FIRST EPISODE

Examine Medea’s behavior with Creon: what strategies does she use to manipulate him?

Medea is actively trying to gain sympathy from Creon as she is playing on his compassion. As Medea puts it, “You yourself have children”, and by that, she manipulates Creon’s feelings of guilt to persuade him to let her stay for one more day. Medea’s no stranger to the patriarchal state of things and knowing that she tries to appear as weak as possible. As well as that, it is important to mention how the idea of motherhood (“I’m not worried for myself – I weep for their disaster”) is employed to appeal to Creon and cause his compassion.

How does Medea’s speech after Creon’s exit give us further insight into her character? 

Medea’s narrative takes a complete turn as it’s reflected through the line “He’s such an idiot. He could have thrown me out, destroyed my plans; instead he’s granted me a single day to turn three enemies to three dead bodies”. This not only shows Medea as a strategic and calculated persona but also makes her look two-faced in the eyes of the readers. It can, however, be argued that Medea is a victim of the circumstances and as a woman in Ancient Greek society, she had no better choice. At the same time, Medea’s completely cold-hearted towards her children as she is blinded by her plans for revenge. Furthermore, Medea is not ashamed of thinking about killing her own children, which ultimately makes her look inhumane.

FIRST STASIMON

What is the thematic function of the choral stasimon after this episode?

Thematically, the stasimon transitions from one episode to another, and the Chorus plays the role of an unbiased spectator as it reports back to the audience. Chorus reveals the inequalities (“Everything runs in reverse – justice is upside down.”), tells the story of Medea (“You sailed away from home and father, driven insane in your heart; you traced a path between the twin cliffs of Pontus.) and shows compassion to her (“Poor woman, dishonored, sent into exile.”).

SECOND EPISODE

How does Euripides dramatically present the contrast between Medea and Jason’s different perspectives on their relationship?

As the audience, we can observe how Jason attempts to omit some important notions of past events and create a distorted reality. The line “You are now an exile because of your own foolish words” indicates that Jason doesn’t feel responsible for Medea’s exile. Jason tries to portray himself as the savior in this situation as it is seen through his words “However much you hate me, I could never wish you any harm”.

Medea, on the other hand, can’t accept Jason’s vision of reality and brings the memories of her sacrifices for Jason. Medea not only saved Jason’s life but also had to betray her own family for Jason. Medea is an enemy to all and friend to none and that makes her hands tied and leaves no other option than revenge and anger.

SECOND STASIMON

What sympathy does the chorus show to Medea? Why?

The chorus understands Medea’s suffering and admits the complexity of her situation (“No city, no friend will treat you with compassion in your dreadful suffering”). Furthermore, the chorus judges Jason for his two-faced nature and betraying Medea.

How is this dramatically effective?

The Chorus’s lines imply an unwillingness to support Jason as they reveal the true colors of the situation. The Chorus could be seen as an objective indicator as it interprets events in an unbiased and just way

Many works are concerned with human suffering. How has this concern been expressed in a way that engages audiences/readers of various times and/or places in at least two of the works you have studied?

The motif of suffering is seen throughout both “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “Medea” as it appears to be one of the most prominent ones within those texts. Offred and Medea are being oppressed and discriminated against in both societies due to their actions or hierarchical position.

In Handmaid’s Tale, Offred is captured and forced into joining the new regime due to her fertility, or an ability to carry a child. Firstly, we notice her suffering through the loss of her child as it leads to her being left alone. However, the grief of loss and loneliness are not the only factors that lead to Offred’s suffering. Internally, Offred is experiencing a conflict of her identity as she is quite literally regarded and seen as a reproduction machine. The oppressive regime of Gilead deprived Offred of human qualities and the whole process of impregnation is a normalized rape, which is seen through Chapter 15 that depicts the Ceremony. Additionally, the suffering of Offred is seen through her misunderstanding of societal roles. Offred feels puzzled about why some women, like Serena, are being treated better than her or Marthas. For the audiences, that perceive the world through the lens of modern societal norms, such discrimination seems to be absurd and that’s what makes the reader interested. Clearly, the grief of Offred’s loss and captivation is represented through her modesty and quietness.

