Femininity in Euripides Medea and Jean Rhyswide Sargasso Sea
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Historically females have been portrayed as being weak and submissive, obeying their male counterparts (fathers/husbands etc) and staying in the background looking after the home and the children. To be freethinking was unheard of; all decisions were made by the male which the female had to comply with, whether or not she wanted to. This went for everything from arranged marriage to who she could associate with. There was also the generalisation that women were incapable of rational thought and prone to madness. Sons were considered more important than daughters, as they were the heirs and would continue the family name, and, of course, they were males who were regarded as strong, dominant and rational. In this essay, I shall be comparing and contrasting how works from two different genres – the Greek Tragedy �Medea’ penned by Euripides in 431 BC and Jean Rhys’ 1966 novel �Wide Sargasso Sea’ – represent femininity and their stance on feminism of that time.
Medea was based on the legend of the marriage between Jason, of Golden Fleece fame, and Medea princess of Colchis, sorceress and child of the gods. Having given up her country, committed murder and made herself an outcast, for the love of Jason, Medea was rightly angry when she was cast aside in favour of another younger woman. Recognising the prejudice and indifferent treatment to women of that time, Euripides used Medea as a representation of all women’s feelings and experiences, embodying pain, jealousy, passion and unfairness, especially in a family breakdown. Medea became a spokeswoman for them but he creates her as an antithesis of the common idea by giving her a mind of her own, power and hold over the male characters; using her femininity to charm and manipulate, which was inconceivable in those days.
Medea is of the classical Greek Tragedy structure with a prologos, prologue before the entry of the Chorus (male performers who commented on the action of the play from the Orchestra); epeisodion episodes of dramatic action; exodus the formal end of play marked by the exit of the Chorus; parados the first song sung by the Chorus and stasimon the rest of the Chorus songs. It must be remembered that women were not allowed on stage, so all performers were men, wearing masks and costumes therefore there cannot be a psychological profile of Medea, only a representation of femininity by the actor playing her part. The audience is first introduced to Medea, not in person but by her wailings and laments behind the �skene’ This is a backdrop in the centre of the stage and this building represents Medeas home. In front of this house the nurse of Medeas children brings the audience up to date with events and her monologue is regularly interrupted by Medea’s cries from the inside. It not until the Chorus arrives, that Medea comes out. Instead of the weeping, distraught woman that is expected, she emerges calm , level-headed and with plans for revenge. In the main Euripides uses stichomythia to show Medeas swings from submissive to dominant. With Creon, who recognises her as a dangerous, spiteful woman, she does this within 14 lines (298 – 310). When she argues her case to Aegeus and kneels at his feet she shows the vulnerable exile needing help and uses blackmail to get him to agree to take her into his country. Jason, in typical male fashion, cannot understand why Medea is being so awkward, if she would just be meek , obedient and keep quiet like other women, she would be able to stay in her home. In response to this, Medea appears to come to her senses and asks if she can show respect to her love rival by sending her children with gifts. The poisoning occurs and Medea, completely over the edge and insane, commits the ultimate sin, she murders her own sons to get perfect revenge. Now she is all powerful, dominating and masculine, shown by her arranging the boys funerals, something usually done by the male of the household. Her exit emphasises this, as she flys off in a fiery chariot looking down on Jason, the once proud hero now emasculated by a female.
The novel Wide Sargasso Sea was written as a prequel to Bronte’s �Jane Eyre’ , Rhys began writing it in 1940 but it wasn’t completely published until 1966. Set in Jamaica circa 1840, it explores womanhood, slavery, racial identity, voodoo (obeah) and insanity through Antoinette, the white Creole daughter of ex-slave owners. In an age where females were portrayed in novels as being self restrained, composed and rational heroines, Antoinette was atypical; she had a wild, unstable character, distinctly lacking in the conventional feminine traits of neatness and obedience at least until she attended the convent, where she was taught how to act like a lady. Pushed away by her mother, who was wrapped up in her son, and struggling to belong