Medea | Notes

Notes

What is a literary classic and why are these classic works important to the world?

A literary classic is a work of the highest excellence that has something important to say about life and/or the human condition and says it with great artistry. A classic, through its enduring presence, has withstood the test of time and is not bound by time, place, or customs. It speaks to us today as forcefully as it spoke to people one hundred or more years ago, and as forcefully as it will speak to people of future generations. For this reason, a classic is said to have universality.

Medea has meaning in our time because it raises such difficult and disturbing issues. As a barbarian, woman, and witch, Medea is instantly set apart from her community; she is isolated in almost every possible way. Surprisingly, this helps to make her a heroic figure; alone and without aid, she must do everything for herself, in spite of the challenges set against her. She defies the odds and is victorious over her enemies—yet at the end of the play, the audience is far from unanimously on her side. Medea's single-minded devotion to revenge and the horrible things she does to achieve it vitiate the sympathy she would receive. She has just grievances against Jason and Creon, who have been unjust to her. Her actions, however, are shocking and defy the most basic laws and assumptions of human society. Thus, Euripides questions what it means to be a hero, as well as what it means to be a good person and part of a community.

After reading this play, look at the motives and actions of all its characters and see if you can find any truly sympathetic figures. Does anyone deserve what they get? And, if Medea's actions are so truly heinous, why does Euripides elevate her so much at the end of the play, when she is almost a goddess? These are not easy questions to answer, and they point to why Euripides has been one of the most successful psychological dramatists of all time, a poet whose works continue to shock and confound audiences and readers almost 2,500 years after they were written.