Name
Medea Outlines 2017
Past Questions
2016
From your study of Euripides’ play Medea, what do you learn of the differing views of men and
women towards marriage at that time? Support your answer with reference to the text. (50)
2015
Parenthood is a central theme of Euripides’ play Medea. Discuss this statement supporting your
answer with reference to the play. (50)
2014
(a) Discuss the view that, in Euripides’ Medea, Jason’s wretched end is largely due to his
owncharacter defects. (40)
(b) Do you feel any sympathy for Jason at the end of the play? Give a reason for your answer. (10)
2013
2012
(iv) Above all else Medea is a brilliant manipulator of people.
Discuss this view. Support your answer with reference to Euripides’ Medea. (50)
2011
(iii) From your reading of the encounters between Jason and Medea in Euripides’ play, Medea,
analyse the
aspects of Jason’s character that contribute to his downfall. (50)
2010
2009
2008
(ii) (a) In Euripides’ play Medea, summarise Medea’s attack on Jason in their first confrontation. (30)
(b) Would you agree that Jason’s defence of his actions is fair and reasonable?
Give reasons for your answer. (20)
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
To what extent is the fact that Medea is a foreign woman from a strange and distant background central to
the play Medea?
1995
“In her cold-blooded pursuit of revenge upon Jason, Medea uses other people to achieve her goal.”
Discuss this view with reference to Euripides’ Medea.
1994
Can you give a convincing defence of Jason’s behaviour in Euripides’ Medea?
1993
Can Medea’s vengeance on Jason be justified? Give reasons for your answer, supporting them by reference
to the play.
1992
“Medea is a play in which the awful smugness of one half of society is challenged by its despairing other
half.” Discuss briefly this view.
1991
“In the character of Jason a concern for civilised values is joined with a calculating coldness and
unscrupulous want of feeling.” (Vellacott in his introduction to the play Medea).
In what way does Jason show a concern for civilised values, and how can such a concern be reconciled with
his coldness and want of feeling?
1990
“Everything that Medea thinks and does, no matter how extreme it is, is completely believable.”
Discuss this view of Medea’s conduct as depicted by Euripides.
1989
(a) Assess the dramatic significance of the entry of Aegeus, king of Athens, into the play
Medea.
(b) How do you think the Athenian audience of the time would have assessed the scene?
1988
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Would you agree that this is the central theme of the play Medea? Give reasons for your answer supporting
them with reference to the play.
1987
“Two flaws in Jason lead to disaster, namely, his total lack of insight into Medea’s character, and his total
lack of respect for her as a person.”
(a) Briefly discuss this view of Jason as he appears in the play, Medea.
(b) Write a brief note on what we learn about Euripides from his treatment of the characters of
Jason and Medea in this play.
1986
“Euripides shows a remarkable grasp of the female psychology.” Discuss this statement with reference to
the play, Medea.
1985
“Medea in spite of her terrible crimes, still has our sympathy.” Discuss this statement with reference to the
play, Medea.
Potential
1) “In Medea, though they have few speaking parts, children play a vital role in both
the action and interpretation of the play.” Discuss. (Include Glauce and Aegeus.)
2) “Through the rather dubious invocation and intervention of the gods in Medea,
Euripides is questioning the morality of his society’s understanding of faith and
fate.” Discuss.
3) “Part of Medea’s difficulty is due to her status as a foreigner and that she is
viewed, perhaps justifiably, as a barbarian in a civilized world.” Discuss.
4) “It is in the second encounter with Jason that the audience really grasps both
Medea’s intelligence and her capacity for evil.” Discuss.
5) “The third encounter between the principal characters reveals Medea at her worst
and Jason at his most pitiful.” Discuss.
6) “We may be horrified by Medea’s barbaric actions but some of the attitudes and
actions of the ‘civilized’ Greeks are at least open to criticism.” Discuss.
7) “We pity Jason at the end of Medea, but we also see where he went wrong.”
Discuss.
8) ) “Jason deserves some punishment, but it is the suffering of the other innocent
characters which assures us of Medea’s ultimate guilt.” Discuss.
9) “We are horrifed by Medea at the end of the play, but through her arguments we
have gained sympathy for women and exiles.” Discuss.
10) Medea gains her objectives but loses the audience’s sympathy, while Jason
accomplishes the reverse. Discuss.
11) “The chorus plays a central role in establishing the moral code of Medea, but their
ultimate inability to intervene in the action is also profoundly significant.”
Discuss.
Medea Privilege 2017:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
11.
