StudyDaddy Literature This is a secondary source analysis, so the secondary materials provided must be utilized. I would recommend using each of the essays once in your writing. QUESTION: Write an essay arguing that Mede

This is a secondary source analysis, so the secondary materials provided must be utilized. I would recommend using each of the essays once in your writing. QUESTION: Write an essay arguing that Mede

Revenge and Mythopoiesis in Euripides' "Medea" Author(syf 0 D U L D Q Q H + R S P D n Source: Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-2014yf , Vol. 138, No. 1 (Spring, 2008yf S S 3 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40212078 Accessed: 22-04-2020 01:17 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974-2014yf This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Transactions of the American Philological Association 138 (2008yf 3 Revenge and Mythopoiesis in Euripides' Medea* MARIANNE HOPMAN Northwestern University summary: In the first stasimon of Medea, the chorus of Corinthian women exalts Medea's revenge as a palinode that will put an end to the misogynist tra- dition and bring them honor. This article analyzes Euripides' tragedy as a meta- poetic reflection on Medea's voice, its relation to the earlier poetic tradition, its power and limitations, and its generic definition. While Medea's revenge meta- phorically and symbolically unfolds as a revision of the Argo saga and thus un- dermines one of the most famous androcentric epics of the Greek song culture, I argue that mythical constraints ultimately prevent Medea from generating a new, gynocentric epic. Rather, the intertextuality of the final scenes increasingly departs from the Iliadic model and firmly anchors Medea's revenge in the tragic genre. Metapoetically, Medea's palinode thus defines tragedy, by contrast to epic, as a genre that is congenial to female voices but does not bring them kleos. epyb e 7 [ L W L X R F \ X Y D L . H L F R L \ H Y H L + R Q R U L V F R P L Q J W R W K H I H P D O H U D F H ! THE CHORUS OF CORINTHIAN WOMEN ENTHUSIASTICALLY SINGS THESE WORDS (E. Med. 417-18yf D V W K H \ K H D U 0 H G H D G H V F U L E H K R Z V K H Z L O O D Y H Q J H K H U K R Q R r by killing Jason, his new bride, and the bride's father Creon (374-85yf ) R U R Q e fleeting moment, Jason's unsettling breech of his oaths is envisaged as hav- ing one positive consequence. It will allow for a twist in the spoken tradition (axpe\|/o\yf D L F S D M Q D L \f that will bestow praise on women and put an end to the old misogynist discourse castigating the "female race" (yuvaiKeicoi yevei, 417-18yf . * I wish to thank Daniel Garrison, Jonas Grethlein, and the two anonymous TAPA readers for their helpful suggestions on earlier drafts. This article is dedicated to the memory of my grandmothers, Johanna Jansen and Marguerite Lassier. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 156 Marianne Hopman From an enunciative standpoint, the chorus's utterance engages Medea's plans (|k>iyf $ e L \f|naTa, 372yf D W D G R X E O \ U H I H U H Q W L D O O H Y H O L Q W U D D Q G H [ W U D G L - egetic. On the one hand, the plans are evaluated with reference to the fiction of the tragedy. The opening considerations about the reversal of natural order, the transgression of justice, and the treachery of males (410-13yf U H I H U G L U H F W O y to Jason's broken oaths; the hope that "honor" (xijxd, 417yf Z L O O F R P H W R W K e "female race" harks back to Medea's attachment to her reputation and to her emphatically repeated concern that she has been dishonored (f|ti|xaa|xevr|, 20; cf. 33, 438, 696, 1354yf E \ - D V R Q V Q H Z P D U U L D J H < H W W K H G L F W L R Q R I W K H V W D - simon also indicates that the revenge is evaluated in meta-poetic terms. The word cpr||LiT| (cpajxai, 415-16; v, 421-22yf Z K R W K H F K R U X V K R S H V Z L O O V W R S E O D P - ing women for their untrustworthiness. The revenge of Medea, then, is not only evaluated as an adequate retaliation to the offense but is also envisaged as a palinode that will subvert the earlier poetic tradition.1 The chorus's appreciation of the revenge as a palinode on a par with the songs of old is doubly justified by Medea's special authorial status and constant engagement with the poetic tradition. From her entrance at line 214 to her spectacular departure on the chariot of Helios in the exodos, Medea continu- ously occupies the stage, except for a brief exit at lines 1251-316 to kill the children. Her overwhelming physical presence matches her control over the