possible essay topics for medea

Presentations made painless

Get Premium

112 Medea Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Inside This Article

Medea, a play written by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides, is a classic tragedy that tells the story of a woman who seeks revenge against her husband for betraying her. The play continues to be a popular choice for literature classes and essay assignments due to its complex characters and themes. If you're looking for inspiration for your next Medea essay, here are 112 topic ideas and examples to get you started:

The role of revenge in Medea
Medea as a feminist character
The portrayal of women in ancient Greek society in Medea
The theme of betrayal in Medea
Medea's transformation throughout the play
Medea's relationship with her children
The symbolism of the golden fleece in Medea
The role of the chorus in Medea
The portrayal of love in Medea
Medea as a tragic hero
The theme of justice in Medea
The use of supernatural elements in Medea
The role of the gods in Medea
Medea's manipulation of those around her
The theme of exile in Medea
The significance of the title character's name in Medea
Medea's motivations for seeking revenge
The theme of power in Medea
The role of gender in Medea
The portrayal of marriage in Medea
Medea as a symbol of the barbarian Other
The use of language in Medea
The theme of sacrifice in Medea
The role of prophecy in Medea
The portrayal of Medea's homeland in the play
Medea's relationship with the nurse
The theme of madness in Medea
The portrayal of the Corinthian society in Medea
The theme of loyalty in Medea
The use of irony in Medea
Medea's moral ambiguity
The role of the nurse in Medea
Medea's relationship with Jason
The portrayal of Jason in Medea
The use of foreshadowing in Medea
Medea's relationship with the chorus
The role of the messenger in Medea
Medea's relationship with Aegeus
The theme of revenge in Medea
The use of symbolism in Medea
Medea's relationship with Creon
The theme of manipulation in Medea
The role of fate in Medea
The theme of love in Medea
The use of imagery in Medea
Medea's relationship with the gods
The portrayal of women in Medea
Medea's relationship with the Corinthian society

These topics and examples should provide you with plenty of inspiration for your next Medea essay. Whether you choose to focus on a specific theme, character, or literary device, there are endless possibilities for analysis and interpretation in this classic play. Happy writing!

Want to create a presentation now?

Instantly Create A Deck

Let PitchGrade do this for me

Hassle Free

We will create your text and designs for you. Sit back and relax while we do the work.

Explore More Content

89 Medea Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best medea topic ideas & essay examples, 🔎 simple & easy medea essay titles, 🥇 good research topics about medea, ❓ medea essay questions.

