Literature Analysis #4

Literature Analysis: Medea  by Euripides

1.

2. In Media the two main themes demonstrated include betrayal and revenge. Betrayal can easily be seen as a theme in the play due to where all the anger and despair that follows when Jason betrays his wife Medea causing her to act out which leads to the second theme of revenge. Her hatred fuels her to do inconceivable acts in the pursuit of revenge which forces her to use manipulation and this ties the two themes together since manipulation is just another form of betrayal.

3. The tone seemingly appears cynical most of the time with Medea constant plotting for her ex husbands suffering yet sometimes sympathetic which relies heavily on the chorus who expressed their sympathy for Medea fates and Jasons slain children in their words.   

4.  

• Symbolism - the murder of Medea’s own children symbolizes her wrath and past love with her husband.
• Symbolism - Deities like Apollo are an obvious symbolic element in Medea.
• Tone - Euripedes sets a bitter and dark overall tone as the murder of her children is a significant influence on the play
• Imagery - Imagery is heavily used throughout the play for Medea, as she is often described to be in a angry and raged state.
• Direct Characterization - The author frequently uses direct characterization for Medea to draw out her personality. It is effective because it clearly implies her rage and fluster through the direct characterization.

Characterization:

1.Direct Characterization:

• her heart passionately in love with Jason.
• Their fine love's grown sick, diseased, for Jason,

  Indirect Characterization:

• Don't fear me, Creon. It's not in me to commit crimes against the men in charge.
• I'm not that clever, but still you fear me.

2.The authors diction does change when Medea talks, the author shifts the diction to be more aggressive compared to the other neutral characters of the play. I feel the reason behind changing the diction is to make Medea stand out as a character who can no longer fit in her society due to efforts in seeking revenge. Although the author changes diction, he doesn’t change the syntax of the play at any point. So all in all, the syntax between Medea and other characters doesn’t cause an obvious difference.

3.Medea is dynamic because she is forced into a problematic situation where her husband leaves her to enhance his position which then make her drastically change into a vindictive character who would resort to killing her children to get revenge. Medea is a flat character because her goals never change and are never impeded on even when feeling sympathetic for the killing of her children which she does just for revenge.
4. After reading this play, I felt that I met a real character because the emotions and thoughts that Medea experiences are somewhat realistic. Although Medea is mostly violent, and she shed the blood of her two sons, the complex emotions that she undergoes is parallel and relatable to anyone. That being said, I would not want to actually meet Medea in real life.