tragic plot. The revised plans (xdjiid ... Po\yf $ H L ! _ L D 7 D \f that she describes to the chorus at 772-810 provide the spectators with an exact outline of the events that they are about to witness on stage. Medea is more than a mere character in the play; she also acts as its implied author.2 Consequently, her revenge can be analyzed as a poetic performance embedded in the tragedy - a mise en abyme of the poetic process. Moreover, the tragedy - or Medea's revenge - displays a high level of engagement with earlier traditions, including epic, lyric, iambic, and tragic poetry. The background of the plot overlaps with the story of Jason and the 1 My analysis of Medea's revenge as a palinode systematizes the idea raised by Rush Rehm 1989: 101 and Deborah Boedeker 1991: 109-10, that Medea behaves as the author of her own myth and enacts a new A,6yo<; about Jason and herself. 2 1 borrow the concept of the implied author from literary criticism, especially Booth 1983, to refer to the persona constructed in the fiction, as opposed to the historical author of the work. For the idea of the collusion of a character and its author, see Felson-Rubin 1987: 63-65 on Penelope. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Revenge and Mythopoiesis in Euripides' Medea 157 Argonauts that was celebrated in an important body of now lost epic poetry3 and is the subject matter of Pindar's fourth Pythian Ode. Medea's attachment to her honor and reputation engages the model of Homeric and Sophoclean heroes, as Bernard Knox (1977: 196-206yf D Q G ( O L ] D E H W K % R Q J L H \f have brilliantly demonstrated.4 Laura McClure (1999: 379-93yf K D V V K R Z Q W K D t Medea's speeches appropriate and twist the language of praise and blame about women epitomized in the epics of Hesiod and the iambic poetry of Archilochus and Hipponax. References to lyric diction also cast Medea as an athlete emulating the victors celebrated by Pindar.5 Finally, the modalities of her revenge, including the princess's entanglement in a poisoned robe and the murder of blood relatives, echo the tragic plot of Aeschylus's Oresteia and possibly - depending on the relative chronology of the plays - Sophocles' Trachiniae.6 Clearly, Medea's revenge engages the "Muses of the singers of old" mentioned by the chorus. As such, it can be analyzed as an ancient pre- cursor of the modern concept of mythopoiesis, which describes the revision of prevailing myths or discourses by minoritarian (often femaleyf V S H D N H U V 7 The question arises, then, whether Medea fulfills the chorus's hopes by suc- cessfully twisting the earlier poetic tradition and generating a new story that will bring glory to women. 3 The idea that stories about the Argo saga formed a body of epic poetry on a par with the Trojan cycle was first raised by Meuli 1921 and more recently developed by Drager 1993 and West 2005. 4 Bongie's study is a striking example of the results and limitations of a methodology based on the search for parallels and sources. Her analysis of Medea as "a heroic play of Sophoclean type*' stresses several illuminating resemblances with Ajax and Antigone, but fails to note the differences among the plays. My own approach is based on the structural premise that meaning emerges by contrast and thus, once a paradigm has been established, departures need to be analyzed as carefully as similarities. 5 The adjective koAAIvikoi (765yf J O R U L R X V O \ W U L X P S K D Q W W K D W 0 H G H D D S S O L H V W R K H U V H O f after her encounter with Aegeus often occurs in Pindar to refer to athletic victors (/. 1. 12; I. 5(4yf 3 \f. The evaluation of the length of the princess's agony with reference to a race (1 181-84yf I X U W K H U F K D U D F W H U L ] H V 0 H G H D V U H Y H Q J H D V D Q D W K O H W L F W U L X P S K . 6 The distinctively tragic character of those deaths, as well as Medea's quasi-authorial status, has been recognized by Nancy Rabinowitz, who describes Medea as "the drama- turge behind the messenger speech" and "the playwright orchestrating the deaths from a distance," Rabinowitz 1992: 49; Rabinowitz 1993: 145. About the date of Sophocles' Trachiniae, see Easterling 1982: 19-23, who emphasizes the lack of external and internal evidence and concludes that "any date between 457 and, say, 430 would not be implau- sible." 7 About the tension between patriarchal mythos and feminist mythopoiesis, see Retif and Niethammer 2005. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 158 Marianne Hopman This paper addresses that question by comparing Medea's revenge to the poetic paradigms that it addresses and revises. The first two parts emphasize Medea's mythopoietic and dramaturgic abilities. Drawing on studies of tragic space, I first show that the language and movements of the actors diffract the Corinthian setting of the tragedy and create a new, imaginary space that focuses on the Argo journey and the passage through the Symplegades (Iyf . Beyond the Corinthian setting, that imaginary space provides a context for Medea to enact a symbolic revision of the Argo story that nullifies the old saga, annihilates her marriage, and deprives Jason of his heroic glory (IIyf . Yet the increasing gap between Medea's revenge and the plot of the Iliad, as well as her progressive alienation from the internal audience, suggests that her palinode will not bring her the glory (kXeocyf D V V R F L D W H G Z L W K F R P P X Q D l performances of epic (IIIyf 7 K H O D V W V F H Q H V R I W K H W U D J H G \ I L U P O \ D Q F K R U W K e revenge in the tragic genre, a genre that Medea fully controls but which will not bring honor to her or her fellow women (IVyf . SCENIC AND METAPHORICAL SPACES Plainly put, Medea stages the revenge of a woman whose husband has aban- doned her for a new bride. The theme of marriage thus stands at the core of the tragedy, and much of the tension between Medea and Jason derives from the incompatibility of their views on their relationship. As the prologue unfolds, the nurse makes it clear that, as far as Medea is concerned, Jason's recent engagement to the Corinthian princess amounts to a nullification of their ties. The philiay the reciprocal friendship that used to bind them, has been replaced by enmity ( 16yf D Y L H Z O D W H U U H L W H U D W H G E \ W K H W X W R U D Q R W K H U P H P E H r of Medea's household (76-77yf 7 K H G L V F U H S D Q F \ E H W Z H H Q W K D W D Q G - D V R Q s viewpoint is forcefully conveyed in the agon. While Jason insists that his new marriage does not impinge on his obligations to Medea and their children and still speaks of them as his philoi (559-65, 609-15yf 0 H G H D F R Q V L G H U V K L m an enemy (exOiaxoq, 467yf Z K R L V G R L Q J H Y L O W R K L V I U L H Q G V F S L W D Q [ N R F N R N ; 8paaavx', 470yf ) U R P K H U S H U V S H F W L Y H W K H F K D U L V W K D W V K H H [ S H F W H G L Q U H W X U n for her help in Colchis has been annihilated (506-19yf - D V R Q V H Q J D J H P H Q t to the Corinthian princess breaks away from their common past. Given the prominence of the marriage theme, the drama fittingly takes place in front of Medea's and Jason's house in Corinth - a suitable image of the household (oiKoqyf W K D W L V E H L Q J G L V U X S W H G D Q G G H V W U R \ H G < H W W K D W V F H Q L c space is not the only space that the spectators are invited to visualize. While most Greek tragedies open on deictic pointers to their setting, the first lines 8 About the themes of x«pi<; and reciprocity in the agon, see Mueller 2001: 473-86. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Revenge and Mythopoiesis in Euripides' Medea 159 of Medea transport the spectators far from Corinth to the Symplegades that Jason, the Argonauts, and later Medea traversed on their way to and from Colchis (1-6yf 7 K H L P S R U W D Q F H R I W K D W G L V W D Q W O R F D W L R Q L V F R Q I L U P H G E \ L W s thrice reiterated description in the parodos (208-13yf W K H I L U V W V W D V L P R n (432-38byf D Q G W K H I L I W K V W D V L P R Q \f. Those recurring, almost obsessive references to the Argo journey are of course relevant to the plot since the expedition coincides with the beginning of Jason and Medea's relationship. Yet, from a performative standpoint, they do not merely belong to that past. The coincidence between the description of the Symplegades and the movement of the actors suggests that the passage is actually enacted on stage and therefore belongs to the performative pres- ent. Two of those evocations are sung precisely when Medea goes through the doors of the skene either to enter (204-13yf R U H [ L W \f the stage. As David Wiles (1997: 121yf S R L Q W V R X W W K H S D V V D J H W K U R X J K W K H V N H Q H L Q W R W K e orchestra is thus equated spatially with the passage through the Bosphorus. The crossing of the Symplegades does not only belong to the tragic past; it is also enacted in its present. As such, it exemplifies the capacity of theater to conjure a variety of spaces and times in the present of the performance. The ability of language to bring imaginary settings before the reader or listener's