Significance of the Irony That Distinguishes a Tragic Hero Oedipus and Medea Oedipus’s urge to free the citizens of Thebes from the plague leads him to vow to do everything in his power to find the murderer of Laius.’The only way of deliverance from our plague is […]
Medea Analysis in the Play by Euripides In defense of his decision to remarry, Jason states that it would be better for all parties, including Medea and the children. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
Medea’s Justification for Her Crime Medea felt Jason had betrayed her love for him and due to her desperate situation she was depressed and her normal thinking was affected that she started thinking of how she would revenge the man […]
Medea and the Epic of Gilgamesh Works Evaluating the murder of the children, the conclusion can be drawn that the females were thought to give the life and take it back.
Medea’s Trickery and Treachery The aim of this pretense is that Medea wants Jason to come with the children to spend a night with them.
Medea in Greek Mythology: Literary Analysis In this case, the position of kingship was the highest in political rankings, equivalent to the presidency in modern-day practices. Most importantly, the element of leadership in Greek mythology was characterized by concessions and plots.
“The Medea of Euripides” and “Layla & Majnun” Review For instance, Jason makes a decision to divorce Medea and tie the knot with the princess of Corinth. It is important to keep in mind that the cause of all Medea’s rage is love.
“Medea” by Euripides: Tragedy Outlook There is a certain rationale in this kind of suggestions after all, Medea had gone about expressing her contempt with women’s lot on numerous occasions: “The man who was everything to me, my own husband, […]
Cullingham’s “Medea” & Hall’s “Choephori”: Comparison of the Plays One of the strong points of the performance is the vocal quality; emotional, expressive and rhythmical pronunciation of the utterances transfers the mood of the actors to the audience.
Differences in the Context: Seneca, Medea & Euripides, Medea Seneca describes the wedding in details and on this stage Medea already hates Creusa and Jason and starts thinking over her plans to take the revenge whereas in Euripides’s Medea the scene with the wedding […]
“Blindness” Present in “Oedipus” and “Medea”: A Comparison Oedipus at the middle of the story had the urge to free the citizens of Thebes from the threat of the Sphinx.
Justice and Injustice in Medea’s and Socrates’ View The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast how Medea and Socrates respond to injustice or unfair accusations. The following section discusses how Medea and Socrates respond or react to adversity by comparing […]
“Medea” by Euripides: Women Are Not Unfortunate In other words, she is trying to claim that a man’s struggles and duties are not as difficult as a woman’s hardships.
Medea and Antigone: Literature Comparison However, in spite of the fact that the motivations of Medea and Antigone are considered to be the same, they choose different actions.
Greek Mythology – Medea by Euripides While the character shares certain features with some of the female leads in other Ancient Greek plays, Euripides’ Medea stands on her own as a character and represents a new set of qualities, which used […]
Conflict of the Sexes in Play “Medea” by Euripides The man cannot understand that things mean nothing to a woman if her family is being destroyed. Thus, Jason’s biggest mistake is that he thinks Medea simply wants to remain his only wife.
A Play “Medea” by Euripides Not only has there been a gender difference between men and women in life and social environment, but extreme discrimination and external conditions of the world and governmental ruling added to the role division.
The Driving Force of Plot in Medea by Euripides, Othello by William Shakespeare, and the Epic of Gilgamesh Reading Medea by Euripides, Othello by William Shakespeare, and The Epic of Gilgamesh it becomes obvious that the driving force of plot is heroism, however, the nature of that heroism is different that may be […]
The Villain Comparison: Creon in Antigone and Medea in Medea From such a position the audience is allowed to examine the position of a woman in the society. What this signifies is that the woman is painted as a social misfit and this resulted in […]
Analyzing Euripides’ Tragedy “Medea” Through the Lens of Plato and Aristotle
“Antigone” and “Medea”: Early Feminism Works
Barbarian Witch and Princess of Colchis: “Medea”
Changing the Audience’s View Through the Use of Literary Devices in “Medea”
Character Similarities Between “Medea” and “Lysistrata”
Clytaemnestra and Medea: Two Women Seeking Justice
Comparing “Antigone,” “Medea,” and “Nora Helmer”
Dominance, Passivity, and Gender Roles in “Wide Sargasso Sea” and “Medea”
Feminism and Its Role in “Medea” by Euripides
Gender Struggles Throughout the Play “Medea”
Comparison Between “Medea” and the “Epic of Gilgamesh”
Honor and Revenge Before Happiness in “Medea” by Euripides
Identifying the True Heroine in the Story “Medea”
Jason Brings His Downfall in “Medea” by Euripides
Attributes Traditionally Associated With Masculinity and Femininity and Their Contrasts in “Medea”
Love and Hate According to “Medea” by Euripides
Mask, Strength, and Revenge in “Medea” by Euripides
Mutual Selfishness and Love Relationships in “Medea”
Nora and Medea: Unconventional Wives in a Male-Dominated Society
“Medea” by Euripides and Nietzsche’s Will to Power Concept
“Oedipus Rex” and “Medea”: Leadership and Kingship
“Medea”: Acts of Despair in a Man’s World
Tragedy “Medea” Focused on Love, Sex, and Morality
Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and Euripides’ “Medea”: Comparative Analysis
Passion Gone Too Far in “Medea”
Race and Gender Discrimination in “Medea” and “Othello”
“Medea”: Male and Female Perceptions of the World
Similarities Between Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata” and Euripides’ “Medea”
“Medea” by Euripides: Passion Versus Responsibility
Social Change and Government Structure: “Titus Andronicus” and “Medea”
The Anti-Hero’s Mental State in “Medea” by Euripides
Medea’s Revenge: The Development of Her Plans
The Chemistry Between Chorus and Medea in the Play “Medea”
Medea’s Revenge Ultimately Makes Her Far Guiltier Than Jason
Revenge Rather Than Justice: Euripides’ “Medea”
The Crime and Punishment of the Female Protagonist in “Medea”
“Medea”: The Intellectual Rhetoric and Dialogue
The Enemy Within: The Heroine’s Downfall in Euripides’ “Medea”
“Medea” vs. Greek Stereotypes and Gender Roles
Medea’s Actions and Emotions in “Medea” by Euripides
What Is Medea Known For?
What Is Medea’s Reason for Killing Her Own Children?
Does Medea Love Helio?
What Is Medea the Goddess Of?
Why Is “Medea” a Feminist Play?
What Is the Summary of the “Medea” Story?
Was Medea Good or Evil?
Why Did Medea Fall in Love With Jason?
What Is the Fatal Flaw in “Medea”?
What Happened to Medea in the End?
Who Was Medea in Love With?
What Gender Is Medea?
What Is Medea a Symbol of?
Why Did Medea Betray Her Family?
Who Dies at the End of “Medea”?
What Is the Main Conflict in “Medea”?
Is Medea in Love With Jason?
Does Medea Regret Killing Her Children?
Is Medea Sane or Insane?
Did Jason Cheat on Medea?
Who Married Medea?
What Did Eros Do to Medea?
Who Is the Real Tragic Hero in “Medea”?
What Was Medea’s Mental Illness?
Who Suffers the Most in “Medea”?
Does Medea Forgive Jason?
How Does Medea Get Away With Murder?
Did Achilles Marry Medea?
What Does the Name Medea Mean?
Is Medea a Monster or a Victim?
Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, December 8). 89 Medea Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/medea-essay-topics/

