance of Nike Imoru in the garden of the Sikelianos house at the Delphi Festival of 2000 where all the male characters were simply masks hanging on a tailor\u2019s dummy with a single off-stage voice for Creon, Jason&nbsp; and Aegeus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Medea with Sophie Okonedo &amp; Ben Daniels - review and photos\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nc4-nEP5yls?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A difference is that the play at Delphi was titled <em>Medea Complex<\/em>, while the Soho production is billed as from the Robinson Jeffers \u201cadaptation\u201d of Euripides. This is a rather odd choice of base material as the Jeffers was a bizarre version of <em>Medea<\/em> commissioned in 1946 for the Australian Dame Judith Anderson, clips of whom can still be found on YouTube. Nothing wrong with this, of course. <em>Medea <\/em>belongs along with all the greatest plays as having no definitive interpretation and Dominic Cooke makes no claims to translation, merely staging a new version of this story of \u201cfilicide\u201d which almost certainly had seen earlier treatments than that of Euripides. It does, though, raise an issue that the original Euripides, and this new version of the story, raise as to what the relationship really was between Medea and Jason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Life in Stages S1 Ep5: Sophie Okonedo and Dominic Cooke in conversation at the National Theatre\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FeX5HMZ4Cn0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Greek tragedies survive at three levels: as a story from the mythical past of ancient Greece that is built around an invented and fictional society; as a parallel comment by the playwright on social and political issues of the fifth century BC; and, thirdly, as a parable for later generations, up to our own, in themes and situations whose implication we can still recognize and apply to our own time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My aim here is to consider the link between these three with reference to Euripides\u2019 Medea and Jason, to look at the language in the play used to describe their relationship and consider whether Euripides may have been making a specific comment on the precarious situation in which many non-citizen women of 431 BCE Athens had to live their lives. Inevitably this involves the complex relationships in ancient Athens between citizens and non-citizens, and that ambiguous word <em>xenos<\/em> which can mean both stranger and friend, host and guest, mercenary and refugee. Such relationships frequently prove central in ancient tragedy, especially in Euripides where the interpretation of actions taken in, for example, <em>Alcestis, Electra, Iphigeneia Among the Taurians <\/em>or <em>The<\/em> <em>Suppliant Women<\/em>,focuses on the link between hosts and guests. In his <em>Medea<\/em>, both the two main characters are \u201cforeigners\u201d in Corinth where they have taken refuge, but their status is not the same. Jason is male and a Greek. Medea is a woman and a non-Greek, a \u201cbarbarian,\u201d in the society in which she has had to make her home. It is this difference that calls into question the precise nature of their relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a set of essays on Medea edited by James Clauss and Sarah Iles Johnston the Index includes 88 entries under Medea, including \u201cMedea as environmentalist,\u201d \u201cMedea as revolutionary symbol\u201d and \u201cMedea as protector of children.\u201d Nowhere is there anything on \u201cMedea as wife.\u201d Euripides\u2019 play may not have been the first dramatic presentation of the legend, but it has become the essential template for subsequent versions of her story. So, what in Euripides is the precise nature of the tie between Jason and Medea, removed from any of the baggage which belongs with the broader history of the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece?<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"555\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image1-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image1-2.jpeg 400w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image1-2-216x300.jpeg 216w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Photo: European Cultural Center of Delphi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>When Euripides produced <em>Medea<\/em> in 431 BCE, marriages in Athens were arranged: the purpose was the procreation of children, the maintenance of the male line and the safeguarding of the family unit. To protect these priorities Pericles had introduced his \u201ccitizenship law\u201d which stipulated that to be considered an Athenian citizen, a man had to have both parents Athenian. The effect was to reinforce the importance of marriage between citizens. A marriage could be dissolved by an announcement of divorce by the husband (<em>posis<\/em>) in front of a witness and the return of the wife to her father, or male \u201csponsor,\u201d together with her dowry, clearly a disincentive: probably the bigger the dowry, the bigger the disincentive. Women could seek divorce, but the process was more complex and less common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Relationships in Greek tragedy, of course, are <em>not<\/em> based on any contemporary, that is fifth-century BCE Greek,&nbsp; social structure. There are kings and queens who rule with or without the sanction of an assembly of the people. Law and custom have local significance and weight. And, of course, the circumstances are based neither on the precise geography, nor on the political alliances of the places where they are set. They are self-defining situations created as stage contexts. But they did have to be socially recognizable to an Athenian audience, and internally consistent. Thus the marriage procession that Alcestis recalls in Euripides\u2019 <em>Alcestis <\/em>may well be similar to what would have happened at an Attic celebration in 438 BCE.