eyes has been termed space deixis am phantasma by Karl Biihler (1934yf , Q $ W K H Q L D Q G U D P D D I D P R X V H [ D P S O H L V W K H S D U R G R V R I $ H V F K \ O X V s Agamemnon which, as George Kernodle (1957/58yf K D V V K R Z Q U H H Q D F W V W K e sacrifice of Iphigenia and juxtaposes a new space in Aulis to the scenic space of Argos. Drawing on analyses of space in Oedipus at Colonus and other trag- edies, Lowell Edmunds (1992; 1996: 39-83; 2002: 114-15yf K D V G H Y H O R S H G a classification of theatrical space that displays its many levels and layers, includ- ing physical and dramatic, deictic and diegetic, ad oculos and am phantasma. Further justification for the idea that ancient tragedy enacts a variety of spaces and times has been offered by Wiles ( 1997: 18yf Z K R V K R Z H G W K D W W K H G L V W L Q F - tion between theatrical, scenic, and dramatic space that applies to modern theater breaks down in the case of ancient theater. In the latter, the scarcity of props - the signifiers that identify the scenic space - allows for that space to be shaped by the language and movement of the actors and the chorus.9 Subsequently, Wiles ( 1 997: 121yf L Q W U R G X F H V W K H Q R W L R Q R I P H W D V S D F H W R U H I H r to the alternative space that, in contrast to the referential space set in front of a house, cave, or temple, is constructed through the language and movements of actors. In the case of Medea, Wiles suggests that the Symplegades function 9 The distinction between theatrical, scenic, and dramatic space comes from Ubersfeld 1977 and Issacharoff 1981. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 1 60 Marianne Hopman as an alternative space that constantly interacts with the scenic space of the Corinthian setting.10 Just as the crossroad where Oedipus and Laius met in the past of the plot lies at the core of the dramatic development of the Oedipus TyrannuSy the crossing of the Symplegades provides Medea with a spatial focus constantly re-invoked and revisited by the participants in the drama. Thematic reasons for the spatial and performative prominence of the Symplegades are many and involve various referential levels. First, the pas- sage through the rocks metonymically stands for the journey of the Argo and, by extension, for the marriage initiated by that journey. In the prologue, the nurse's contrary-to-fact wish that the Argo had never crossed the Symple- gades (1-6yf L V I R O O R Z H G E \ W K H Q R O H V V F R X Q W H U I D F W X D O V W D W H P H Q W W K D W 0 H G H a would then not have sailed to Iolcus and Corinth (6-13yf 7 K H 6 \ P S O H J D G H s epitomize the journey of the Argo that itself symbolizes Medea's marriage. The latter equivalence literally expresses the metaphor of marriage as a sea journey that appears elsewhere in Greek tragedy11 and which Medea invokes in her first speech to promote a sense of community between the Corinthian women and herself.12 Through that series of equivalences, the Symplegades come to stand metonymically for Medea's marriage. The transgression of cosmic order to which their passage amounted (3-4yf R P L Q R X V O \ I R U H V K D G R Z s the destruction of the relation between Medea and Jason. The choral odes further elaborate on the symbolic relation between the Symplegades and the marriage by metaphorically connecting the rocks to key moments of it including the wedding procession, the wedding night, and the birth of children. In the first stasimon, the chorus describes the sea journey in terms of leaving the father's house (oikcov Tiaxplcov, 432yf I R U D I R U H L J Q O D Q d (£evai...x0ovi, 435-36yf , Q W K D W F R Q W H [ W W K H 6 \ P S O H J D G H V D U H H Q Y L V L R Q H G D s the double doors (5i5\yf ` L R L \fc;... rcexpaq, 433-35yf W K D W G H O L Q H D W H W K H W K U H V K R O d crossed (opiaocaoc, 433-34yf E \ W K H E U L G H W R J R W R W K H K R X V H R I W K H J U R R P D n analogy visually enforced by Medea's simultaneous entrance through the doors of the house that she used to share with Jason.13 More distinctively 10 Burnett 1973: 16 already intuited the performative and visual importance of the myth of the Argonauts, which she describes as "[hanging] like a great painted scene behind this play." 11 Seaford 2005: 1 15n5 lists among other examples Eur. Hipp. 732 ff., A. Niobe fr. 154a Radt, and S. OT 420-23. 12 Cf. Med. 238-40, where Medea describes the troubles of the bride - any bride - forced to discover new "customs and ways" (fiGr| ml voumx;, 238yf % \ G R L Q J V R 0 H G H D P D Q D J H s to cast her foreign status as a paradigm for the female condition and hence to secure the unconditional support of the Corinthian women. 