"89 Medea Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." IvyPanda , 8 Dec. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/medea-essay-topics/.

IvyPanda . (2023) '89 Medea Essay Topic Ideas & Examples'. 8 December.

IvyPanda . 2023. "89 Medea Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." December 8, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/medea-essay-topics/.

1. IvyPanda . "89 Medea Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." December 8, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/medea-essay-topics/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "89 Medea Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." December 8, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/medea-essay-topics/.

Greek Mythology Titles
Homer Titles
Masculinity Topics
Women’s Role Essay Topics
Feminism Questions
Ancient Greece Paper Topics
Plato Essay Ideas
Aristotle Titles
Gender Roles Paper Topics
Antigone Ideas
Orientalism Titles
A Doll’s House Ideas
Odysseus Ideas
Gilgamesh Essay Topics
Achilles Topics

42 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Act Summaries & Analyses

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Medea is a very significant presence in the play, and speaks the majority of the lines. What impact does this structural choice have on the drama? How does the tight focus on Medea expand or confine the development of her character? Are there any characters whose perspective you would have liked to hear further?

What function does the Chorus serve in the play? What types of viewpoints do these figures articulate? Do other central characters (including Medea, Creon , and Jason ) appear to hold views aligning with, or diverging from, the opinions held by the Chorus?

To what extent does Medea’s status as a foreigner shape the way she is treated and described by other characters? If Medea was a Greek woman, would Jason and Creon have treated her differently? Would other characters be more sympathetic?

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now

Related Titles

Letters from a Stoic

On the Shortness of Life

Featured Collections

Ancient Rome

View Collection

Books that Feature the Theme of...

Loyalty & Betrayal

Spanish Literature

Tragic Plays

Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Drama Criticism › Analysis of Euripides’ Medea

Analysis of Euripides’ Medea

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 13, 2020 • ( 0 )