12.
13.
Medea as foreigner /civilization-barbarism
negative/positive aspects of Jason /Medea
Chorus
Aegeus/Creon/kings
Medea’s crime believable/excusable
Second Encounter
role of gods
First Encounter
other characters
3rd encounter
children/family/parent
Medea as woman/marriage
1. Medea as Foreigner/ civilization/barbarism
“Part of Medea’s difficulty is due to her status as a foreigner and that she is viewed, perhaps justifiably, as
a barbarian in a civilized world.” Discuss.
Background: Medea is from Colchis, which is on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. At the time, it is
beyond what was considered the civilised Greek world.
They speak a different language: ‘ba-ba’ Greeks called foreign language speakers ‘barbarians’: Greeks are
unabashed cultural imperialists: We are superior to foreigners but they have their uses….apothecary…
Medea is ‘used’ by Jason for her typically foreign/barbarian talents: witchcraft, devious strategy….
Includes the murder of her brother and Peleus….
Known for her skills and has earned a ‘place’ but not complete acceptance..
p. 17 Nurse: “Coming as an exile, she has earned the citizens’ welcome…”
How? Her special skills- using ‘guest workers’
Aegeus expects her to help him with his infertility- foreigners had their uses but not equality in Greek
society.. “I know certain drugs whose power will put an end to your sterility”
Aegeus will accept her in Athens: famous for its open door policy? + attract different skills – attract some
dubious characters
Medea aware of her disadvantaged state as a foreigner/exile:
p. 24: “Still more a foreign woman, coming among new laws and new customs needs the skill of magic to
find what her home could not teach her…”
Doubly disadvantaged: woman and foreign…
p. 30: “So you Medea set sail from your father’s house…
and here living in a strange country.” Chorus’s sympathy.
p.34: “You are an aging man… and an Asiatic wife is no longer respectable”
Greek wives can be cheated on,, foreign wives can be abandoned…
She plays on it for sympathy…
Why did she come? “To help Jason..” J: But only because of Aphrodite J 33: That credit…solely due to
Aphrodite”..….gods/fate
**** Jason is also a foreigner to Corinth but at least he is Greek… excuse for Glauce…get ahead…
Her Crime: because she is savage? A barbarian? Vs. civilised Greeks
p. 58: Jason: “In all Hellas, there is not one woman who could have done it…I married you chose
hatred…no woman but a tiger, a Tuscan Scylla…”
p. 60: Jason in last encounter: “Zeus, do you hear… rejected by this savage beast…”
Jason’s arrogant, logical behaviour shows how the so-called civilized can do wrong (hypocrisy)….but
Medea’s savagery is definitely connected with her foreign/barbarian origins..
But…. Could Medea’s barbarism be blamed solely for the crime…could any other character done it?
Probably not….but how about Medea’s and Jason’s fear about what Creon’s relatives will do to the kids…
maybe we are all capable of such savagery and civility is but a mere veneer.
2. negative/positive aspects of Jason/Medea
3. Role of children
Gen: Immense importance to the play: the prize, the object of desire. Also, to Greek society: different than
us/ (bloodline). Medea’s, Jason’s with Glauce, Glauce, Aegeus,.
I. Play is centred around them though they never speak (only scream!)
Symbolic of their importance. Modern play: make them individuals.
Classical Greece: more symbolic, the continuation of the bloodline.
More important but less personalised/ individuals.
Also trouble: Medea’s line about ‘worse than battle’/cause
Chorus: 2 sweet gift of children…incessant worry”
“child-killer whose presence is pollution”
II. Medea’s
Real love the way she talks to them and almost changes her mind.
(children’s skin is soft and breath pure)
Obviously, tutor and nurse also love and protect them.
Nurse and Chorus are horrified when shed decides to kill them: and desert her (abomination)
So important, that they become the method of revenge: Even bodies are fought over!
III Jason
With Medea: absent but claims he is trying to provide for their future
“to give them brothers…and build security for all” (children with Glauce)
(yet accepts their banishment-blaims Medea)
Anti-woman/pro-child
“If only children could be got some other way…”
At end: see his real love/tragedy- begs for their bodies
“Let me touch their gentle flesh”
IV Creon/Glauce
Medea appeals to him as father to lift banishment
Death scene: emotional horrible death as he grasps her corpse (real love)
V Aegeus
Helps Medea to get help/’potion’ to help him have a child…enables tragedy
Worth it? Do anything to have a child, an heir, continued bloodline..
