Medea essay question help

[simrat99]

Hi,
Can someone please guide me with the following Medea essay question:
"Medea reveals the danger of a patriarchal society. Discuss."
Thanks in advance

[zofromuxo]

Some ideas that I hope help you.

-You could discuss how all the men underestimate Medea because they think men are superior to women
-You could talk about how if Medea was seen as an equal, she wouldn't have taken such "drastic" actions in the play.

[boooom]

Also consider the extent in which Euripides is supportive of a patriarchal society. He isn't entirely critical or endorsive of one, and it's important to acknowledge the nuances in his stance.

Here's some of my thoughts
- He acknowledges the plight of women in Ancient Greece, giving Medea a whole speech to rant about how females are "the most miserable of specimens".
- In the Nurse's opening speech, he suggests that Medea is undeserving of "her husband's criminal behaviour" as she has given him nothing except her "complete support", in essence arguing that a docile, obedient wife is a good thing.
- Shit goes down when females work together (the Chorus and Medea buddying together, with one promising secrecy of the other's plans) to overcome their inferiority to men.

[LifeisaConstantStruggle]

Morning! Here are a few things you can include in your essay!
- zofromuxo's ideas are very good imo! Especially the second point with the hypothetical construct if Medea were treated fairly.
- A patriarchal society can often lead to prejudice, discrimination and indignant treatment (You can talk about Jason, Medea, and the Chorus)
- If a society has these inherent biases towards men, these people can abuse and exploit the law and their power for their own self-interest (Creon and Jason basically), as both of them attempt to use their authority to 1) rationalise their own actions (more to Jason) and 2) remove threats to the safety of their loved ones (Creon).
- These factors often contribute to the desire for women to spark a feminine revolt against men, which may lead to severe and detrimental consequences (the kids). (Medea especially, while the Chorus kinda talks about it in an ode as well)

[AnnieL]

Hi,
Can someone please guide me with the following Medea essay question:
"Medea reveals the danger of a patriarchal society. Discuss."
Thanks in advance

Hey there! Although I didn't do Medea, there are some general things you can do to approach essay topics (like this). So a good thing to do is to consider the different key words in the topic - here, these key words might be 'danger' and 'a patriarchal society'. You could consider the meaning of each, especially in the context of the text, where there might be multiple meanings or 'takes' on the same word within the text - i.e. what sort of danger (the text might demonstrate different types of danger) and a 'patriarchal society' in what context - which characters is it shown through - is it shown to affect them in different ways? So, basically what I'm trying to say is that for any essay topic you get (including this one), a good and reliable general approach is to tease out the different words in the topic. Although this is not directly specific Medea, I hope it helps a bit for approaching essay topics in general!

[simrat99]

Thanks a lot guys!