Literary Devices in The Medea

Here, the chorus seems to turn on Medea. Throughout the play, the chorus has reinforced and supported Medea’s desire to seek revenge on Jason after he betrays her. However, when this vengeance crosses the line into killing her children, the chorus condemns Medea’s aims. Since the chorus is the moral center of the play, their reaction to her plans suggests that the audience should also condemn Medea’s bloodlust.

In Greek mythology, Medea is a descendant of Helios, the god of the sun. Helios sends his chariot pulled by dragons to save Medea from Jason’s wrath. A god suddenly and unexpectedly intervening in the action of a play is a literary trope called deus ex machina, or the god in the machine. It generally occurs when it seems that the protagonist has no hope of escape. When Greek tragedies were performed, an actor playing a god would be physically lowered onto the stage by a machine—typically a crane— hence the name of the trope.

Notice that the audience only hears about the deaths of Glauce and her father, it is not portrayed on the stage. This is a literary trope called diegesis, a storytelling tool in which a story is recounted or told through a character rather than shown or enacted. This technique forces the audience to imagine the event in all its terrible detail. The images the audience can create in their heads is far worse than anything the actors could create on stage which involves the audience in the story.

This speech is an example of dramatic irony. The audience has already heard Medea swear that she will have her revenge against Glauce and Jason. The audience knows that these gifts are poisoned even though Jason sees Medea’s actions and words as genuine peace offerings.

By this Medea means that she is full of anger and hatred. She goes on to claim that she will relinquish this hatred and “forgive.” This is an instance of dramatic irony. While outwardly this sounds like a claim that Medea will change, the audience knows that this is in fact a reference to her murderous plot to kill Glauce, Creon, and her children.

Jason’s actions defy the Greek concept of oikos, or the family unit. He has abandoned his family and therefore dared to do “a thing so shameful.” Aegeus’s tone of disbelief suggests that Jason’s actions are outlandish. Notice how the narrative of the play condemns Jason and his actions as it builds towards Medea’s own shocking sin.

By this, Medea refers to the ancient Greek custom of dowry. Marriages were generally arranged by a couple’s families. A dowry was the money that the woman’s family would pay to the man’s family to secure the marriage. She remarks on the powerlessness of women to reject a man once her family has arranged marriage. The interesting thing about this speech is that Medea has not suffered any of the conditions that she complains about here. She appeals to her audience of Corinthian women by talking about their issues rather than pleading her own case.

In Greek tragedies, the chorus was a group of actors who performed their lines together, singing or speaking in unison. The chorus modeled the “perfect spectator” for the play. They interpreted conflicts, characters, and events for the audience to demonstrate how the audience was meant to interpret the themes of the play. They often offered crucial insight into the character’s psyche and served as the moral center, condemning or praising the character’s actions throughout the play.