&nbsp; And the various Euripides plays that feature the breakdown of a marriage, with characters such as Clytemnestra or Helen, could have provided an echo, however oblique, of circumstances that might occur in Attica. The deflecting factor is that in dramatic situations rules of citizenship did not apply in the same way as they did in the lives of the Athenian audience. Marriages in Greek tragedy were frequently between families who wished to be connected by status and influence rather than by nationality: as long, that is, as they were between Greeks.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"607\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/Med-Delphi.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-584\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/Med-Delphi.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/Med-Delphi-300x228.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/Med-Delphi-768x583.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Medea Complex<\/em>, The Sikelianos House Garden, Delphi, 2000. Medea confronting male characters as no more than masks. <br>Photo: J. Michael Walton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In <em>Medea<\/em>, however, Euripides offers a less conventional scenario. Jason is a Greek. Medea is from the far end of the Black Sea, now Georgia, and to an ancient Greek about as barbarian as you could get (see especially Hall 35). She may be a princess and granddaughter of the Sun, but she has some very un-Greek relations with dangerous reputations, including Circe and Hecate. In Corinth Jason is a foreign <em>xenos<\/em>.It will still be perfectly acceptable for him to marry the daughter of the king of Corinth, though he comes from Iolcos in Thessally on the northern shore of the Pelasgian Gulf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This domestic setting invites certain questions. Are we to accept that the \u201cmarriage\u201d of Jason and Medea was a \u201cproper\u201d marriage and Jason her lawful <em>posis<\/em>, her \u201chusband\u201d? If so, has Jason \u201cproperly\u201d divorced her? Any vagueness might be put down to dramatic convenience. But, I would suggest, it may just as easily indicate a desire on the playwright\u2019s part to raise some Athenian issues, beyond the overweening plotline in which Medea murders the king, the new bride and her own two children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here, then, resides the question \u201cHow married is Medea?\u201d. Whatever the answer, there will be a further question over whether Euripides may be making a special issue of the \u2018marriage\u2019, and, if he is, whether this is simply in the context of the play; or as a broader comment on the position in which such foreign (IE non-citizen) women may have found themselves not only in fifth-century Athens, but, as we later find in Menander\u2019s Athens too, a hundred years later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The prologue of <em>Medea<\/em> is delivered by a Nurse. She informs the audience at what point the audience are entering in on a story, the broad outlines of which will probably be familiar. Jason has abandoned Medea, the mother of his two sons, in order to marry the daughter of Creon, the king of Corinth. The first time that the Nurse makes reference to the relationship between Jason and Medea she talks of Jason as Medea\u2019s <em>an\u00ear<\/em>, (<em>alpha, nu, \u00eata, rho<\/em>). <em>An\u00ear<\/em> is the commonest word in ancient Greek for man, \u201cman\u201d as opposed to <em>gun\u00ea<\/em>, \u201cwoman,\u201d rather than <em>anthr\u00f4pos<\/em> which means \u201cman\u201d as opposed to \u201canimal\u201d or \u201cgod.\u201d In most English translations of the Nurse\u2019s speech <em>an\u00ear<\/em> appears as \u201chusband,\u201d and in any lexicon you will find that <em>an\u00ear<\/em> can have this secondary meaning of \u201chusband.\u201d It often does so in Homer, but in tragedy the more familiar word for husband is <em>posis<\/em> while <em>an\u00ear <\/em>tends to mean \u201clover\u201d or \u201cparamour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Liddell and Scott Greek-English lexicon offers two instances from tragedy of <em>an\u00ear<\/em> in this sense. The first is in Sophocles\u2019 <em>Trachiniae <\/em>(550-1) when Deianira, having been informed of her husband\u2019s bringing back a woman from his recent expedition tells the Chorus \u201cI am afraid that Heracles may be called my \u2018husband\u2019 (<em>posis<\/em>), but this younger woman\u2019s \u2018man\u2019 (<em>an\u00ear<\/em>).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second example comes in Euripides\u2019 <em>Hippolytus<\/em> when Phaedra has revealed to her Nurse the passion that she feels for her stepson and the Nurse responds \u201cFine-sounding words are not what you need, but <em>t\u2019andros<\/em>, \u2018the man\u2019\u201d (490-1). Phaedra has a \u201chusband,\u201d Theseus, though he is away at the time and the Nurse certainly doesn\u2019t mean him. <em>An\u00ear<\/em> here can only mean either \u201ca man\u201d (sex), or \u201cthe man,\u201d meaning Hippolytus: and probably means both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the <em>Medea <\/em>prologue the Nurse\u2019s use of the term <em>an\u00ear<\/em>, when she is referring to Jason, seems less respectful than \u201chusband,\u201d perhaps intentionally. Indeed, she uses the word on four occasions in that speech alone when speaking of Jason:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>[Medea in Corinth] with her man and her children (11).