4. Role of gods/3rd meeting
“Through the rather dubious invocation and intervention of the gods in Medea, Euripides is questioning the
morality of his society’s understanding of faith and fate.” Discuss.
End of the play: traditional deus ex machine- In Greek drama, literally a crane with a bucket which
the gods often appeared in late in the play…one of the few pieces of set machinery…so it was normal
for such a ‘divine intervention’…..but usually to punish a hero gone wrong… here Medea escapes…
Jason is punished….EURIPIDES IS QUESTIONNING THE MORALITY OF THE GREEK
RELIGIOUS SYSTEM.
Start: From the start, all the characters invoke the gods….
Medea and others imply that Jason has done seriously wrong by breaking his marital oath:
Medea: “Mighty Themis! Dread Artemis! Do you see how I am used despite the great oaths…may I
see Jason and his bride ground to pieces in their shattered palace” Breaking oaths justifies violence?
Nurse: “And to Zeus, who is the named guardian of men’s oaths, it is no trifling matter…”
Chorus: “If your husband… Zeus will plead your cause”: “To punish Jason would be just…”
Aegeus also….IT IS WRONG! And he uses the oath to the gods by Medea to protect him from the
Corinthians… gods and oaths to them are used like a charm and not always morally..
Chorus and others abandon her when her plans for her children come out… but gods don’t!
Why?
1) Jason broke oaths… very bad, against Zeus in particular (Aegeus)
2) Grand-daughter of Sun-god: family ties matter also
Gods use mortals to get their way: Here, Medea reverses it: she uses her connections …to get
revenge.. HJASON IS WRONG BUT so is Medea. Certainly, children are innocent.
Euripides: If there are gods, they do not always enforce a fair moral system.
Why do bad/good things happen to good/bad people?
5. Third Encounter
6) Aegeus/Creon
7) Medea’s crime believable/justifiable- Euripides Technique
8) Second Encounter
I Build-up: First encounter, she is full of rage but the nurse, tutor, chorus and even we support her…
790: “I will kill my sons!”
Everything in Second Encounter must be read aware that she has made this decision…
Earlier understandable passion and rage but now…. Cold, calculating, devious, pre-meditated…
“I loathe your prosperous future,” After comments like this how can Jason believe that Medea has
changed her tune?
II
Plays on Jason’s naivety/arrogance and blames herself for being woman
Forgive my violent temper…870
You were right about providing for our children…885
But we are what we are… 888
Almost impossible to believe that Jason would fall….
Even: “I should have…readied your marriage bed..” But not sarcastic…. Jason is so blinded by his selfrighteousness…
Jason believes Medea, because he believes that women are changeable. “The folly was all mine.” She is
cold, lying and acting.
D.I.
She cries because she will kill her children but makes Jason believe that she is crying because of their
imminent exile.
III Uses the children as pawns…
“love him as your mother does” Dramatic Irony: We know …but Jason is oblivious…
It’s ironic because Medea hates Jason.
IV To her credit, she turns away with weeping in a premonition of guilt…but goes through with it!
Chorus: ‘evil’!
They know why Medea is crying so they too weep and beg Medea not to kill her children.
V. Jason’s response is so smug and arrogant, we think he deserves some punishment…
He forgives her and says she is acting now like a ‘sensible woman.’
I’ll provide for them, “Cheer up!” (The DI of it !)
Notices that he is crying; she explains it away….’women are women’
“only naturally a woman is angry when a husband marries a second wife,” “wiser,” “control,” Jason thinks
he’s being logical and reasonable, in fact his logical approach is what blinds him to the impending doom of
his children. Medea’s killing of the children is the illogical act.
Significance: Jason-intelligent, successful hero but shows the limits of logic and civilized thought: prone to
arrogance and naivety… Greece?
VI. her proposal of the gift
Again, Jason lets himself be conned….Again, Medea plays on the sexism of the time and of Jason. “She
will if she is like other women” 945
Deeply ironic: “To buy my sons from exile, I would give life…”
VII: After Jason leaves:
Chorus: Jason is wrong (disregarding right and loyalty) and naïve (so sure of destiny but so ignorant) but
Medea is evil (I have no more hope)
9) Chorus
The chorus usually serves as what? The moral barometer of the play: it represents a contemporary voice
about the characters and issues in the play.
Chorus is made up of women: already Euripides has disempowered his chorus by making them women in a
man’s world. Contrast with Oedipal chorus.
