Medea
How does Euripides build empathy for outsiders in Greek society in Medea?
Medea is a woman who is a non-Greek outsider - she is a barbarian from Colchis. Her irrational behaviour and extreme response correlates to the stereotype of a Barbarian woman.
Euripides effectively uses the chorus to help create and build empathy for Medea by sympathising with her and being biased towards her by taking her side. The chorus in Classical Greek drama was a group of actors who described and commented upon the main action of a play and helped you build affinity for the characters. The chorus helps you feel for Medea and makes her the victim to certain conflicts in the play. An example of this is, “You are acting wrongly in thus abandoning your wife.” Medea and Jason meet when Jason came to Colchis for the Golden Fleece, if he was able to retrieve it he would become king. On his quest he meets Medea who is from Colchis and offers to help Jason. Medea was shot by Aphrodite the god of love which makes the two of them fall madly in love. Medea moves to Corinth with Jason and soon after they are married and had two sons Jason finds younger, more respectable women and abandons Medea for Gauche. This is important as Euripides uses this to empathise Medea’s plight. The Chorus are often also considered as the ideal audience for a play, in that their reactions to the action on stage reflect the way the playwright hopes the audience might react. This example of the use of the chorus helps to build empathy and make you think about Medea’s position in the world. It also creates mood and a general tone for the story.
Rhetorical questions are a form of a question made to have a strong impact on the listeners without any expectation of a reply. It encourages you to think in the direction the author would want. In Medea Euripides uses rhetorical questions to have a strong emphasis on emotion and general tone to help build empathy for outsiders. An example of this is when the chorus says,
Medea is a woman who is a non-Greek outsider - she is a barbarian from Colchis. Her irrational behaviour and extreme response correlates to the stereotype of a Barbarian woman.
Euripides effectively uses the chorus to help create and build empathy for Medea by sympathising with her and being biased towards her by taking her side. The chorus in Classical Greek drama was a group of actors who described and commented upon the main action of a play and helped you build affinity for the characters. The chorus helps you feel for Medea and makes her the victim to certain conflicts in the play. An example of this is, “You are acting wrongly in thus abandoning your wife.” Medea and Jason meet when Jason came to Colchis for the Golden Fleece, if he was able to retrieve it he would become king. On his quest he meets Medea who is from Colchis and offers to help Jason. Medea was shot by Aphrodite the god of love which makes the two of them fall madly in love. Medea moves to Corinth with Jason and soon after they are married and had two sons Jason finds younger, more respectable women and abandons Medea for Gauche. This is important as Euripides uses this to empathise Medea’s plight. The Chorus are often also considered as the ideal audience for a play, in that their reactions to the action on stage reflect the way the playwright hopes the audience might react. This example of the use of the chorus helps to build empathy and make you think about Medea’s position in the world. It also creates mood and a general tone for the story.
Rhetorical questions are a form of a question made to have a strong impact on the listeners without any expectation of a reply. It encourages you to think in the direction the author would want. In Medea Euripides uses rhetorical questions to have a strong emphasis on emotion and general tone to help build empathy for outsiders. An example of this is when the chorus says,