13 On the juxtaposition of the words and movements of the actors at that moment, see above. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Revenge and Mythopoiesis in Euripides' Medea 1 61 sexual connotations are conjured up in the parodos, when the passage through the straits is described as a night event (vt>xwv, 211-12yf D Q G W K H % R V S K R U X s referred to as the "key" (KA,f|i8', 213yf R I W K H % O D F N 6 H D 7 K H S D V V D J H F O R V H O y follows a reference to Jason as the "evil bridegroom betrayer of [Medea's] bed" (xov ev Aiyb H L L S R [ D Y N R F N Y ? \f|li(pov, 206yf D Q G N H \ L P D J H U \ L V X V H d elsewhere in Euripides and Aristophanes to refer to defloration; it is thus tempting to follow Rush Rehm in his reading of the lines as a metaphor for the wedding night.14 Finally, in the fifth stasimon, the chorus juxtaposes an evocation of Medea's vain labor pains (1261-64yf W R W K H O D V W P H Q W L R Q R I K H r passage through the Symplegades. Here, as Rehm suggests, the straits seem to be linked to Medea's body and to offer a metaphor for childbirth.15 The association between the Argo journey and the marriage of Jason and Medea goes far beyond chronological coincidence. Not only is the marriage met- onymically equated to the sea journey, but its most important components are metaphorically tied to the passage through the Symplegades. Medea's mar- riage to Jason chronologically, metonymically, and metaphorically coincides with the journey of the Argo. A SYMBOLIC REVISION OF THE JOURNEY OF THE ARGO The symbolic equation of the marriage and the passage through the Sym- plegades bears important implications for the logic of Medea's revenge. I mentioned earlier that, in Medea's view, Jason's new marriage amounts to a destruction of their bond. Her revenge, especially the infanticide, precisely enacts that view. As Christopher Gill (1996: 168-69yf K D V H P S K D V L ] H G E \ N L O O - ing the children, Medea destroys the tangible proof of her relationship with Jason; by causing their death, she acts out in the most literal and irreversible manner the vanity of his oaths (496-98yf D Q G X O W L P D W H O \ R I W K H L U V K D U H G S D V W . Yet the revenge involves a second spatial and referential level. Since the mar- riage chronologically, metonymically, and metaphorically coincides with the journey of the Argo, the revenge unfolds as a new journey, a revised version 14 Rehm 2002: 254, who quotes Eur. Hipp. 538-40 and Ar. Thesm. 976. In the former passage, Eros is referred to as "the holder of the keys (kA,t|i5o\yf [ R Y \f to the beloved chambers (GaX,d(icovyf R I $ S K U R G L W H 7 K H D O O X V L R Q W R G H I O R U D W L R Q L V U H L Q I R U F H G E \ W K H I D F t that, as Barrett 1966 points out ad loc, the word 8dA,auoi hints at the use of the term to refer to a bridal chamber. Ar. Thesm. 976 praises Hera "who holds the keys of marriage" (KA,iU5a<; Y|i(pT| xt>pavvo<; oAXoxai, 1066yf D E U X S W O \ S X W V D Q H Q G W R K H r hesitations. Like the princess's death, the infanticide symbolically acts out Medea's interpretation of Jason's remarriage. Earlier in the agon, she had emphasized that Jason's broken oaths make her help in Colchis a vain gesture (uaxr|v, 497yf 7 K D W Y D Q L W \ L V P L U U R U H G E \ W K H F K R U X V V G H V F U L S W L R Q R I 0 H G H D s vain childbirth pains (udxav, 1261, 1262yf D V V K H N L O O V K H U V R Q V R I I V W D J H 7 K e filicide symbolically revises the Argo saga by destroying the most obvious proof of Medea's and Jason's shared past. (6yf 7 K H I L Q D O H Q F R X Q W H U E H W Z H H Q 0 H G H D D Q G - D V R Q E R W K D F N Q R Z O H G J H s and explores the implications of that symbolic revision. After announcing to Jason that she will bury the children, institute a cult in their honor, and go to Athens, Medea prophesies that he will encounter a death worthy of his deeds and have his head struck by a remnant of the Argo ('Apyoiiq mpa aov tai\|fdv(0irc£7iA,TiY|ievo<;, 1387yf : K L O H L W L V X Q F O H D U Z K H W K H U W K H V W R U \ Z D s traditional or invented by Euripides (Mastronarde 2002: 55yf L W V K D U S O \ H F K R H s the opening lines of the play.20 The participle 7ie7iA,r|YU£VO<; comes from the 19 The similarities between Medea and the princess have been noted by Boedeker 1997: 143, who interprets them as a demonstration of Medea's power to assimilate the features of other characters in her story. My interpretation of the princess as a substitute for Medea coincides with Pasolini's reinterpretation of Euripides' tragedy in his 1969 film, where Medea gives the princess the attire that she wore when she met Jason in Colchis. 