Name Period

Women in Medea’s Society

Medea, as both a woman and as a foreigner, is a victim of the society in which she lives. The
following quotations demonstrate the attitude of the Hellenistic world toward women and
foreigners. Euripides was criticizing these attitudes in Medea.

Directions: Analyze the perspectives and prejudices of each quote. Explain the argument that
each quote uses. Then, propose whether or not these perspectives, prejudices, or arguments
each quote shows are present in our own society. Explain your reasoning for your decisions.

1. (Prologue) Nurse—“And therein lies a woman’s best security, to avoid conflict with her
husband.”
Perspective/Prejudice/Argument made:

In our society:

2. (Parados) Chorus—“If your husband worships a new bride, it is a common event…”

Perspective/Prejudice/Argument made:

In our society:

3. (Episode I) Medea—“ …for an extravagant sum, we have bought a husband, we must then
accept him as the possessor of our body….divorce is not respectable…if a man grows tired of
the company at home, he can go out, and find a cure for tediousness. We wives are forced to
look to one man only.”
Perspective/Prejudice/Argument made:

In our society:

4. (Episode I) Medea—“…by our very nature we women are helpless for good, but adept at
contriving all manner of wickedness.”
Perspective/Prejudice/Argument made:

In our society:
5. (Episode 2) Jason—“There ought to have been some other way for men to beget their
children, dispensing of women. Then there would not be trouble in the world.”
Perspective/Prejudice/Argument made:

In our society:

6. (Stasimon 2) Chorus—“O Home and Fatherland, never, never, I pray, may I be cityless. It is
an intolerable existence, hopeless, pitiless, grievous.”
Perspective/Prejudice/Argument
Perspective/Prejudice/Argument made:

In our society:

7. (Episode 3) Medea—“Tell me, what has life to offer [the children]. They have no father, no
home, no refuge from danger.”
Perspective/Prejudice/Argument made:

In our society:

8. (Episode 4) Medea—“But I am what I am…to say no worse, a woman. You ought not
therefore to imitate me in my error or to compete with me in childishness.”
Perspective/Prejudice/Argument made:

In our society:

9. (Episode 4) Medea—“Women are frail things and naturally apt to cry.”

Perspective/Prejudice/Argument made:

In our society:

10. What are the assumptions made about a) women and b) foreigners in Medea’s world?