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Medea (Seneca)
Introduction
It was written around 50 CE. The play is about the vengeance of Medea against her betraying husband Jason and King Creon. Medea is the leading role in the play and her character dominates the play[1].
Characters
- Medea: daughter of King Aeets (King of Colchis), wife of Jason
- Chorus: Corinthians, hostilte to Medea and not Jason
- nutrix (nurse): nurse of Medea
- Creon: King of Corinth, father of Princess Creusa
- Jason: husband of Medea who leaves her for the princess, son Aeson
- nuntius (messenger)
- Two sons of Medea and Jason: mute characters
Plot
Background
Medea falls in love with Jason while he is on his quest for the Golden Fleece. Medea uses her supernatural powers to aid Jason in completing the tasks that King Aeets (Medea's dad) set. The three tasks where: yoke the fiery bulls, compete with the giants, and slay the dragon that was guarding the fleece. In order to flee with Jason, Medea killed her brother to distract her father and be able to escape with Jason[2]. Again they had to flee when Medea uses her powers to get Pelias killed by his own daughters. They finally settle in Corinth where they had two sons.
Play
In order to climb the political ladder, Jason leaves Medea for Creusa who is the daughter of King Creon. Medea opens up the play by cursing Creusa and King Creon[2]. King Creon gives Medea one day before she is exiled and she does not take Jason's advice on going peacefully[3][2]. She uses a regal robe to poison and sends it as a gift for Creusa on her wedding day with Jason. The chorus describe in great detail the rage, scorn, and anger that Medea felt as she plotted her revenge[4]. The chorus prays to the gods that Jason (the leader of the Argonauts) is spared from Medea's vengeance. Medea's curse contains poisons, snake blood, herbs, and the invocations to all the underworld gods. The cursed robe kills Creusa and Creon by catching on fire when Creusa puts it on. Creon tries to put out his daughter but is unsuccessful and he catches on fire too. Their death does not satisfy Medea but only awakens her vengeful spirt more. Jason's betrayal blinds Medea so much that her number one priority is hurting Jason. Even if hurting Jason means hurting her children[2]. Medea sacrifices her children from the roof of her house in order to hurt Jason. Medea escapes in a dragon chariot while she throws the bodies of the boys down to Jason[5]. Jason closes the play by stating that there are no gods because otherwise such acts would have not been committed.
Euripides vs. Seneca
Euripides' Medea was written before Seneca's Medea and even though they are similar there are differences. Seneca starts off his play with Medea herself expressing her hatred of Jason and Creon. Her first line is "O gods! Vengeance! Come to me now, I beg, and help me..."[6] While Euripides introduces Medea later on in scene one and she complains to her nurse of the injustices she has faced. The chorus in Euripides' Medea is not objective towards her. The chorus is Seneca's Medea does no ridicule her and has an objective positions through out the play. Seneca's chorus does not show sympathy towards Medea.The final scenes are particularly different because Medea does not blame Jason for the death of her children in Seneca's version[2]. She even kills one of her sons in front of Jason and blames herself for their death[2]. Medea does the opposite in Euripides' version because she blames Jason and does not carry any guilt or blame with her.
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- ^ A.D.,, Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, approximately 4 B.C.-65. Medea. Boyle, A. J. (Anthony James), (First edition ed.). Oxford. ISBN 9780199602087. OCLC 862091470.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e f Lavilla de Lera, Jonathan (2016). "A metatheatrical perspective on the Medea of Seneca". ANÁLISIS. 47: 154.
- ^ "Seneca's Medea and the tragic self :: University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses". digitallibrary.usc.edu. Retrieved 2017-07-27.
- ^ Schiesaro, Alessandro (2003). The Passions in Play: Thyestes and the Dynamics of Senecan Drama. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 16–17. ISBN 9780511054921.
- ^ Hine, H.M. (2000). Introduction. Seneca. Medea, 6-49. With an introduction, text, translation and commentary by H. M Hine. Warminster: Aris & Phillips. p. 24.
- ^ "SENECA THE YOUNGER, MEDEA - Theoi Classical Texts Library". www.theoi.com. Retrieved 2017-07-27.