First: choral song (komnos) is emotional and not very informative. They like Jason and are loyal to his
house though are emotionally connected to Medea
Second: chorus appeals to Zeus and the gods to help Medea, but they also warn that a husband cheating on
her wife is common and she should check her passionate grief.
Third: Sympathetic toward Medea. “Tell her we were all on her side”
Number FOUR!!!!! : recalls medeas past
Fifth: “to punish Jason will be just” serving a narrative purpose and support for Medea but like most women
and most chorus’ it’s a purely advisory role
6th 7th: strongest statement yet. About the deceit of men, a feminist rant (ugh) against the “sexist” nature of
the time: history not herstorying! “And exile with no redress” The sympathy is for medea as an exile
8th: L578 “you are acting wrongly and thus abandoning your wife”
9th: L658 “He shall be no friend of mine”
L790 Medea “I will kill my sons”
From this point forward the chorus is no longer on medeas side!!!
You must not do this…..to kill your own children L810
Chorus raises a related issue in its next stasimon
10) First Encounter
Jason vs Medea I
Take one word or phrase from each paragraph of dialogue between Jason and Medea and explain how it
reflects the overall intent of the speaker.
Enter Jason:
‘I have often noticed… ungoverned rage’
Jason enters and begins to speak in a calm, detached manner, emphasizing that Medea’s predicament is all
her fault…
‘carefully considered’
Persisting with his logic, offers help…
‘You filthy coward!’
Medea is the opposite: full guns blazing
‘unmanliness’
interesting, she is portrayed as the typical over-emotional woman while she claims he is unmanly…
‘I willingly deceived my father…’
admits her past sins… for him!
‘Respect for oaths has gone… guilty of perjury’
important: Jason has broken his oath, protected by Zeus etc…
‘Marvellous husband…’
Sarcasm!
Chorus: the fiercest anger replaces love… (thin line)
‘Good seamanship...’
Direct contrast to Medea’s emotionality, Jason uses sailing as a metaphor for his tactics emphasizing how
he thinks so differently to Medea and perhaps how men think to women
‘Your services are well enough…’
Damn by faint praise… Jason is making light of Medea’s dreadful crimes in his aid
‘Unswayed by passion…’
He is a love-rat in 2 ways, he claims he’s not in love…
‘As brothers to your children…’
He is apparently doing it all for the whole family
‘If women didn’t exist, human life would be rid of all it’s miseries…’
Misogynist truism also emphasizes the importance of children
Chorus: Jason is logical/plausible but wrong
Medea: ‘Glib high-mindedness…’
Medea voices some authentic criticism of Jason’s arrogance
Medea: ‘Asiatic wife’
True? Yes: Jason could cheat on a Greek but not commit bigamy…
Jason: ‘security for us all’
Jason is insistent that his actions were not as selfish as they seem…
M: ‘loathe your prosperous future’
I hate you, yuppie-scum!
J: refers to her ‘rage’ and ‘ curses’
True? Her angry rant was heard by Creon…
Medea does not relent but curses his ‘house’
J: ‘letters of introduction’
How insulting!!
11) Medea’s Use of Other Characters:
Nurse: Milk cow, ice cream, sundae with a banana/ banana split,
Tutor: not used (male, unsympathetic)
Chorus: Medea keeps them on her side until it’s too late… The chorus can never act but had they been more
perceptive they could have thrown there batmarangs.
Creon: Creon’s reasonable reaction to Medea’s threats are the impetus for the plot. Medea preys upon his
naivety but specifically his common bond as a father, “show some pity, you are a father too” (line 347).
Creon’s honest love for his daughter leads to his death and she, medea, shamelessly uses her.
Glauce: Comes across as being a normal, quite vain princess. Only treats children well after they come with
a gift and after being convinced by jason. Doesn’t show any spite towards Medea so is an innocent victim.
Aegeus: Aegeus is used and uses Medea.
Children:
12) Medea as woman/ female psyche/marriage 16, 13, 07, 06, 00, 92
2000
2006
2007
Name
Medea: Significant Quotes
CS6: Mr. Latvis
C: children /family
G: gods
F: Medea as foreigner
I-III: First J/M encounter,
V: civilization/barbarism
J+-: Jason, positive and negative M+-: Medea, positive and negative
W: women
O: other characters T: Euripedes’s Techniques C: Chorus GM: golden mean
17:12
“…she has earned the citizens’ welcome.”
M+-; F
Medea has somehow ‘earned’ a welcome, probably through her skills as a sorceress/witch.
No free lunch.