<br>[Life is free of trouble] when a woman is not at odds with her man\u2019 (15).<br>\u2026since hearing her man has wronged her (26).<br>\u2026when she came here with the man who has dishonoured her (36).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>When she talks about the Princess, on the other hand, she speaks of Jason bedding down in a royal match after <em>marrying<\/em> Creon\u2019s daughter, the noun <em>gamos<\/em> and the verb <em>game\u00f4 <\/em>being used in successive lines(18, 19): and later where Jason is described as the <em>g\u00eamanta<\/em>, the bridegroom (42). So emphatic is the change of language she chooses, when comparing the two relationships, that it is hard not to see a contrast being signaled for the audience between the status of Medea and that of the Princess. To use the words, as Deianeira uses them in <em>Trachiniai<\/em>, Jason was Medea\u2019s \u201cman\u201d but is now the Princess\u2019s \u201chusband.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though Euripides might appear through the Nurse to imply that the relationship between Medea and Jason is not actually a marriage, this is not the whole story. The first time that Jason is referred to as the <em>posis<\/em> of Medea is by the Chorus who in the same ode speak of Medea as <em>numpha<\/em> (150-5), which usually means \u201cyoung bride,\u201d a curious description for a mother-of-two. At the time, however, they are recommending that Medea should not be too concerned about how she has been treated because such betrayals happen all the time, and Zeus offers plenty of precedents. Medea\u2019s (offstage) response is to sing of Jason as her <em>posis<\/em>, but when she too uses the word <em>numpha<\/em> (163), it is the Princess to whom she is referring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As soon as Medea enters, however, in the celebrated speech where she talks about <em>marriage<\/em> to a group of <em>married <\/em>Corinthian women, she begins by stating that as a <em>xenos<\/em> she is well aware that she must abide by the customs of the country where she now lives (222-3). She then speaks of Jason as her <em>posis<\/em> as a prelude to the celebrated dissection of marriage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table has-small-font-size\"><table><tbody><tr\"><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">MEDEA<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">He has placed a woman (or \u201ca wife\u201d) as mistress of the house over me (694).<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">I wouldn\u2019t want to be reproached, my Corinthian friends,<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">For being high and mighty, indoors and aloof.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">If you like a quiet life they\u2019ll call you antisocial.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">But when were first impressions reliable?<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">One man will hate another for no reason,<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">The moment he claps eyes on him.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">220<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">A gut reaction but where\u2019s the justice in that?<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><strong>If you\u2019re a foreigner, well, it\u2019s best to conform.<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Even a citizen can\u2019t make the rules<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Simply to suit himself. That would be bad manners.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">But I&#8230;I was not expecting this.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">It pierces me to the soul.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">You are my friends. I\u2019ve lost the will to live.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">My life was centred on one man, <strong>my husband<\/strong>.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">A hollow man.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Poor women.&nbsp;<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">230<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">No living, breathing creature feels as we do.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><strong>We want a husband? It\u2019s an auction<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Where we pay to give away our bodies.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">That\u2019s not the half of it. A good man or a bad?<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">By the time you find that out it\u2019s too late.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Divorce for a woman means disgrace.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">And once she\u2019s married, there\u2019s no saying \u2018no\u2019.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">It\u2019s her who has to change the patterns of her life.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">You\u2019d need to be clairvoyant<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">To predict how he\u2019ll behave in bed.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">240<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">If you do strike lucky<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">And this husband turns out bearable,<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Submits gracefully, then fine. Congratulations.