Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Foreignness in Medea
Throughout the play, Medea's status as an outsider is referred to for a variety of reasons, but is generally considered a negative attribute. We have already discussed and explored some ways in which Medea's foreignness is held against her by Jason, but Medea herself sees her status as an outsider as a profound liability. In this evening's reading, Medea discusses being an exile and outsider when she struggles with her decision of whether or not to kill her children. How do you understand this issue of belonging vs not belonging, being native vs being foreign, being in your homeland vs. being exiled as influencing Medea's actions? You are welcome to refer to lines from earlier reading, but please focus your response on tonight's assignment and please include specific lines from the play.
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I think because Medea considers herself a foreigner with no place to call home anymore (since she had abandoned her family/homeland), she is more prone to carrying on with her revenge for Jason and Creon's family. Medea considers her foreignness a bottomless pit, and now that she has no home or anything to lose, this motivates her to carry out the plan to kill her children. She says this in line 798-799 : “I have no fatherland, no home, no way to turn from my misfortunes.”,which indicate that this is her last stance, that she has no regrets because she had lost everything as Jason left her defenseless at a foreign land.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, Medea considers being exiled one of the most horrible things that can happen to someone, because Corinth is the only place she has familial ties left. She begs Creon not to banish her before she starts plotting, and asks Jason (although it is part of her plot) to let the children stay on Corinth so that they don’t go through the suffers she will. (Lines 940: “you must beg Creon not to make them leave this land")
I think that the fact that Medea is an exile to her old country and is soon to be an exile of another is a significant reason she chooses to kill her children. One of the reasons Medea doesn’t wish to bring her sons is that “there is no one can spirit them away” (p. 106) to the house of Aegeus. Furthermore, she doesn’t want to keep the children there because Medea thinks they will be “among [her] enemies so they can treat them with atrocity.” Because Medea is an exile herself, she would rather her sons die by her own hand than go through the pain of living as an exile. Medea greatly regrets leaving with Jason in the first place, saying “My first mistake was when I deserted my ancestral home, seduced by sweet talk from a man, a Greek.” This statement shows how much she disdains being an exile, and how such a decision drives her decision to kill her sons. Perhaps because she has grown so weary of being one, Medea even has Aegeus swear before the gods “that you will never cast me from your land; and never, if one of my enemies attempts to take me, never, while you live, abandon me of your free will” (p.105). While part of this is just to cover all her bases and have a stable post-mayhem escape route, the focus on abandonment shows how Medea very much yearns for a true sense of security – one that, because she no longer has a fatherland, must approximate as best she can.
ReplyDeleteMedea’s foreignness does influence her actions in the play. I think that Medea uses foreignness as a way of justifying her actions. Medea seems to see home (where one originally comes from) as a place where you can go in order to escape the bad things that have occurred to you. Since Medea can never return home to Colchis, she can’t truly escape the terrible things that Jason has done to her. This is shown perfectly in a quote that Agnes already brought up. This quote is from page 107, lines 798-799. One’s home is basically a safe haven; since Medea can’t return home, she basically has no safe place to go in times of need. With this realization of no safe haven, Medea most likely believes that there is nothing left to lose. At one point, Medea says, “Because, my friends, to be derided / by one’s enemies is not to be endured” (Lines 798-799). This one quote shows that Medea believes that she should not willingly accept condemnation from her enemies. She has nothing left to lose (which happens to be because of Jason), so she is going to make sure that her enemies (especially Jason) feel her wrath. This foreignness also influences Medea’s decision to kill her kids. She later says, “Now they are bound to die in any case, and since they must, / it will be me, the one who gave them birth / who’ll be the one to deal them death” (Lines 1063 – 1065). She says this in reference to the fact that her kids actually got permission to stay with Jason in Corinth. Medea thinks that her children will be treated as foreigners since they have her foreign blood in them. She expects that her enemies within Corinth will treat her children poorly to a point where they are already set for death. Medea would rather kill her children than let her enemies in Corinth abuse and kill them because of their connection (through foreignness) to her.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Anges in that Medea is more likely to carry out her revenge on Jacob (and thus kill her children) because of her exile. She has no home, and will soon leave for an entirely new place, where she can create a new identity and a new future, and therefore will be able to shake of the qualms she may experience from the murder.
