She states that women are, “obliged to buy a husband at excessive cost, and then accept him as the master of our body.” 5 Her speech of dissent manifests Medea as a woman going against the status quo.
Medea denounces that women essentially live in a system in which they must get husbands to be reputable and deemed valuable by society, but in exchange must submit to being objectified by their husbands.
The story of Jason and Medea is the ultimate example of this inequality between men and women because Jason, after abandoning Medea, does not experience any consequences while Medea is exiled from her city, deserted, and degraded. On the other hand, a woman who is deserted by her husband is likely to face humiliation and a decrease in status. If a man is ever “irked with those he has at home, he goes elsewhere to get relief and ease his state of mind.” 3 When a man leaves his wife, his city, his family, and friends will not desert him and view him as an outcast. 2 For men, however, marriage does not bind them in any way. Therefore, if a husband leaves his wife, Medea states that death is better than living with the repercussions. Getting married and having a husband is inextricably tied to a woman’s reputation, Medea argues. She presents marriage as an example of the imbalance of power between a man and a woman. Medea then goes on to say that the burden of being a woman is not just difficult but also unequal to that of being a man. Still in anguish over Jason’s betrayal of her, Medea cries out, “We women are the most beset by trials of any species that has breath and power of thought.” 1 She publicly states to all of the women in the city that the condition of being a woman is difficult and full of struggles. Medea’s monologue to the women of Corinth in the beginning parts of the play is a powerful proclamation of the unjust marginalization of women in society.
Careful analysis reveals that Medea is not a stereotypical woman but a woman who understands that there is an imbalance of power between a man and a woman and resists this injustice. However, many parts of the play suggest that Medea is a feminist figure who challenges the gender and social norms of her time, and many aspects of the tragedy revolve around issues of women’s rights and the marginalization of women in society. Both of the main characters, Medea and Jason, possess qualities that conform to the gender expectations of ancient Greece, and it would be unsurprising if audiences of this play in ancient times viewed the two characters as traditional portrayals of a woman and a man. One of the main themes presented in Medea is the role and condition of women in ancient Greek society. Like many Greek tragedies, Euripides’s Medea explores themes about society and human nature.
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