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Euripides - Athenian tragic playwright lived from ca. 485 BCE to 406 BCE; Euripides began his career as a tragic playwright in 455 BCE; his extant plays include: Alcestis (438), Medea (431), Children of Heracles (ca. 430), Hippolytus (428, first prize), Andromache (ca. 425), Hecuba (ca. 424), Suppliant Women (ca. 423), Electra (ca. 420), Heracles (ca. 416), Trojan Women (415, second prize), Iphigenia among the Taurians (ca. 414), Ion (ca. 413), Helen (412), Phoenician Women (ca. 410), Orestes (408), Bacchae and Iphigenia in Aulis (after 406, posthumous first prize), Cyclops (date unknown, possibly ca. 410).
On Euripides' Medea By J. J. Kostiuk
In the story of The Medea the theme of violence through revenge is the main motivator of the tragic play. In this work the two main characters are Jason and his wife Medea. Jason and Medea seek to better themselves through their partner's sufferings. First Jason leaves Medea to marry the daughter of King Creon. His motivation for this act was simply to allow himself to be in a position to be in line for a throne. Then, in order to avenge her self-embarassment, Medea executes a plot to murder Jason's new bride, King Creon and the children that she bore while she was with Jason. This is the depressing, tragic story of Medea who commits an act that is totally unethical, yet clearly influenced by the thoughts in her respective mind.
The influence of Anaxagoras in this particular work is all to obvious. Medea has been scorned, and her mind or "Nous" has convinced herself that murder is her only chance at revenge. This crazed woman carries out the death of her own children in order to satisfy her hurt feelings. These thoughts prompts a young messenger to ask " What! Are you in the right mind? Are you not mad woman?"(4pg.97) But what the simple-minded messenger doesn't know is the definition of "mind " that Euripides possesses. The fact of the matter is that it is not relevant to Euripides if Medea is " mad" or not; actually that is the point. Medea allows her mind to guide her, and her mind( just as the Anaxagoras model displays) is not moral. Jason's case is quite the same yet not on the same scale.
He does not murder anyone but the crime of betrayal that he commits is equally offendable. "What luckier chance could I have come across than this, An exile to marry the daughter of a king?"(4pg.76) This is not an ethical statement, let alone an ethical action. But, much similar to Medea, Jason is acting a particular way because of the influence of his mind(Nous). His "Nous" knows no boundaries on the topic of ethics or just treatment; no idea of what is right or wrong. This is Anaxagoras' claim that is refuted by Aristotle. This is a direct influence on Euripides' characters in this plays. Jason and Medea have no concept of what is right or wrong, only what they must do to better their situations. Murder and betrayal are natural instincts to these people, all controled by the power of Anaxagoras' "Nous".
The Role of the Chorus
In Medea the chorus has a large part in terms of interaction in the play itself. The chorus offers advice to the characters of the play throughout their many times of turmoil. The chorus becomes the opposing view of Anaxagoras' theme of "Nous". The chorus is offering the sane view of the world to rather insane characters.
The chorus in the Medea the group serves up advice for Jason after he makes his speech proclaiming his reasoning for leaving Medea in the first place. The chorus explains to him that he is not acting properly, yet he does not even respond and continues badmouthing his former lover. The chorus provides a sane view of the world, however is rejected by the characters who are controlled by mind. Again when Jason and Medea have one of their arguments, the chorus provides a helping opinion for the ghastly acts that will arise from this conflict.
The chorus provides the opposing viewpoint to that which is held by the characters of the play but not Euripides himself. This man believes that people operate under the influence of mind, which is not necessarily the morally or ethically correct way to act. This idea is clearly evident in the characters that Euripides has created. The chorus is the last grasp of sanity for these already disturbed people. But this does not mean that the chorus is any better or worse than the characters, but the chorus' idea of "Nous" or mind is simply different than that of the characters. The chorus' mind tells them to act a certain way just as the mind of the players which actually makes these two factions somewhat similar.
Conclusion
The reason that Euripides is successful in his tragic plays is his ability to make the work appear real. Not realism of situations such as matricide, but his interpretation for the common person. For example, Medea was born from ancient myth. However, Euripides took this myth and scaled down the characters to make them into people that the average drama-seer could understand. Instead of searching for the famed " golden-fleece" Jason was now in a domestic dispute with a former lover. Most of the audience has had a dispute at one time or another, but has rarely ever searched for a golden fleece. Euripides presented his idea of "Nous" on a level that the common man could understand. In fact, the graphic nature of his tragedies probably made the idea of mind easier to understand. Sitting in the audience, experiencing the pain the characters were having as the play developed, the theory that the mind controls actions however unethical must have been quite obvious. Anaxagoras' views were communicated by his pupil to the masses of Greece, and as a result the men and the ideas were better understood.
Bibliography
1. Kirk, Raven, Schofield. The Presocratic Philosophers, 1991, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
2. Cleve, Felix M. The Philosophy of Anaxagoras, 1949, King's Crown Press, Columbia University, New York.
3. Greene, Lattimore and translated by Vermeule, Euripides V, 1966, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
4.Greene, Lattimore and translated by Warner, Euripides I, 1955, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
5.Ferguson, John. Euripides Medea and Electra, 1987, Bristol Classical Press, Bristol, Great Britian.
6.Lucas, F. L., Euripides and His Influence, 1963, Cooper Square Publishers Inc., New York.