ReplyDeleteBut, I think she is also driven to act because she sees her children in a parallel position of starting a new life with Jason, but without the benefits of their entire past being wiped clean. Medea states in lines 1060-1062, “I swear, there is no way I will leave my boys among my enemies so they can treat them with atrocity.” Though they would be adopted into the royal family, they would always be treated as lesser by Jason and the princess because they lack royal blood, and because of Jason’s past with their mother.
Also, in lines 1029 and 1030, she says, “For nothing, my children, have I nurtured you, for nothing, gone through labor, and been raked with pain…” Essentially, she foresees that all of the positive aspects of the children’s pasts will be wiped away, and there for her kindness and compassion was all put to waste.
And so, it is because she will be able to start anew in a new place, but also because her children’s past will only selectively be wiped away, that Medea is able to come to terms with the idea of killing he children.
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ReplyDeleteAlthough one of Medea’s main motives for killing her own children is to hurt Jason, her exile and foreign nature contribute to the decision-making.
ReplyDeleteWhen the idea of killing her sons runs through her head, she validates the option by referring to her foreignness. She says, “So let it be. What profit have I from my life? I have no fatherland, no home, no way to turn from my misfortunes” (Lines 799-800). She acknowledges that she is not from Greece and now has no homeland to return to. Her foreignness makes her feel like she doesn’t belong and doesn’t have any meaning to her life now. Normally thinking about home and family would make someone rethink bad choices but for Medea it only strengthens her desire to kill her children because she has nothing to lose.
When going back and forth between deciding what to do, Medea says, “I swear, there is no way that I shall leave my boys among my enemies so they can treat them with atrocity” (Lines 1060-1062). Medea is about to be forced to leave her sons with Jason but then thinks of a way out. She justifies her thought and idea by saying that it is all because she does not want to leave her sons with Jason. If Medea were not being banished, then she would have no reason to leave her children to him. And if she had some kind of support system in Corinth then she would be able to take care of the kids on her own and not feel the need to kill them.
All in all Medea’s final decision to murder her own children was aided by her extreme situation and sentiments as a foreigner.
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ReplyDeleteMedea’s being a two-time exile influences her deciding to kill her children. Her being an exile, and knowing the pain of being an exile, is the reason she doesn’t want to bring her children along with her, and make them become exiles. We can see her regretting becoming an exile in lines 798-799: “I have no fatherland, no home, no way to turn from my misfortunes. (798-799)” She claims that after she kills the daughter of Creon, “no one can spirit [her children] away (line 793),” as in her children will no longer have a home. After Medea kills the princess, her children will most likely suffer the consequences: “I swear, there is no way that I shall leave my boys among my enemies so they can treat them with atrocity. (lines 1060-1062)" Thus, her children’s only home, Corinth, will no longer be a safe place for them. Medea has the option of taking her boys along with her to become exiles, but she won’t do so because she doesn’t want her boys growing up with of pain of being without a home. Therefore, her only choice is to kill them.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of foreignness effects Medea significantly throughout the play. Primarily, on top of being a women and therefore unable to be in a position of power Medea is also a foreigner and therefore cannot seek the protection of her family. This idea of security and its nonexistence in Medea’s life is seen when Medea begs for a home from Aegeus. Medea says, “Don’t watch me turned into a refugee” (713). It is clear that while the voices of the chorus have little affect on her, Medea’s decisions are greatly calculated based on her foreignness.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, all of Medea’s actions are final. This means that Medea plans things that she would never do in a place that she would stay in. Medea’s foreignness contributes to her detachment from Corinth. Despite her anger with Jason it also seems that she does not consider the ramifications of killing the King and his daughter whereas she would if she was native to Corinth. Medea’s foreignness in the play is a vehicle to help her justify her actions.