When Medea, commonly regarded as Euripides’ masterpiece, was first per-formed at Athens’s Great Dionysia, Euripides was awarded the third (and last) prize, behind Sophocles and Euphorion. It is not difficult to understand why. Euripides violates its audience’s most cherished gender and moral illusions, while shocking with the unimaginable. Arguably for the first time in Western drama a woman fully commanded the stage from beginning to end, orchestrating the play’s terrifying actions. Defying accepted gender assumptions that prescribed passive and subordinate roles for women, Medea combines the steely determination and wrath of Achilles with the wiles of Odysseus. The first Athenian audience had never seen Medea’s like before, at least not in the heroic terms Euripides treats her. After Jason has cast off Medea—his wife, the mother of his children, and the woman who helped him to secure the Golden Fleece and eliminate the usurper of Jason’s throne at Iolcus—in order to marry the daughter of King Creon of Corinth, Medea responds to his betrayal by destroying all of Jason’s prospects as a husband, father, and presumptive heir to a powerful throne. She causes a horrible death of Jason’s intended, Glauce, and Creon, who tries in vain to save his daughter. Most shocking of all, and possibly Euripides’ singular innovation to the legend, Medea murders her two sons, allowing her vengeful passion to trump and cancel her maternal affections. Clytemnestra in Aeschylus’s Oresteia conspires to murder her husband as well, but she is in turn executed by her son, Orestes, whose punishment is divinely and civilly sanctioned by the trilogy’s conclusion. Medea, by contrast, adds infanticide to her crimes but still escapes Jason’s vengeance or Corinthian justice on a flying chariot sent by the god Helios to assist her. Medea, triumphant after the carnage she has perpetrated, seemingly evades the moral consequences of her actions and is shown by Euripides apotheosized as a divinely sanctioned, supreme force. The play simultaneously and paradoxically presents Medea’s claim on the audience’s sympathy as a woman betrayed, as a victim of male oppression and her own divided nature, and as a monster and a warning. Medea frightens as a female violator and overreacher who lets her passion overthrow her reason, whose love is so massive and all-consuming that it is transformed into self-destructive and boundless hatred. It is little wonder that Euripides’ defiance of virtually every dramatic and gender assumption of his time caused his tragedy to fail with his first critics. The complexity and contradictions of Medea still resonate with audiences, while the play continues to unsettle and challenge. Medea, with literature’s most titanic female protagonist, remains one of drama’s most daring assaults on an audience’s moral sensibility and conception of the world.

Euripides is ancient Greek drama’s great iconoclast, the shatterer of consoling illusions. With Euripides, the youngest of the three great Athenian tragedians of the fifth century b.c., Attic drama takes on a disturbingly recognizable modern tone. Regarded by Aristotle as “the most tragic of the poets,” Euripides provided deeply spiritual, moral, and psychological explorations of exceptional and domestic life at a time when Athenian confidence and certainty were moving toward breakup. Mirroring this gathering doubt and anxiety, Euripides reflects the various intellectual, cultural, and moral controversies of his day. It is not too far-fetched to suggest that the world after Athens’s golden age in the fifth century became Euripidean, as did the drama that responded to it. In several senses, therefore, it is Euripides whom Western drama can claim as its central progenitor.

Euripides wrote 92 plays, of which 18 have survived, by far the largest number of works by the great Greek playwrights and a testimony both to the accidents of literary survival and of his high regard by following generations. An iconoclast in his life and his art, Euripides set the prototype for the modern alienated artist in opposition. By contrast to Aeschylus and Sophocles, Euripides played no public role in the life of his times. An intellectual and artist who wrote in isolation (tradition says in a cave in his native Salamis), his plays won the first prize at Athens’s annual Great Dionysia only four times, and his critics, particularly Aristophanes, took on Euripides as a frequent tar-get. Aristophanes charged him with persuading his countrymen that the gods did not exist, with debunking the heroic, and with teaching moral degeneration that transformed Athenians into “marketplace loungers, tricksters, and scoundrels.” Euripides’ immense reputation and influence came for the most part only after his death, when the themes and innovations he pioneered were better appreciated and his plays eclipsed in popularity those of all of the other great Athenian playwrights.

Critic Eric Havelock has summarized the Euripidean dramatic revolution as “putting on stage rooms never seen before.” Instead of a palace’s throne room, Euripides takes his audience into the living room and presents the con-fl icts and crises of characters who resemble not the heroic paragons of Aeschylus and Sophocles but the audience themselves—mixed, fallible, contradictory, and vulnerable. As Aristophanes accurately points out, Euripides brought to the stage “familiar affairs” and “household things.” Euripides opened up drama for the exploration of central human and social questions embedded in ordinary life and human nature. The essential component of all Euripides’ plays is a challenging reexamination of orthodoxy and conventional beliefs. If the ways of humans are hard to fathom in Aeschylus and Sophocles, at least the design and purpose of the cosmos are assured, if not always accepted. For Euripides, the ability of the gods and the cosmos to provide certainty and order is as doubtful as an individual’s preference for the good. In Euripides’ cosmogony, the gods resemble those of Homer’s, full of pride, passion, vindictiveness, and irrational characteristics that pattern the world of humans. Divine will and order are most often in Euripides’ dramas replaced by a random fate, and the tragic hero is offered little consolation as the victim of forces that are beyond his or her control. Justice is shown as either illusory or a delusion, and the myths are brought down to the level of the familiar and the recognizable. Euripides has been described as drama’s first great realist, the playwright who relocated tragic action to everyday life and portrayed gods and heroes with recognizable human and psychological traits. Aristotle related in the Poetics that “Sophocles said he drew men as they ought to be, and Euripides as they were.” Because Euripides’ characters offer us so many contrary aspects and are driven by both the rational and the irrational, the playwright earns the distinction of being considered the first great psychological artist in the modern sense, due to his awareness of the complex motives and ambiguities that make up human identity and determine behavior.