20 For a detailed analysis of the formal correspondences between the first and last parts of Medea, see Cunningham 1954: 157. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 1 66 Marianne Hopman same verb uXt\gg(o "strike" as the toponym Symplegades (LviinX^yaSeqyf , whose occurrence in the prologue of Medea is its first extant attestation. The ring composition thus casts the death foreseen by Medea as a suitable though delayed response of the Crashing Rocks to Jason's initial transgression.21 Jason too senses that the outcome of the drama counteracts the Argo expedition. Not only does he regret having brought Medea from Colchis (1329-32yf E X t in his two final lines (which may be the final lines of the play if 1415-19 are indeed spuriousyf K H Z L V K H V W K D W K H K D G Q H Y H U E H J R W W H Q W K H F K L O G U H Q U D W K H r than witness their murder. The grammatical structure of his contrary-to-fact wish (ovq jlititcox* eyoo cp\>aa<; ocpeAxw, 1413yf F O R V H O \ S D U D O O H O V W K H Q X U V H V L Q L W L D l wish that the Argo had never crossed the Symplegades (Ei'0' fikpeA,' 'Apyouq jLt-ri 8ia7ixdoGai amcpoq, 1 yf D Q G S U R Y L G H V D V X L W D E O H F O R V X U H W R W K H W U D J L F S O R W . Medea's revenge has fulfilled the nurse's wish and symbolically negated the Argo journey. The violent exchange between Medea and Jason contains one further detail that brings that new version of the story even closer to an utter revision of the past. After singling out Medea as the most hateful woman of all, Jason de- scribes her as "having a nature more savage than Tyrrhenian Scylla" (1342-^43yf . Shortly after (if the lines are not spuriousyf 0 H G H D F R R O O \ D F N Q R Z O H G J H V W K e comparison and argues that her deeds are a legitimate retaliation for the way Jason treated her (1358-59yf 7 K H W Z R U H I H U H Q F H V W R 6 F \ O O D D U H V K R U W D Q G L Q - clude little characterization except for her savagery (dypicoxepav, 1343yf D Q d location in the Tyrrhenian sea. The poetic pedigree of the monster, however, indicates that it participates in Medea's revision of the Argo journey. Like the Symplegades, Scylla and her counterpart Charybdis delineate sea nar- rows, an attribute apparent as early as the Odyssey and emphasized here by the epithet T\yf S D U _ Y L F R L Q H G D I W H U W K H V H D W K D W V S D Q V W K H Q R U W K R I 6 L F L O \ D Q d west of Italy, and ends at the Straits of Messina. Moreover, the rocks crossed 21 As Mastronarde 2002: 55 notes, the motif of Jason's deadly stroke by a remnant of the Argo parallels a tale transmitted by Diodorus Siculus, according to which a hunter is killed in his sleep by the head of a boar that he has suspended from a tree as an impious dedication to himself (D.S. 4.22.3yf - X V W D V W K H E R D U L V W K H K X Q W H U V V R X U F H R I S U L G H D Q G J O R U \ , so is the Argo the guarantor of Jason's fame. The fact that he dies struck by a remnant of the ship matches the inglorious version of the Argo saga staged by Medea. 22 For a discussion of the authenticity of the lines, see Mastronarde 2002 ad loc. 23 Aesthetic considerations about the "flatness" of the relative clause ti TopaTivov ftiicriaev 7te8ov and the "impropriety" of the word 7te8ov to describe Scylla's habitat, have led Arthur Verrall, followed by James Diggle, to excise line 1359 and take the mi of 1358 as adverbial. While the aesthetic judgement of modern editors may not be a sufficient argument to excise the line, my argument does not depend on its authenticity. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Revenge and Mythopoiesis in Euripides' Medea 1 67 by Jason whether they are called Symplegades, Cyaneae, or Planctae and the straits of Charybdis and Scylla are often featured as structural alternatives. In the Odyssey, Circe describes the Planctae, on the one hand, and Charyb- dis and Scylla, on the other, as two possible routes that Odysseus could take after passing the island of the Sirens (Od. 12.55-1 26yf 7 Z R F H Q W X U L H V D I W H r Euripides, Apollonius of Rhodes places the Symplegades against Charybdis, Scylla, and the Planctae in mirroring positions on the Argonauts' way to and from Colchis (Vian and Delage 2002: III, 41yf , Q W K H F R Q W H [ W R I W K H Q D X W L F D l "meta-space" of Euripides' tragedy, Medea's