What I learned from Madea
What I Learned from Madea
I have learnt so much from ‘Medea’ by Euripides in the last week that I’ve read and thoroughly analyzed it. Although Euripides did not sketch Medea to be a feminist character, through my modern eyes, which include the knowledge of what feminism really is all about, I have found Medea to be a great inspiration.
If you’ve read any Greek drama or know the slightest about Greek theater, you would understand where I am coming from when I say, ‘shocked’. As I read more and more about Greek theater and dramas, I find myself falling deeper and deeper in love with the style, content and characterization that Greek playwrights such as Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides used in their dramas. Euripides, in particular, was known to portray the ethos (man) without a prosopon (mask), human as he is, without a veil of false nobility.
Yes, I was shocked by the consequences of Medea’s rage and madness, I was shocked by her cold detachment and hatred towards her own blood, her own children but somewhere, deep down, it struck me – this is one woman who is not afraid; this is one woman who will not stand being wronged by a man, or anyone for that matter; this is one woman who will not stay quiet.
Being a barbarian, the otherness of Medea comes not only from her having been left by her one and only love, whom she sacrificed everything for, but also from being a woman in a patriarchal society. This is further deepened by her being in exile which truly spells the perfect recipe for disaster. She truly is a woman alienated from her marriage, children, home and kindness in general.
The way in which Medea talks of woman suffering at the hands of their marriages, or how woman are left behind in a society of men, is what is truly inspiring. The drama, written in 5 BCE, is still relevant in many parts of the world today, which I find absolutely fascinating given that we seem to think we have come a long way from then when the truth is that the only thing that has probably evolved is technology, but not humanity.
I would recommend you read ‘Medea’, it will shock you, haunt you but then inspire you and invoke you to think of if we really have come a long way or is it still the very same.
Radhika Sharma is a junior at high school in New Delhi, India. She plans on doing a double major in Communications & Marketing at college. Radhika writes a blog, The Confetti Girl alongside working on her own magazine being launched this year, The Ink Insight; and writing for magazines such as Miss Heard, On the Line Report, I AM THAT GIRL and Girl Zone. She is also a member of the Her Campus High School Ambassadors Program and the Editor In-Chief for the school magazine, Aaina. In her spare time, Radhika enjoys dancing, reading books, watching movies and baking. She has also previously been a district level swimmer. She hopes to become a fashion journalist, exploring and supporting women, artistic self-expression and obviously, fashion alongside opening up that bakery in sunny Santorini, Greece – her dream destination.