Tragedy: An Introduction

Euripides is also one of the first playwrights to feature heroic women at the center of the action. Medea dominates the stage as no woman character had ever done before. The play opens with Medea’s nurse confirming how much Medea is suffering from Jason’s betrayal and the tutor of Medea’s children revealing that Creon plans to banish Medea and her two sons from Corinth. Medea’s first words are an offstage scream and curse as she hears the news of Creon’s judgment. The Nurse’s sympathetic reaction to Medea’s misery sounds the play’s dominant theme of the danger of passion overwhelming reason, judgment, and balance, particularly in a woman like Medea, unschooled in suffering and used to commanding rather than being commanded. Better, says the Nurse, to have no part of greatness or glory: “The middle way, neither high nor low is best. . . . Good never comes from overreaching.” Medea then takes the stage to win the sympathy of the Chorus, made up of Corinthian women. Her opening speech has been described as one of literature’s earliest feminist manifestos, in which she declares, “Of all creatures on earth, we women are the most wretched,” and goes on to attack dowries that purchase husbands in exchange for giving men ownership of women’s bodies and fate, arranged marriages, and the double standard:

When a man grows tired of his wife and home, He is free to look about for someone new. We wives are forced to count on just one man. They say, we live safe at home while men go to battle. I’d rather stand three times in the front line than bear one child!

Medea wins the Chorus’s complicit silence on her intended intrigue to avenge herself on Jason and their initial sympathy as an aggrieved woman. She next confronts Creon to persuade him to postpone his banishment order for one day so she can arrange a destination and some support for her children. Medea’s servility and deference to Creon and the sentimental appeal she mounts on behalf of her children gain his concession. After he departs, Medea reveals her deception of and contempt for Creon, announcing that her vengeance plot now extends beyond Jason to include both Creon and his daughter.

There follows the first of three confrontational scenes between Medea and Jason, the dramatic core of the play. Euripides presents Jason as a selfsatisfied rationalist, smoothly and complacently justifying the violations of his love and obligation to Medea as sensible, accepted expedience. Jason asserts that his self-interest and ambition for wealth and power are superior claims over his affection, loyalty, and duty to the woman who has betrayed her parents, murdered her brother, exiled herself from her home, and conspired for his sake. Medea rages ineffectually in response, while attempting unsuccessfully to reach Jason’s heart and break through an egotism that shows him incapable of understanding or empathy. As critic G. Norwood has observed, “Jason is a superb study—a compound of brilliant manners, stupidity, and cynicism.” In the drama’s debate between Medea and Jason, the play brilliantly sets in conflict essential polarities in the human condition, between male/female, husband/wife, reason/passion, and head/heart.

Before the second round with Jason, Medea encounters Aegeus, king of Athens, who is in search of a cure for his childlessness. Medea agrees to use her powers as a sorceress to help him in exchange for refuge in Athens. Aristotle criticized this scene as extraneous, but a case can be made that Aegeus’s despair over his lack of children gives Medea the idea that Jason’s ultimate destruction would be to leave him similarly childless. The evolving scheme to eliminate Jason’s intended bride and offspring sets the context for Medea’s second meeting with Jason in which she feigns acquiescence to Jason’s decision and proposes that he should keep their children with him. Jason agrees to seek Glauce’s approval for Medea’s apparent selfsacrificing generosity, and the children depart with him, carrying a poisoned wedding gift to Glauce.