17:14
“…to Jason she is all obedience- and in marriage, that’s the saving thing…”
W, Nurse giving standard sexist proverbial wisdom. Undercut later?
18:25
“Jason’s wickedness”
J- (according to nurse) Jason is wrong.
18:33
“which she betrayed and left…uprooted from their native land”
F, M- She chose to leave! But also sympathy for foreigners…
19:83
“He is guilty…What man’s not guilty?”
O, W, J, M
Nurse- Tutor: Tutor defends Jason’s position (male sticking by male): Husbands’
philandering is
no big deal…Medea is over-acting..
Double Standard
20:91
“There’s something that she means to do…”
O, T: Foreshadowing…suspense…Dramatic Irony!
20:113
“Death take you…and perish his whole house!”
M F Medea to the children, but Nurse does not take it seriously yet?
21:123
“The middle way…”
V, M, : reference to ‘aureas mediocritas’: the golden mean- The basic Greek philosophical idealnothing in excess. You should not go to high or too low (like Icarus). Medea and Jason have gone too
high…now they will
Fall.
22:154
“The thing is common…Zeus will plead your cause.”
Cs, V
More advice from Chorus: These things happen, but importantly Zeus is invoked as a protector of
oaths…hint that the gods may be at least partially on Medea’s side
23:182
“Tell her we are all on her side”
Cs, T Chorus states its loyalties. Euripedes may be deliberately compromising the chorus’s
independence and trustworthiness…..How far will they stick with her?
24:236
“Still more, a foreign woman…”
W, F, M, V Doubly discriminated against- woman and foreign!
25:255
“I have no mother, brother…”
M
True but she killed him! Admits crimes but claims she did them for Jason and love (inspired by
Aphrodite…)
25:264
“To punish Jason will be just…”
J-, Ch, M+- Chorus here gives its judgment. But how far should the punishment go?
26:289
“I will act first, then, in self-defence…”
M-, Creon Pre-emptive strike! 1) He should do so! (but does not…pity) 2) Are we really that
civilized, bound by law?
26:319
“A woman of hot temper, and a man the same…”
27:329
“I love my country too-next only to my daughter…”
Creon not a good king: privileges family over civil duty
27:347
“You are a father too…”
W/F/M-/+ Medea plays on Creon’s sympathy by emphasizing his fatherhood…devious
Stereotype: femme fatale
28:376
“Three enemies I shall strike dead…”
AT this point, Medea is targeting only Jason, Creon and Glauce.
29:408
“His father was the Sun-god…”
G
lays the stage for for later divine intervention on Medea’s behalf (amoral gods?)
30:429
“We’d counter with our epics against man…”
W: feminism: Herstory
30:440
“Honour remains no more…”
G/J: Why? Because of adultery per se but because of vow-breaking.
31:460
“carefully considered”
Jason’s first words: logical…unemotional
32:494
“You are guilty of perjury to me…”
emphasises the vow not the sexual betrayal
32:524
“good seamanship”
repeated metaphor of sailing as representative of logical, calm behaviour: civilized,
masculine…
33:538
“where force yields place to law”
v: This is civilized Greece! Medea takes advantage…
But how civilized are they? Would Creon’s family take revenge on the children as Medea says?
Perhaps we only need a push to go back to being savage…
33:542
“unless life brings me fame”
Jason’s obsession: hubris! (overbearing pride)
33:550
“was not swayed by passion”
Jason defends his ‘logical’ adultery…
34:574
“If only children could be got some other way…”
35:597
“I loathe your prosperous future…”
M+ J-: Medea does not have his goals…
35:615
“letters of introduction”
J-: What an insult!
35:618
“I call the gods to witness…”
J: Thinks the gods are on his side
37:652
“Then to be deprived of your native land…”
M/F: Playing the ‘refugee’
37:661
“He shall be no friend of mine…”
Chorus is choosing Medea’s side..for now..
p.37 “You, Medea, have suffered the most shattering of blows; yet neither the city of Corinth
nor any friend has taken pity on you….He shall be no friend of mine.”
p40: “O Zeus! O Justice, daughter of Zeus! O glorious Sun! Now I am on the road to victory;
now there’s hope!”
M-: planning/pre-meditated…
“He (Aegeus) is a haven where I shall find safe mooring…”
M- Selfish Technique: metaphor of sailing!!!!
p41: “What makes me cry with pain is the next thing I have to do. I will kill my sons No one shall take my
children from me. When I have left Jason’s whole house a shambles, I will
Corinth a murderess, flying from my darling children’s blood. Yes, I can endure guilt,
however
horrible; the laughter of my enemies I will not endure.”