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">If not, you might as well be dead.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">When a man starts to get bored at home<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">He can visit a friend, some kindred spirit,<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Look for consolation elsewhere.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">We have a single focus, him.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">You\u2019ve a nice, easy life, that\u2019s what they say,<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Safe at home when they\u2019re off fighting.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Good thinking, that is, isn\u2019t it?<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">I\u2019d fight three wars rather than give birth once.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">250<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Our situations are different, of course.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">This is your city. Your father\u2019s house was here.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Life at its best with your friends around you.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">But I\u2019m alone, stateless, abused<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">By a man like something picked up abroad.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">No mother. No brother. No relation<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">To turn to in a time of trouble.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">That\u2019s why I\u2019d like to ask for your support.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">If I hit upon some means, some stratagem<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">260<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">To pay my husband back for what he\u2019s done,<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">The bride and giver of the bride he has married,<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Say nothing.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">A woman\u2019s always full of fears, of course,<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Petrified by the mere sight of steel.<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">But scorn her, cross her in love,<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">And savour the colour of her vengeance (trans. Walton 213-67).<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I have included all of it with an English translation because it is such a major speech within the play, and for the present argument. Much of what she says, it is clear, is not immediately relevant to her own position. She has not been given in marriage by her father; her situation has been created of her own free will; and the dishonour of divorce is not what she is facing. Her \u2018man\u2019 has deserted her. Apart from anything else, she can hardly return to her father or her previous home. The purpose of the speech, of course, is for her as a foreigner to engage the local chorus as sympathisers and, accordingly, as co-conspirators. It is the end of the speech, however, which offers perhaps the greatest surprise when Medea refers to herself as <em>lel\u00ea(i)smen\u00ea<\/em> by an <em>andros <\/em>&nbsp;(256), meaning \u201ctaken away as plunder by a man\u201d or even \u201craped.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Chorus pick up her cue and speak of Jason as her <em>posis<\/em>, as later do Creon and Medea herself through the rest of the play, including to Jason and Aegeus. Indeed, when Aegeus asks her what Jason has done Medea\u2019s reply is literally \u201che has put a woman (or \u201ca wife\u201d) as mistress of the house over me\u201d (694).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However often she refers to Jason as her \u201chusband\u201d she does not similarly refer to herself as a \u201cwife.\u201d Even in her encounters with Jason she speaks only of his \u201ctaking a new bed\u201d (<em>kaina lech\u00ea<\/em>, 489) and complains of his breaking of his oath to her. She never says he <em>married<\/em> her. She never speaks about a <em>divorce<\/em> from him, not even to Aegeus, though she does speak of Jason\u2019s \u201cmarriage\u201d to the Princess and of the Princess as a \u201cnewly-married bride\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image2-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-395\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image2-1.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image2-1-300x294.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Wedding preparation. Marriages in Athens were arranged. The purpose was the procreation of children, the maintenance of the male line, and the safeguarding of the family unit. Photo (Creative Commons, Pushkin Museum, Moscow): Web\/<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Marriage_in_ancient_Greece\" target=\"_blank\">Wikipedia<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>All of this would seem to imply that their union was sanctioned by nothing more than private promises and there is certainly condemnation by Medea of Jason as an \u201coath-breaker.\u201d When Jason offers excuses for his actions, claiming that his marriage is purely political and has nothing to do with his having lost interest in Medea, it sounds like something he had never said before. The argument that he has done everything on Medea\u2019s behalf is no less feeble, but it does suggest that Medea had little or no warning of his desertion. The Chorus are unimpressed, accusing him of \u201cdoing what is not right\u201d (<em>ou dikaia dran<\/em>) after \u201cbetraying his <em>alochos<\/em>\u201d (<em>prodous s\u00ean alochon<\/em>, 578).