First using her children as an instrument of her revenge, Medea will next manage to convince herself in the internal struggle that leads to the play’s climax that her love for her children must give way to her vengeance, that maternal affection and reason are no match for her irrational hatred. After the Tutor returns with the children and a messenger reports the horrible deaths of Glauce and Creon, Medea resolves her conflict between her love for her children and her hatred for Jason in what scholar John Ferguson has called “possibly the finest speech in all Greek tragedy.” Medea concludes her self-assessment by stating, “I know the evil that I do, but my fury is stronger than my will. Passion is the curse of man.” It is the struggle within Medea’s soul, which Euripides so powerfully dramatizes, between her all-consuming vengeance and her reason and better nature that gives her villainy such tragic status. Her children’s offstage screams finally echo Medea’s own opening agony. On stage the Chorus tries to comprehend such an unnatural crime as matricide through precedent and concludes: “What can be strange or terrible after this?” Jason arrives too late to rescue his children from the “vile murderess,” only to find Medea beyond his reach in a chariot drawn by dragons with the lifeless bodies of his sons beside her. The roles of Jason and Medea from their first encounter are here dramatically reversed: Medea is now triumphant, refusing Jason any comfort or concession, and Jason ineffectually rages and curses the gods for his destruction, now feeling the pain of losing everything he most desired, as he had earlier inflicted on Medea. “Call me lioness or Scylla, as you will,” Medea calls down to Jason, “. . . as long as I have reached your vitals.”

Medea’s titanic passions have made her simultaneously subhuman in her pitiless cruelty and superhuman in her willful, limitless strength and determination. The final scene of her escape in her god-sent flying chariot, perhaps the most famous and controversial use of the deus ex machina in drama, ultimately makes a grand theatrical, psychological, and shattering ideological point. Medea has destroyed all in her path, including her human self, to satisfy her passion, becoming at the play’s end, neither a hero nor a villain but a fear-some force of nature: irrational, impersonal, destructive power that sweeps aside human aspirations, affections, and the consoling illusions of mercy and order in the universe.

Medea - Free Essay Samples And Topic Ideas

Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides, centered on the character of Medea, who seeks revenge against her unfaithful husband Jason. Essays on “Medea” could explore the themes of passion, revenge, and the roles of gender and social status within the play. Discussions might delve into the character analysis of Medea and Jason, the play’s critique of ancient Greek society, and Euripides’ use of dramatic techniques. Moreover, analyzing the enduring relevance of “Medea,” its various adaptations, and its influence on the tragedy genre can provide a thorough examination of this classic narrative and its impact on literature and drama. We have collected a large number of free essay examples about Medea you can find at Papersowl. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Is Medea a Tragic Hero?

The story of Medea has is often debated by modern scholars, to which they are trying to assign who is the true tragic hero in the story. Greek audiences used to conclude that Jason was the tragic hero. However, now it is argued that Madea better demonstrates the real tragic hero in the story. Is Medea a Tragedy? The term hero is obtained from a Greek word that means a person who faces misfortune, or displays courage in the face […]

Euripides’ Medea as a Sympathetic Character

While no one condones Medea's actions, one can sympathize with her unappreciated sacrifices and investments in Jason's ascension, her suffering at the hands of Jason's pride and hubris, and future of a scorned and divorced woman in Greek Society. The action follows as Medea argues her position with the chorus, Creon and Jason. Medea's magic enabled Jason to defeat the impossible task to reclaim his birthright. Yet, when the opportunity arose with a new marriage, Jason's pride enables him to […]

Three Traits of the Golden Age of Athens in Literature

The beginning of the Golden Age of Greece or Athens started with the Persian war, when the Persian army was defeated by Greeks. One of the main defining features of the Golden Age of Athens are that Law comes from men not the gods as we can see in the book of Antigone, another one is explaining history through the actions of people not the gods, as we can see in the book Odyssey, and the last one is focusing […]

We will write an essay sample crafted to your needs.

