THE TRIAL of MEDEA

The Defendant: Medea will be the defendant in the Medea trial. She will face the following charges: • •

Sending the “finely woven dress and golden diadem” to Glauce, Creon’s daughter, is not a just act. Murdering her children is not a just act.

Questions for those reading Medea: • • • • • • • • • • •

What is Medea’s state of mind at the beginning of the play? How does Medea’s status as both a woman and a foreigner in Corinth Whom does she take into her confidence? Why? What is her original plan to get revenge? How and when does that plan change? What does Jason desire more than anything? When Medea is talking to Creon, what rhetorical device does she use (logos, ethos, pathos) to prevent or postpone her banishment? In the end, why does Creon allow her to stay one more day? What would have happened to Medea’s children had Medea not taken their lives? What do the conversations between Jason and Medea reveal about each character’s motives, values, and justifications? What does it mean to make a vow in Greek society? How seriously do Greeks take vows and oaths? What were the roles and expectations of men and women, husbands and wives, in Greek society? What was marriage like during this time? What is Medea’s linage? What is Jason’s? How important is family (ancestors and progeny) to the Greeks?