I've written a text-response for Medea and a language analysis piece, for which I'd love to get the input and feedback from individuals other than my teacher. It would be greatly appreciated if feedback is provided on either one or both of my pieces! Just for some extra information, I'm attempting to avoid analysis the argument in the language analysis as an area of my weakness, and I'm realistically aiming for around a B on both of them for the exam but I'm trying to achieve an A as well!
Medea:
Medea is compelled in the play to act as an outsider, not as a mother:
Euripides explores the effects of abandonment and isolation, coupled with excessive passion, through the protagonist Medea who is ultimately compelled to act as an outsider. Medea’s presence in the foreign land of Corinth compels her to act as an outsider from the onset in the literal sense that she is without a family or native-home she can return to. In addition, Jason’s abandonment of Medea leads her to forsake her idea of a family, and thus her role as a traditional mother. However, whilst Medea attempts to override her sense as a mother and act as an outsider for revenge, Euripides demonstrates that Medea isn’t able to fully suppress her emotions and role as a mother.
From the onset, Medea’s compulsion to act as an outsider is established through her foreign nature and status as a women in Corinth. This is because ancient Greek values placed great importance on the value of the city that people were born in, often stripping many opportunities for people outside for own homeland. For Medea, she expresses this vividly through the statement that she is ‘alone’ and ‘has no city’, despite the fact, to the modern audience, that she appears to resides in Corinth. Through this statement, Euripides highlights the importance of having a city to belong to, which in Medea’s case who has no city to belong to, is ultimately alone, compelling her to act as an outsider in Corinth as she is one. To reiterate this, Euripides adopts Medea’s folklore into the play itself when Medea expresses that she has no ‘mother, brother, nor any of her own blood to turn to in this extremity,’ which references Medea’s killing of her own family. Within the context of the play, this worsens Medea’s situation as an outsider as she isn’t able to return to neither her own land nor her family due to her betrayal and murder of her own family, which consequently goes strongly against conventional and Greek views of the ideals of family, leaving Medea moreso ever as an outsider due to a lack of family ties. Through Medea’s foreign nature and status in Corinth, Medea is branded as an outsider in the literal sense in ancient Greek values, which coupled with her betrayal of her family, ultimately compels her to act as an outsider.
In addition, Jason’s abandonment and ‘betrayal’ of Medea leaves her to forsake her traditional idea of a mother as well towards her children, furthering her own position as an outsider. Euripides demonstrates the importance of having a husband, if there is children, through her rebuttal towards Jason of ‘even after I had borne you sons’ which expresses Medea’s circumstances. The statement implies that Medea is unable to carry the duty of a mother, without the prevalence of a father or husband, and suggests that Jason’s betrayal of Medea ultimately destroys the nucleus of a traditional family, justifying her abstain from acting as an mother as the sense of a family has already been destroyed. Euripides presents Medea’s lack of sense as a mother towards her children when Medea calls on ‘death to take you, with your father and punish his whole house,’ which demonstrates the extent of Medea’s distance from her children. By grouping her children with their father, and calling on his ‘whole house’ to be destroyed, Euripides highlights the lack of association Medea has with her own children, who in her mind, are apart of Jason’s house rather than her own. This also reiterates the view that Jason’s abandonment of the family destroys Medea sense of a traditional family, as Medea clearly acts more like an outsider rather than a mother in this statement. Ultimately, Jason’s actions and betrayal of his own family can be viewed as what compels Medea to forsake her identity as a mother as well, and what leads her to act and identify as an outsider instead.
Despite Medea’s compulsion to act as an outsider, Euripides also demonstrates that Medea is unable to completely abandon her role and view as an mother towards her children. At instances in the play, Medea is presented as having the concerns of a traditional mother towards her Children. When Medea expresses that she will never see her children ‘grow up’ and have ‘wives’, Euripides demonstrates that Medea has the same concerns that traditional mothers do as well, even if Medea is intent on killing her children. Because of this, it can be said that Medea’s compulsion to act as an outsider is mostly due to the faults of other characters in the play, like Jason, and isn't something that Medea directly desires herself, as shown by her brief moments of affection and guilt towards her children. This is reiterated through Medea’s brief moment of contemplation on whether she should kill her children, asking herself why ‘she should hurt them,’ in reference to her own children and implies that Medea can be viewed as a victim due to her having the ability to sympathize with her own children as well. The brief moments of sympathy and rationality as demonstrated by Medea imply that she isn't able to completely forsake her identity as a mother, even if she ultimately acts as an outsider and on revenge.