Relationship of Jason, Creon and Medea

During romance, men promise more fancy things to women to win their affection. Sometimes these men can even take an oath to earn the women's confidence and trust. However, some of these promises are not fulfilled and thus mark the beginning of mistrust and heartbreak. The tragic story of Medea provides the consequences of broken vows. The tragedy reveals the essence of staying faithful to matrimonial vows made. The tragedy befalls on Jason because he was unable to keep the […]

The Sanctity of Oaths in Medea

In Ancient Greece, Zeus is the guardian of oaths and to break a sworn oath is not simply to violate a contractual obligation it is also to deny the greater power of the gods altogether. The whole sequence of actions in Medea is prompted by an oath forsworn before the play even begins. Medea and Jason swear an oath that in return for her aid in capturing the Golden Fleece, they will marry. After they are successful, they flee to […]

Analysis of the Play Medea

Romans had a tendency to adopt Greek Mythology and other stories and claim them as their own. A great example of this is the play Medea, written by the Greek playwright, Euripides. Did Seneca, the Roman playwright, edit Medea to please Roman culture? Why do the characters differ so much from the two versions and could it be because of their different societies and roles within? The greeks were thoughtful and that shows in Euripides, Medea but the Romans were […]

Feminism in Medea

Throughout history, the focus of media and literature was on "his"tory and rarely on "her"story. Majority of the protagonist in literature and popular media have been males. Nevertheless, not all works of literature focused on a male protagonist, for example in Euripides "Medea", Medea was portrayed as a strong female protagonist with modern feminist characteristics, she can be rivaled to Odysseus from the great Greek Epic, "The Odyssey" by Homer in terms of the intelligence, a difference between the protagonists' […]

Comparison of Dido and Medea

The Aeneid written by Virgil, narrates the adventure of the hero Aeneas as he looks for a new land for the Trojan after the collapse of Troy. As a result, he becomes a hero and an ancestor of the Roman after a big fight between the Trojan and the Italian. Before coming to Italy, there was an incident that leads to the conflict between Dido and Aeneas, and it caused to the death of Queen Dido. In this essay, I […]

Depiction of Character of Medea

Medea is a powerful sorceress who wants to get revenge on a man named Jason for his wrong doings towards her. Jason betrays Medea by leaving her for another woman. Medea wants Jason to be left with absolutely nothing and make him feel how she felt. In the soliloquy Medea by Euripides, Medea manipulates those around her by inflicting pain on them, outsmarting them, and making deals for her benefit. Medea begins her journey of manipulation upon the King of […]

The Femininity in Medea

Living in a country that is foreign to oneself can be quite difficult, especially during the 400 B.C.E. era. Now, imagine being a woman. A woman has an even lower rank than a foreign man in the Greek culture. It's even more burdensome when you're a foreign woman because this is only one step above slaves and peasants. Medea happens to carry this challenge, plus many more in the self-titled play, Medea by Euripides. Medea is a woman that lives […]

Depiction of Medea’s Character

"She lies there eating nothing. Surrendering her body to her sorrows, pining away in tears unceasingly since she saw that her husband had wronged her. She will not look up, will not lift her face from the ground, but listens to her friends as they give advice no more than if she were a rock or a wave of the sea." (Euripides 1) the nurse described Medea after she was informed about Jason's marriage with the princess in the play. […]

Theme of Medea in Challenging Gender Norms and Societal Expectations

Traditional Gender Roles and Ancient Greek Society The life of women is characterized by the roles that society and the eras of traditions that are forced on them. However, Medea represents that women have the power to defy those eras of tradition and society. Medea did not allow society to force her into the traditional role of being a woman. In ancient Greek society, women lived a life of limiting control with no political privileges like men. Ancient Greek women […]

The Evolution of Feminism in Euripides’ Medea

The dictionary defines feminism as "the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men." Many would argue that Euripides' Medea is an early representation of feminism. While this is true, as evident by Medea's independence and quest for equality, Medea does not exhibit feminist qualities until her first exchange with the women of the chorus. Many believe that Medea's bold decision to abandon her fatherland and fight with Jason shows that she is […]

Overview of Medea Tragedy

Medea is a tragedy for a woman who was the victim of her own loyalty for her husband who left her for another woman. A Greek play writer named Euripides wrote this play Medea, in 431 B.C. In this play, Medea is portrayed as one of the most antagonistic characters. However, she is also the protagonist. Her husband Jason is the biggest villain throughout the play. Jason left her and their two children to marry the king of Corinth's daughter. […]