&nbsp; This a curious word to use because <em>alochos<\/em> almost always means \u201cpartner\u201d in our modern usage of the word, what in English law used to be known as common-law wife. The situation is perhaps summed up best in the exchange between Jason and Medea at the end of their first scene together:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table has-small-font-size\"><table><tbody><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">MEDEA<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">If any of this were true you would have talked to me<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Before this marriage, not kept it all a secret.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">JASON<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">And so I would, but for your attitude.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Mention the word marriage and look at you.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">You cannot control your fury.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">MEDEA<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">That\u2019s not it, is it? As time went by<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">You found it inconvenient to be living with a foreigner.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">JASON<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">You know perfectly well, it\u2019s nothing about the princess<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">That made me want to have a royal marriage. (586-94)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>All of this would suggest to me that, though the union of Jason and Medea has produced children, it is sanctioned by natural law (<em>themis<\/em>) and by sworn oath, but not by any legal or recognized ceremony such as he has undergone with the Princess.&nbsp; This is confirmed by Jason when, believing Medea to have accepted what has happened:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table has-small-font-size\"><table><tbody><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">JASON<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">It\u2019s only natural that a woman should feel angry when a marriage of a different kind (<em>alloiou<\/em>)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">takes the place of\u00a0her husband\u2019s present one (909-10).<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The text is difficult here (and difficult to translate), but the word <em>parempol\u00f4ntos<\/em> seems to mean something like&nbsp; \u201cinterpolates.\u201d It is not until the last scene of the play that Jason comes close to dmitting that he and Medea were married, and by this time he is preoccupied with contrasting the way Medea has behaved to what you would expect from any Greek woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Euripides is ambivalent about this \u201cmarriage.\u201d The question then arises why there should be such ambivalence. Euripides is a precise playwright, many of whose most cogent and innovative stances are aimed at giving a new slant to an old story and a certain immediacy in the context of the Athens of his time. He was not alone in this. Aeschylus and Sophocles clearly investigate questions of everyday behaviour and morality through the context of the mythical past. In Euripides the detail is usually significant, so what is his purpose in <em>Medea<\/em> and how might it point to contemporary social practice in Athens?<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"834\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image3-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-396\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image3-1.jpg 834w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image3-1-300x192.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image3-1-768x491.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 834px) 100vw, 834px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Visit to the hetaeras. Attic red-figure hydria. &nbsp;Collection Staatliche Antikensammlungen. Photo: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Hydria_hetairai_Staatliche_Antikensammlungen_2427.jpg\" target=\"_blank\">Web<\/a> (public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The play, it has often been suggested, is concerned less with the act of infanticide than with the causes behind it. I would suggest that in this the playwright may have wished to draw attention to the plight of many non-Greek women of his own time, there and then, in the Athens of 431 BC. This may be twenty years after Pericles\u2019 citizenship law, but it is still a hot issue, especially in the light of Pericles\u2019 own relationship with his Milesian <em>hetaira <\/em>Aspasia, and the attacks on her at this time in order to get at him. Might there be some invitation here to speculate either on Aspasia\u2019s behalf, or against her? On the other hand, it may be that the play <em>Medea<\/em> was no more than a general statement about the plight of all free women in Athens who might have the opportunity to enter into a relationship that is a marriage in all but name, but offers not even minimal formal protection?<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-397\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image4.