Ultimately, it is clear that Medea, throughout the play, is compelled to act as an outsider and foreigner rather than a mother in her own family. Euripides, however, demonstrates a variety of reasons for Medea’s compulsion to act as an outsider, such as the abandonment of her family and Jason’s betrayal of her, with provide a degree of sympathy for Medea. Although Medea is ultimately seen to act as an outsider, Euripides also demonstrates that she is unable to completely repel the values and views of a traditional mother either, even if Medea ends up murdering her children.
Language analysis (hasn't been corrected for grammar/spelling, written in around 1 hour):
In his article 'Reclaiming our (real) lives from social media', Nick Bilton contends that we must find a balance in our lives between social media and other activities. Throughout the article, Bilton employs a concerned tone towards the issue of social media, which is reiterated by the image in the article depicting a person trapped in an hourglass with a laptop.
From the onset, Bilton attempts to illustrate the meaningless aspects of social media to the audience. By starting out with an anecdote, Bilton explores the creativity that a lack of social media can produce, calling Hemingway's ability to transcend into a 'trancelike state' as a result of his writing. As an effect, the audience is provoked to feel that the lack of social media allows for creativity, a feeling that Bilton reinforces by placing Hemingway in a modern-day example, who would have instead 'wasted an entire afternoon on social media.' The word 'wasted' carries negative connotations of a lack of fulfilment and meaningless, which implores the readership to feel that creativity cannot be reproduced in modern-time conditions, creating a sense of uneasiness on the domination of technology in society. Shifting from an anecdote to a more personal tone, Bilton indicates that 'we' all have done that, making the reader subject to guilty through the use of the inclusive 'we', which prompts the reader to reflect on the disadvantages of social media in their own lives. Bilton goes on to liken social media to a 'virus' that is 'slowly invading its victim', which illustrates a bleak tone and perspective on the issue of social media. By using the term 'virus', Bilton implies that social media is a disease that consumes the 'victim', re-evoking feelings of concerns amongst the readership on their use of social media.
Shifting to a critical tone, Bilton utilizes rhetorical language to manifest his concerns on the benefits of social media and internet. Bilton's self-indicative question if he is 'more fulfilled from Pinterest?' indicates subtle irony through his rhetoric of being 'fulfilled' from social media sites, which ultimately suggest that it's unlikely he is and positions readers to view these hours as wasted. The notion of the meaningless and wasted time on the internet and social media is reiterated through the use of 'John Pery' as an expert opinion, who uses an approving tone towards the lack of social media. Pery's approving and optimistic tone that 'great ideas' come from being in a library, compare with his more unsure and concerned tone that social media carries 'unclear' results. As a result, the readers are not only provoked to reflect on the internet and social media as a wasted source of entertainment, but are also encouraged the view of libraries as a suitable alternative for fulfillment. Bilton goes on to connect to readers personally, labelling the internet as leaving 'us all feeling a little bit empty'. By using the word 'empty' coupled with the inclusive 'us', Bilton highlights the lack of fulfillment the internet gives society, furthering feelings of disdain towards excessive use of the internet and social media amongst the readers, and encouraging them to view it as a problem as a result.
The image and title accompanying the article enchance the need to find an alternative to social media and its 'wasteful' aspects. The title 'Reclaiming our (Real) lives from social media' effectively highlights the difference between social media and our 'real' lives. By placing the 'Real' through parenthesis, Bilton implies the difference between 'real' and 'virtual' lives, which coupled with the inclusive use of 'our', shows that this is a collective issue. This positions the audience to feel as if there is a difference in social media and real-life interaction, which prompts them to evaluate social media in further negative terms. However, the title compares favourably to Bilton's personal anecdote towards the end of the article, where he calls his lack of facebook as a feeling of being 'fulfilled', implying that our 'real' lives are what makes us fulfilled. This contrasts to Bilton's earlier descriptions of having 'wasted' time on social media, which positions the reader to see the lack of social media in their own lives as a means of gaining fulfillment in life, giving support to Bilton's argument. In addition to notions of social media being 'empty', the cartoon illustration depicts a person trapped in an hour glass, whilst using a laptop. The image effective reinforces how easy it is for the audience to waste their time with social media, and provokes the audience to distance themselves from the perceived illustration of the person being trapped and wasting time, due to the negative connotations that Bilton carries throughout his article on excessive use of social media. Additionally, Bilton's use of statistical information, such as '3.8 hours a day wasted for 18-34 year olds', is intended to target the young adult ranged readership specifically in their use of social media, which is intended to shock the audience on the amount of hours spent on social media.
In conclusion, Bilton's excessive use of imagery that likens social media to wasteful hours positions the audience to perieve social media as having a negative effect on society. Bilton's tonal shifts, title, image, anecdotes and evidence provide substance to his argument.
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