Additional Example Essays

Oedipus is a Tragic Hero
Hamlet Oedipus Complex
Oedipus the King and Aristotle
Situational Irony in Oedipus Rex
Medieval Romance "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"
Personal Narrative: My Family Genogram
The Road not Taken Poem Analysis
Gender Roles in the Great Gatsby
Comparison Of Introverts VS Extroverts
Don Marquis's View On Abortion
Revolutionary Mothers by Carol Berkin: Women's Unsung Roles in the American Revolution
Biography of Frida Kahlo

1. Tell Us Your Requirements

2. Pick your perfect writer

3. Get Your Paper and Pay

Hi! I'm Amy, your personal assistant!

Don't know where to start? Give me your paper requirements and I connect you to an academic expert.

short deadlines

100% Plagiarism-Free

Certified writers

Home / Essay Samples / Literature / Greek Mythology / Medea

Medea Essay Examples

The effects of feminism in medea.

Medea is a play written by Euripides; it has many powerful literary elements which is why it has brought the attention of different types of audiences. Medea to some might appear as a feminist text because of how Medea deals with her situation, and how...

Examining the Use of Animal Imagery in Euripides’ Medea

Euripides' Medea is a play that explores the complex psychological landscape of its protagonist, a Barbarian woman in Greece who seeks revenge against her unfaithful husband. To analyze animal imagery in Medea, this essay will examine how Euripides uses animal metaphors to highlight the themes...

The Role of Male Power in the Play Medea

Euripides’ Medea is a story about a Barbarian woman in Greece, who, feeling unloved and alienated from Greek society, wreaks havoc on her husband for cheating on her by murdering their own two children. Animal imagery does not occur very frequently, but is used by...

A Theme of Women’s Lack of Choice in Medea by Euripides

Throughout the course of history, and even in modern times, the rights of women have been constantly forgotten or purposefully neglected. This lack of discernable rights can, in many cases, leave women with very few choices. Women often did not have the right to make...

Depiction of Gender Roles in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and Euripides' Medea

In Ancient Greece, women were considered to have uncontrollable impulses, because they were often controlled by ecstatic emotions and wild passions, and this is reflected in many Greek pieces of literature. Nothing was more common in the dramas of that era than female characters who...

Gender Roles in Medea by Euripides

“The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under...

Analysis of How the Character Medea Captures Euripide’s Stance on Justice

Medea by Euripides challenges the beliefs of the time through the use of his stance on justice, through the female character Medea. Through the use of the strong female character Medea and gradually the setting of the play, Euripides captures his stance on justice to...

Euripides Characterizes Medea: Being Sympathetic to Greek Audience

“I saved your life, and every Greek knows it” Medea is a historic character in literature who has been idolised as a strong female character and is sympathised with to a large extent for aeons, and is hence one of the reasons for which the...

Analysis of Euripides’ Exploration of the Concept of the Other in Medea

In this Greek tragedy, Euripides crafts a tale that centres around the complexities of Medea’s character: her cleverness, sorcery, murderous tendencies, and her status as a foreigner. Euripides takes these traits and elevates them to new heights in his play. The playwright puts Medea’s otherness...

"Medea" Analysis: Examining the Rationalization of a Tragic Heroine

The Ancient Greek tragedy play "Medea" by Euripides tells the story of the betrayed and vengeful Medea, who takes extreme measures to seek justice after her husband Jason marries the daughter of Creon for social status. In this "Medea" analysis essay, I will examine the...

Trying to find an excellent essay sample but no results?

Don’t waste your time and get a professional writer to help!

To Kill a Mockingbird Essays
Lord of The Flies Essays
Brave New World Essays
The Crucible Essays
The Story of An Hour Essays
Into The Wild Essays
The Tell Tale Heart Essays
Tuesdays With Morrie Essays
Beloved Essays
Antigone Essays

About Medea

Greece during Athens' Golden Age

The Golden Fleece, Oracle of Phoebus, Poisoned Robes, Chariot of the Sun

Women and Femininity. Revenge. Betrayal. Exile. Foreignness and 'The Other' Marriage. Cunning and Cleverness. Love.

samplius.com uses cookies to offer you the best service possible.By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .--> -->