"I did it for us, babe!"

As I am reading the (extensive) list of discussion questions for Medea, one of them particularly jumps out at me; “What does the play suggest about the effects of oppression?” This one, I think, is remarkable because it is notes an atypical voice of the play. Most plays of any time period, but from this one especially, warn the people against action or inaction, but this one has elements that seem to warn the rulers. As the victors (or, in this case, the rulers) always get to tell the tale, it would usually behoove them to write of tales that encouraged or even mandated the status quo. Stories, like Antigone, that threatened against revolt or protest. But, as was noted in class, Medea could be read as a microcosm of society in which Medea herself may represent the oppressed masses. In the end, as was very unusual for this or any time period, Medea gets away unscathed. Justice, or revenge as it were, did not come at a personal cost as it usually does.

                The message to those in power is simply to be wary of those whom you subdue. If you oppress a people, it will come back to haunt you. Medea was a woman who, while she was have wronged people in the public forum, the text does not imply that she was particularly a bad wife. Or, for that matter, does it imply that she was a bad mother. The only teeny, tiny little thing that she did wrong was convince people that by cutting up their father and boiling the pieces that they could make him young again. My bad! Can’t we just move on now, really? Obviously he was old so didn’t have much time left anyway, right? All joking aside now, yes, she did get her husband banished in exile and all that jazz, but whatever happened to sticking by your woman, Jason? Instead, he devises a plan to ‘better his family status’ by marrying the queen, and his big mistake was not consulting Medea first. Who knows, maybe she would have agreed that all they needed in their lives was a nice sugar mama? But alas, the world will never know because Jason thought he wore the pants in the [house?]. And this was the major act of oppression in the play, the act of going behind Medea’s back. The rest is history, and as the saying goes, “hell hath no fury…” She becomes quite resourceful as a wronged woman will usually do. She even makes sure she has somewhere to escape to, whereas the vengeful will usually act first and think later.

                So in the end, I believe that the play sends a strong message to the rulers of Ancient Greece that if you oppress your subjugates for too long, they will revolt and they will at least try to overthrow you. You should try to rule fairly, with at least some of the sixteen virtues held with conviction in your character, and then the people ‘will love you’. The writer advises this, and also; if you decide to marry another woman, you had better make sure that you kill the other one first.