Medea offers a slightly different view on the role of women in society, yet society still fails to guarantee women equal rights as most of the male characters don’t listen to women’s opinions and actively discriminate against them. In society, where Medea was set, there are no clear rules or distinction, however, the discriminatory attitude towards women is normalized. Medea’s suffering is expressed through her direct address to characters and the audience, while the factors of her suffering are both internal and external. Internally, Medea is going through a misunderstanding of her own identity as she is no longer accepted by her new shelter nor her homeland. Regrets, associated with the murders she committed in the past make Medea suffer. Being betrayed by Jason and left alone with her children makes Medea feel completely destroyed as she claims that it’s better to die at that point. Furthermore, Medea’s motive for revenge arises from her suffering and anger. Some audiences may see Medea’s urge for revenge justified as it’s purely driven by her grief and suffering, however it gets hard to relate to Medea’s thinking as her plans get as radical as killing her own children. Ultimately, Medea’s suffering and subsequent revenge engage readers through their extremality.

 

The Analysis for the Prologue and the Chorus of Medea

• What is the significance of the information the Nurse gives the audience?

The Nurse reveals many aspects of the relationships between Medea, Jason, and their children. From what the Nurse says, we learn that “Jason has betrayed his own sons…”, while Medea “hates her sons” and “seeing them is no pleasure to her”. Furthermore, the Nurse is an observer, hence she is able to provide the readers with objective insight into the situation. Despite Jason’s betrayal and her personal resentment to him, the Nurse pushes Medea to stop wasting time with grief about Jason, which seems very rational. Generally, the Nurse is very close to the family as she feels empathetic towards the boys and Medea.

• How does it influence our impressions of Medea’s character before we see her?

The description that can be formed based on the dialogue between the Nurse and Tutor is that Medea is traumatized by Jason’s betrayal as she is looking forward to seeking revenge from her ex-husband. Immediately, Medea is not seen as a good parent as she is expressing hatred towards her own children and the hatred is being confronted by the Nurse, who says, “Why hate them”. However, we can also see where Medea’s anger is coming from because of the monologue between her and the Chorus, where she reveals her reasons. Medea explains that the man is “Possessor of our body” and, therefore, it is a burden for a woman to keep up with the standards and expectations.

• How does The Chorus develop the detail and themes outlined in the Prologue?

The Chorus plays a significant role in revealing the motives and reasoning behind Medea’s actions. The first encounter with the Chorus clearly indicates its confusion with Medea’s actions, which is seen through the Chorus saying “If only she’d drop her anger, unburden her burning spirit, let go of this weight of madness”. However, from the dialogue between the two, we can reshape our first impression of Medea as she is no longer seen as unreasonably anger and cruel. The Chorus is playing the role of a negotiator as it fosters the dialogue with Medea and allows us to see the motive behind her actions. The phrase “I’ll do ask you ask. You’re justified, Medea, in paying your husband back” gives a concrete understanding of Medea’s struggle and preconditions behind the revenge.

• What dramatic effect is created?

The play is implementing the elements of storytelling and the rising action plays a big role in bringing in the dramatic aspect of the story. We are not given a clear exposition of the story, however, the conversation between the Nurse and the Tutor creates a sense of excitement for the unknown. Furthermore, the shocking news of Creon’s plans to banish Medea and her sons marks the noticeable part of the rising action, which keeps the viewers waiting and guessing.

• How does Medea characterize her suffering to the audience in her initial address?

Medea describes her suffering as an unbearable burden, which is clearly evident through the lines “The pain that I’ve suffered, I’ve suffered so much, worth the oceans of weeping” and “I wish I could die”. Her suffering could be described as the urge for blunt action or seeking for revenge to numb the pain.

Names play a major role in determining the identity of a person and have a sacral meaning for many cultures. “Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood dedicates a special purpose for names in her story as the names of some characters indicate their position in the hierarchy and indicate their social status.

