A Psychoanalytical Look into "Medea"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the character of Medea, from Euripides' "Medea," from a psychoanalytical perspective. It discusses the psychosis experienced by Medea in the context of the play and suggests that it can be attributed to several different theories about the making of both the community and the human mind. The paper focuses on the betrayal of Medea and its repercussions.

From the Paper:

"Essentially, this play also represents the unspoken desires of betrayed women. This work is in itself a myth, and according to Riitta Sirola - "Similar to a dream, a myth is viewed as an enigma; it may contain hidden wishes; its magic circle may turn events into their opposites and it can change its object by wrapping it in disguise," (Sirola 94). Although not to the scale described in Medea, many Greek women who would have seen this play had at one point in their lies been betrayed by a lover or spouse. This became a release for their inner aggression towards whoever had spurned their love. So they were allowed a healthy release of their aggression, rather than falling apart like Medea and turning to a murderous rampage. Medea then also becomes "a description, which was sung collectively, of the achievements and difficulties of the development of a pre-oedipal girl.""

Sample of Sources Used:

• Euripides. Medea. Dover Publications. New York. 1993.
• Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. Norton & Company. New York. 1989.
• Sirola, Riitta. "The Myth of Medea from the Point of View of Psychoanalysis." Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review. 2004. 27: 94-104.

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