“ You are wise.
Anyone Running
b etween me and
m y ju stice will
reapW hat no
ma n wants.”
Dow n Ce n t e r S tage at t h e K a li ta Humphrey s Theater 2/1 9- 3/29/1 5
B y R o bin s o n J e ffers • Freely adap t ed f rom Eu ripides • D i r e c t e d b y Kevin Mo riarty
the StudyGuide
2014
2015
Season
Medea
(Sally Nystuen Vahle)
Protagonist of the play,
Medea’s homeland is
Colchis, an island in
the Black Sea, which
the Greeks considered
the edge of the earth--a
territory of barbarians.
A sorceress and a
princess, she used her
powers and influence
to help Jason secure
the Golden Fleece; then,
having fallen in love with
him, she fled her country
and family to live with
Jason in Iolcus,
his own home
Justice
Jason
(Chris Hury)
A former adventurer,
he abandons his wife,
Medea, in order to marry
Glauce, the beautiful
young daughter of
Creon, King of Corinth
Creon
(Kieran Connolly)
King of Corinth,
banishes Medea from
the city.
Chorus
(Christie Vela)
Composed of the
women of Corinth, the
Chorus chiefly serves
as a commentator to
the action, although it
occasionally engages
directly in the dialogue.
In DTC’s production, The
Chorus is played by
one woman.
Ageus
(Chamblee Ferguson)
The King of Athens,
Aegeus passes through
Corinth after having
visited the Oracle
at Delphi
Children
(Reed Emmons, Skyler Thomas)
The offspring of Jason and Medea.
Duty
and
In Ancient Greece, dramatic spectacles were more than entertainment.
They were acts of religion, involving the population as an ongoing public duty. The play Medea highlights and
articulates difficult experiences of human beings trying to understand fundamental questions of justice and duty in
situations of conflict, where the gods could be appealed to, but rarely gave direct guidance.
Justice The purpose of justice in the play is to restore the natural balance disrupted by Jason’s violation of
Natural Law, his “unmanliness,” in betraying his marriage vows to Medea. Creon, too, is guilty of injustice. His
decision to exile Medea is doubly, perhaps even trebly, unjust. First, it is unjust for him to disrupt Natural Law by
ignoring, when giving his daughter to Jason in marriage, the simple fact that Jason is already married. Second, he
punishes Medea for his own violation of the natural order. Then based on hearsay and fear, he rhetorically justifies
his unjust action by suggesting that Medea might harm his daughter: the crime he fears has not been committed.
His ultimately being right (correct) does not make the original decision just (fair).
Duty The fundamental conflict between Medea and Jason is that she believes she has been faithfully devoted
to him while he has not fulfilled his duties as a husband or as a man. Nearly all the characters have a duty—to
master, spouse, country, law, nature, or the gods—and their various failures to uphold their duties spiral into tragedy.
These obligations are sometimes conflicting. Medea, after all, shirks the responsibilities of motherhood and the
requirements of Natural Law in order to exact divine vengeance and fulfill her duty to the gods.
A tragic hero is defined by being a literary character who makes an error of judgement or has a fatal flaw that combined with fate brings
on tragedy. How does or doesn’t Medea fall under the category of being a “tragic hero”?
Relentless pursuit of revenge is a huge part of Medea and her arch of this play. It is fair to say that she is driven by her desire to right all the
wrongs done to her. In the context of this play, is there a difference between revenge and justice?
Dallas Theater Center would like to recognize the generosity of our major corporate partners.
The Moody Foundation Neiman Marcus Pier 1® Target Southwest Securities, Inc.
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