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/image4-197x300.jpg 197w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Aspasia, Pericles\u2019 hetaira. Photo: Vatican Museums\/Public domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>There is an interesting possible parallel in <em>Samia, <\/em>one of our two surviving Menander plays, for all it dates from over a hundred years after the first performance of <em>Medea<\/em>. Chrysis, the woman from Samos of the title, is a <em>hetaira<\/em>, but a free woman living in Athens who has to find a means of supporting herself in whatever way she can. For many such, being a professional mistress might have been the best option and Demeas has taken her into his home. On his return from a prolonged business trip, near Medea\u2019s home by coincidence, he comes to believe, wrongly, that Chrysis has had a baby and that his adopted son is the father. In a viciously cruel scene he throws Chrysis out but without telling her why:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table has-small-font-size\"><table><tbody><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">DEMEAS<\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Something special are you? You\u2019ll soon find out how you rate in the city.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">Ten drachmas a lay and a free dinner. Till you die of drink.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"border: solid 0px\"><\/td><td style=\"border: solid 0px\">If you don\u2019t like the idea of that, then starve (390-93).<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>All, of course, will end happily, but the alternatives for a woman in Chrysis\u2019 position are little better than those faced by Medea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Medea\u2019s story, then, as Euripides tells it, maybe set in Corinth, but identifies the predicament of many non-citizen women in Athens. She is a barbarian, while Jason, though no Corinthian, is at least Greek. As a Greek he can be a suitable husband for the daughter of another Greek. As a non-Greek Medea has no security. Medea\u2019s killing of her children is presented with as much sympathy as it would be possible to muster. The act is not condoned, but neither is there any punishment for Medea beyond what she heaps upon herself. The circumstances in which such an atrocity could happen are explained at least in part by the nature of her \u201cforeignness\u201d \u2013 of her \u201cotherness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All I wish to suggest is that beneath the horrifying plot of <em>Medea <\/em>there is a subtext about male\/female relationships in Athens with an immediate relevance to its first audience. Medea\u2019s lack of a family background may well have reflected the position of many a non-Greek, but non-slave, woman living in Athens at his time in what feels like a marital situation. All his plays to a great extent make use of myth as metaphor and in <em>Medea<\/em> there is enough said to raise all sorts of questions about how women were treated both inside and outside marriage, as well as how non-citizens were treated in and around the city of Athens. And who would doubt that such things still happen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Bibliography<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent\">Clauss, James, J. and Sarah Iles Johnston , eds.. <em>Medea: Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy and Art<\/em>. Princeton UP, 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent\">Hall, Edith. <em>Inventing the Barbarian<\/em>. Oxford UP, 1989.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent\">Walton, J. Michael, et al. <em>Euripides Plays 1<\/em>. Methuen Drama, 1998, pp. 213-67.<a name=\"end\">&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"hangingIndent\">&#8212;. &#8220;Translation or Transgression: The Translator as Director in&nbsp;<em>Medea.<\/em>&nbsp;Proceedings of the X and XI Meetings of the ECCD at Delphi.&#8221;&nbsp;<em>Translating Greek Plays: Collected Plays.&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;Routledge, 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-thumbnail alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/Michael-Walton-150x150.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-398\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"end\" href=\"#back\">*<\/a><strong>J. Michael Walton<\/strong> is Emeritus Professor of Drama at the University of Hull, a theatre historian and practitioner, former professional director and long-serving member of Actors Equity. He has translated more than 20 Greek or Latin plays, all published and\/or performed, as well as writing numerous articles and books, including <em>Craig on Theatre<\/em> (1983)<em>; Found in Translation: Greek Drama <\/em>in <em>English<\/em> (2006); <em>Euripides Our Contemporary<\/em>, (2009);<em> Translating Classical Plays: Collected Papers <\/em>(2016)<em>; The Greek Sense of Theatre <\/em>(3 editions, 1984, 1996, 2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">Copyright <strong>\u00a9<\/strong> 2023 J. Michael Walton<br><em>Critical Stages\/Sc\u00e8nes critiques<\/em> e-ISSN:2409-7411<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/88x31.png\" alt=\"Creative Commons Attribution International License\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">This work is licensed under the<br>Creative Commons Attribution International License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-critics-on-criticism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2023\/05\/featured-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":660,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392\/revisions\/660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/27\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}