Euripides’ Medea and the Male Gaze of Antiquity

Abstract

Euripides’ Medea strikes modern readers with the vicious act of killing her own children, however, such portrayal poses a question on the role of authors/artists in deepening the stigma about women of the past through the creative process that justifies a distorted representation of strong women. This paper aims to explore the representation of Euripides’ Medea and how he created an uncanny effect to achieve a dramatic end that both challenges the patriarchal society and the unconscious collective image of strong women. Artistic representations of Medea echo the interpretation of Medea being a symbol of liberty; Eugène Delacroix’s bare-chested Medea resembles his Liberty of the French Revolution, which is one of his most celebrated works. The bare-chested Medea appears again in a painting by Henri Klagmann during the killing scene which happened off stage in Euripides play. The representation of the bare-chested Medea ignites a question of the link between males’ representation of women and the lack of decorum to signify a rebellious act. By tackling this link, I aim to map out the prevailed traits that attracted certain male artists to strengthen the image of Medea as a ruthless killer as inspired by Euripides’ play.