assimilation to Scylla amounts to a replacement of the Symplegades with a new set of straits. That assimilation, moreover, does not occur only at the linguistic level. As Wiles (1997: 122yf V X J J H V W V 0 H G H D V I L Q D O S R V L W L R Q L Q D G U D J R Q G U L Y H Q F K D U L R W , overlooking Jason from the top of the skene, and holding two corpses in her arms, provides a visual counterpart for the comparison.25 The verbal image is fully enacted on stage: the dragons are reminiscent of the fish or snake tails characteristic of Scylla in visual arts, while Medea's lofty position and the bodies that she holds parallel the monster's location in a high cliff and the sailors that she snatches in the Odyssey {Od. 12.73-84 and 12.245-57yf % y the end of the play, Medea has indeed become a Scylla and Jason stands below as a helpless Odysseus whom she has bitten (Sri^exai, 1370yf W R W K H T X L F N . The implications of Medea's transformation are twofold. First, it con- tributes to the challenge that her appropriation of heroic values raises for Jason's own heroism. The two sets of straits convey opposite connotations. The Symplegades or Planctae are a locus of heroic glory, one of the most famous moments of the Argo journey. In the Odyssey, after Circe singles out the Argo as the only ship ever able to sail past the Planctae, she calls her "who is in all men's minds" (naoi \iekovaa, Od. 12.70yf D Q H [ S U H V V L R Q U H P L Q L V F H Q t of the phrase naci... dvOpomoioi \i£X(o (Od. 9.19-20yf W K D W 2 G \ V V H X V X V H V L n conjunction with a reference to his heaven-reaching glory (icAioq, Od. 9.20yf D t 24 The structural equivalence of the Planctae on the one hand and Charybdis and Scylla on the other, are further emphasized by verbal and narratological similarities in Circe's description, on which see Hopman 2005: 62. 25 The evidence for dragons or serpents pulling the chariot comes from the B scholium to Med. 1320 and from the iconography of South Italian vase-painting, where the theme of Medea's escape on the chariot of the Sun first occurs (and becomes popularyf D I W H r 430 b.c.e. See Cunningham 1954: 152 for a discussion of the scholia and Sourvinou- Inwood 1997 for a careful evaluation of the visual evidence to reconstruct the staging of the tragedy. 26 For Scylla's representation in the visual arts, see Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae s.v. Scylla. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 168 Marianne Hopman the beginning of the apologoi. From a formulaic standpoint, the phrase naci \ieKjo\yf R D L V V H P D Q W L F D O O \ F R Q Q H F W H G W R K H U R L F J O R U \ - D V R Q V V X F F H V V I X O S D V V D J e through the Planctae is one of his claims to immortal fame as celebrated in epic poetry. In the exodos of Medea, Jason himself alludes to that epic past by calling Argo "beautiful of prow" (KaMircpcGipov, 1335yf D U D U H R U Q D P H Q W D l epithet reminiscent of epic diction. Conversely, the passage through Scylla and Charybdis is one of the lowest moments in Odysseus's journey, when neither his wits nor his strength can save his men from the impending danger that becomes "the most pitiful scene that [his] eyes have looked on in [his] sufferings" (Od. 1 2.258-59yf : K L O H W K H 3 O D Q F W D H R U 6 \ P S O H J D G H V W U D Y H U V H d by Jason are a traditional locus of heroic glory, Scylla and Charybdis define narrows through which even the most cunning hero of all cannot find a safe passage. Medea's transformation into Scylla at the end of the tragedy deals the final blow to Jason's traditional heroic status.28 Moreover, that transformation brings the revision of Medea's and Jason's story very close to a literal nullification of the past. In the previous scenes, Medea had first verbally revised the Argo journey in the agon and then acted out that revision through symbolic substitutes, including the princess and the children. Her metamorphosis into Scylla - and Jason's simultaneous transformation into a helpless Odysseus - brings that revision to a new level that involves the actual participants of the past events. I showed earlier that the Symplegades and the straits of Charybdis and Scylla are alternative paths, hence incompatible spaces from the Odyssey onward. Since the Symplegades are metaphorically and metonymically associated with the marriage, Medea's transformation into Scylla symbolically negates the past that she once shared with Jason. While history can never be undone, Medea's revenge comes very close to such nullification. Her revenge acts out a gradual negation of the Argo journey that first involves words, then symbolic substitutes, and finally the original actors. To that extent, her palinode fully exploits and demonstrates the capacity of drama to symbolically re-enact, and thereby modify, events of the past. 27 About the Scylla episode as Odysseus's failure to use a heroic, Iliadic strategy, see Hopman 2005: 62-66. 