Some of the most obvious examples of how naming affects the identity of the characters is the names of Handmaids. As those characters don’t have any responsibilities or other than carrying a child, they don’t have their own name. Names like Offred or Ofwarren deprive those women of their human identity and individuality and suggest they belonging to their respective Commanders.

In modern world, we don’t observe such blunt and obvious examples of how names’ influence one’s identity, however the power that those social constructs hold is still massive. Muhammad Ali insisted to use his later name for a professional career as he felt a strong connection between his newly established religious background and his identity. While it may be said that name doesn’t affect societal attitudes towards a person, it is clearly that perceptions of different names may vary. In Ali’s situation, his choice was rather personal than political, as he thought of the name as his base identity.

Personally, I strongly believe that names serve a special purpose in forming one’s identity. However, one’s personality is not determined by their name nor their origin. A name should not be used to create stereotypes or form certain biases towards a person or their culture since individual experiences do not represent the broader culture.

here is the cartoon <33

Trump is yet again criticized for a minor misunderstanding, but is it that big of a deal?

This headline addresses an incident that took place during the White House briefing on April 23rd. Trump mentioned injecting the disinfectant in the context of possible treatments for the COVID-19 and that bold statement puzzled the media. Dr.Birx, a physician and diplomat, who cooperates with Trump’s administration claimed that the President was just making clarification on the results of the research held by a group of scientists. Furthermore, Birx mentioned that she is surprised by how this piece of news is still inside of the “news cycle” and that the research has actually helped to prove the effects of the face masks on the rates of spread for the first time. By writing this headline, I tried to create a statement that would fit the narrative of Trump’s administration. I used the adjective “minor”, in order to diminish the scale of an issue. Additionally, I used “yet again” in the sentence to show the pressure that the POTUS is “undeservingly” receiving from the media.

 

COVID-19 is undefeatable? Well, New Zealand will prove you wrong.

This week, the Prime Minister of New Zealand announced that the country has defeated the virus. As  Jacinda Ardern said, “There is no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand. We have won that battle,”. Rapid measures that were taken by New Zealand’s government, including high-efficiency contact tracing, increased number of tests for COVID-19 and closure of workplaces, allowed the country to see the fall in numbers of infected people. The headline corresponds to more liberal thinking, suggesting that cooperative effort along with the effective and timely measures lead to good results. The rhetoric question plays an important role in the headline because it confronts the common belief that the virus is invincible.

agreed, more like inhumane and merciless

•  In what does the author offer insights and challenges into contemporary religious and cultural practices?
• To what extent does the impact of the text shape our implicit perception of a troubling world?

  

Yumna Al Arashi’s art and Kamila Shamsie’s novel “Home Fire” presents unique viewpoints on the representation of Muslim people. Both photographer and an author share a Muslim background, so it is quite interesting to listen to their perspectives.

The idea of troubling worlds is noticeable in the texts and it’s approached in a way, that fosters further thinking.

Starting off with Home Fire, it should be noted that Kamila Shamsie based the novel on Sophocles’s play Antigone. The concepts and ideas behind the main characters are almost identical. Both play and a novel gives an insight into the life of a family that loses its members. Families in both Antigone and Home Fire have to encounter severe and undeniably hard pressure from the society. By presenting the ideas behind Antigone in a new environment, Shamsie is able to show how contemporary and deep-seated the issue of discrimination is.  Along with that, Karamat Lone (a powerful state official) is unable to understand the situation or show any empathy, despite his Muslim background and that signifies the lack of connection between Muslims and the rest of society.

Yumna Al Arashi’s art has some ideas that resonate with Kamila Shamsie’s viewpoint. Al Arashi’s art presents Muslim women as confident and independent. This show the consciousness of choice that Muslim women wearing hijab have. Her vision of beauty may contradict with the Western ideas since, in her mind, the beauty doesn’t require body exposure. The model in her photo series called “Northern Yemen” shows her beauty through the poses, confidence and mystery in the look that she gives.

Concepts and ideas embedded give food for thought about the reality of Muslim people’s lives and challenge thinking.