M-: Real reason: wounded pride and revenge; Child: ‘house’- importance of family line
P42: “Let no one think of me as humble or weak or passive; let them understand I am of a different kind:
dangerous to my enemies, loyal to my friends.”
p42: “I tell you, you must not do this!”
Chorus
: The line has been crossed!
p42: “No other thing is possible….you have not been treated as I have.”
p42: “But – to kill your own children” Can you steel your heart?”
Chorus/Technique: Euripedes is emphasising the limitations on the chorus: only
advising…passive
p42: “This is the way to deal Jason the deepest wound.”
M: revenge (saving children from exile is secondary at best…justification)
p43: “How will Athens welcome you, the child-killer whose presence is pollution?
Civ: Is an ‘open door’ always good? Questions civilised values?
“Medea… we beseech you, do not slaughter your children!”
Chorus: can only beseech!
p44: “We women – I won’t say we are bad by nature, but we are what we are.”
p44: “May the course of evil be checked now, go no further!”
p46: “One of you maids, go quickly, bring the dress and golden coronet. – They will multiply her happiness
many times….these treasures which my father’s father the Sun bequeathed
to his descendants.”
“Go! She will find them all that such a gift should be.”
p. 47: “Go quickly; be successful, and bring good news back, that what your mother longs for has been
granted you.”
p47: “Now I have no more hope, no more hope that the children can live; they are walking to murder at this
moment. The bride will receive the golden coronet, receive her merciless destroyer; with her own hands she
will carefully fit the adornment of death round her golden hair.”
“O wretched Jason! So sure of destiny, and so ignorant!”
(to Medea)
“You, for jealousy of your marriage bed, will slaughter your children…”
p48: “Mistress! These two boys are reprieved from banishment. …Isn’t that good news?
Why do you stand there thunderstruck?....Why stand there staring at the ground with streaming
eyes?
p49: “Parted from you, my life will be all pain and anguish.”
(to children)
“Oh, what am I to do? Women, my courage is all gone. Their young bright faces - I can’t do it. I’ll
think no more of it…..I won’t do it. I won’t think of it again.”
“What is the matter with me? Are my enemies to laugh at me? Am I to let them off scot free? I must
steel myself to it….My hand shall not weaken.”
“Oh, my heart, don’t, don’t do it! Oh, miserable heart, let them be! Spare your children!
p50: “ …..No! No! No! By all the fiends of hate in hell’s depths, no! I’ll not leave sons of mine
to be victims of my enemies’ rage. In any case there’s no escape, the thing’s done now.” “Go! Go
away! I can’t look at you any longer; my pain is more than I can bear.” “I understand the horror of what I
am going to do; but anger … masters my resolve.”
(to Messenger)
p52: “Your news is excellent…..Tell me, how did they die? You’ll give me double pleasure
if their
death was horrible.”
p55: “Happiness is a thing no man possesses. Fortune may come to one man, now to another, as prosperity
increases; Happiness never,”
p55: “No cowardice, no tender memories; forget that you once loved them, that of your body they were
born. For one short day forget your children; afterwards weep: though you kill them, they were your beloved
sons. Life has been cruel to me.”
p56: “Heaven-born brightness, hold her, stop her, purge the palace of her, this pitiable
bloody-handed fiend of vengeance!” “O miserable mother, to destroy your own increase, murder the
babes of your body!
Stone and iron you are, as you resolved to be.”
p57: “I’ve come to save my sons, before Creon’s family murder them in revenge for this unspeakable crime
of their mother’s.”
p58: “Stop! Be quiet. If you have any business with me, say what you wish. Touch us you cannot, in this
chariot which the Sun has sent to save us from the hands of enemies.”
p58: “You abomination!”
“No woman, but a tiger…”
p59: “You were mistaken if you thought you dishonour my bed and live a pleasant life and laugh at me.”
“Hurl at me what names you please! I’ve reached your heart; and that is right.”
“My pain’s a fair price to take away your smile.”
“O sons, your father’s treachery cost you your lives.”
p.60: “I will bury them with my own hand, to ensure that none of my enemies shall violate or insult their
graves. And I will ordain an annual feast and sacrifice to be solemnised for ever by the people of Corinth, to
expiate this impious murder.”
“You, as you deserve , shall die an unheroic death, your head shattered from a timber from the Argo’s
hull.”
p61: “Many are the fates which Zeus in Olympus dispenses; many matters the gods bring to
surprising ends.”