Violence and Women: Exploring the Medea Myth

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The archetypal story of Medea is a cautionary tale for our era. Jason and Medea’s marriage, favored by the gods, represents an attempt at a union of opposites very far from each other. They represent the masculine and feminine principles, covering a wide range of psychological, sociological, and historical aspects. This synthesis fails. In the myth, as Euripides presents it, the failure is caused by Jason’s regression and submission to the exclusivity of the patriarchal principle – the Old King. Medea, who not only represents the feminine but also the forces of Nature and Transformation, is profoundly incompatible with this regression. She reacts! She destroys and creates havoc. This is what the unconscious does when it is not heard or denied. In the end Medea is saved by the gods, the divine principles or psychic laws that regulate the laws of Nature and Transformation in the psyche. They support her to the bitter end.

Table of Contents

Preface

PART ONE

Introduction

The Medea Rage

The Myth of Medea

Euripides: Medea

PART TWO

Historical and Cultural Background

Euripides’ Place in Greek Theatre in Fifth Century BC

The Truth of Medea for the Greeks

The Universality of Medea’s Truth

PART THREE

Edith

Jason

Medea & Jason

The Poet and the Women

Concluding Remarks

Epilogue

Bibliography