I would personally say that a pivotal moment in Medea is when The Chorus aligns with her views. Since the beginning of the play, we perceive Medea to be someone who is quite emotionally unstable and we don’t really understand her motives. The Nurse’s prologue helps to implant this first impression on to the audience, and The Chorus helps to emphasise this theme and idea that she is someone who can’t really decide for herself and we get an idea that she is someone who is quite dependent on Jason, considering that she has essentially done nothing ever since he left her. When we see Jason’s argument, saying that the reason he left her was for transactional reasons, we see that it is quite a plausible argument, however now that The Chorus is in support of Medea rather than Jason, it helps us to understand and to have an open mind about Medea’s argument. The Chorus essentially acts as a representation of the audience, and if it weren’t for The Chorus being in support of Medea, it is unlikely that the audience would think that it would be justifiable to agree with Medea’s perspective. This is able to highlight her individualism and for us to understand the ways that she is being oppressed by Creon and by Jason.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, I would say that a pivotal moment would be when they begin playing Scrabble. Not only does this provide a sense of hope for Offred, but it allows her to finally have a medium in which she can express herself. Throughout the story, we get a sense that she has this longing for human interaction, and during the Scrabble scene, although she is quite cautious, she’s finally able to open up and have the human interaction that she’s been longing for. The concept of Scrabble is also an important discussion point. Considering that it’s a game about words, it gives Offred an opportunity to play with language. This is able to provide her with a glimmer of hope in the superficial life that has been imposed on her, which in a sense is a form of resistance against Gilead’s patriarchal regime. The interactions that she is able to have with the Commander is able to provide her peace of mind and help her survive psychologically. The fact that she is able to derive so much pleasure and comfort from a game of scrabble helps bring to light just how oppressive the society that she lives in is.