28 Jason's loss of his heroic status was already pointed out by Burnett 1973, who stressed that "behind the worldly oath-breaker of the visible play there stands always the larger and more disturbing figure of the hero who has sullied his quest" (17yf , G L V D J U H H , however, with Burnett's idea that Jason was never a full hero in Greek poetic traditions. The diction of Odyssey 12 makes it dear that he was. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Revenge and Mythopoiesis in Euripides' Medea 1 69 AN ABORTED EPIC Medea's revised version of the Argo saga at least partly fulfills the hopes expressed by the chorus in the first stasimon. The poetic tradition, indeed, has been reconfigured - aTpeyovai cpa^iai. Yet that palinode may not be enough to bring a "life of good fame" (evicXeiav . . . Pioxdv, 415-16yf D Q d "honor" (xijid, 417-18yf W R W K H I H P D O H U D F H $ V * U H J R U \ 1 D J \ 7 and passimyf K D V V K R Z Q W K H Q R W L R Q R I J O R U \ N ; H R F \f is intrinsically con- nected to the genre of epic poetry in ancient Greek culture. That connection is exemplified in the first stasimon, whose meter, dialect, and intertext make it clear that the chorus thinks of Medea's glory in terms of epic poetry.29 The dactylo-epitrites of the first stanza are reminiscent of dactylic hexameters (Page 1938: 183-85yf W K H , R Q L F F R Q W U D F W L R Q R I W K H L Q I L Q L W L Y H ? \f|ive\yf R D L \f may refer to the dialect of the misogynist poetry of Archilochos, Hipponax, and Semonides that the chorus hopes to see put to an end (Page 1938 ad 423yf , but it also connotes Homeric diction; the phrase Gearciv doi5dv (425yf H F K R H s the diction of the Odyssey, where it refers to the "divine song" performed by Phemios (Od. 1.328yf D Q G W R W K H G L Y L Q H J L I W R I V L Q J L Q J R I ' H P R G R N R V 2 G . 8.498yf , I 0 H G H D V U H Y H Q J H L V W R E U L Q J K R Q R U W R Z R P H Q L W Q H H G V W R L Q L W L D W H D n epic tradition in her praise. While tragedy can of course not morph into epic, it may include some proleptic references to epic songs to be performed in praise of its main char- acters. That capacity is exemplified in Euripides' Alcestis. Alcestis's willingness to die in lieu of her husband is described as a female equivalent for what Jean-Pierre Vernant ( 1991 yf K D V F D O O H G W K H E H D X W L I X O G H D W K R I H S L F Z D U U L R U V . Just as Sarpedon and other Iliadic heroes fall in their prime like trees to the ground (//. 16.482-84yf V R $ O F H V W L V G L H V L Q E O R R P D W W K H S H D N R I K H U I O R Z H U - ing youth" (Ale 471-72yf $ V $ F K L O O H V $ J D P H P Q R Q D Q G W K H L U L O N F R P S H W H W o win honor and become the "best of the Achaeans" (//. 1.91, 2.768, etc.yf V o does Alcestis's death make her worthy of "honor" (ti|iti<;, Ale 434yf D Q G W K e title of "best woman" (yovaiK' dplaxav, Ale 442yf $ F F R U G L Q J O \ W K H F K R U X s suggests that just like Achilles, Alcestis will become the subject of epic songs. In the second stasimon that immediately follows her death, they announce that poets will "sing her kleos" (icAiovTeq, 447yf E R W K W R W K H V H Y H Q V W U L Q J H d lyre and in hymns without the lyre" (446-47yf W K D W L V L Q E R W K O \ U L F D Q G H S L c songs. Moreover, those songs will involve the participation of a large audi- ence, including the Athenian spectators, since they will be performed both 29 See Boedeker 1991: 108n53 for a brief analysis of the songs envisaged in the first stasimon as epic poetry. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 170 Marianne Hopman in Sparta and in "rich and blessed Athens" (452yf $ F F R U G L Q J W R W K H F K R U X V , Alcestis's death will leave behind epic and lyric songs for singers to perform (453-54yf D Q G I R U W K H Z K R O H * U H H N F R P P X Q L W \ W R H F K R D Q G H P E U D F H . The hopes enthusiastically voiced by the Corinthian women after they hear Medea's initial plan to kill Jason seem to rely on a similar scenario to the one described in the second stasimon of Alcestis. That plan, indeed, seems most suitable to initiate an epic tradition since it shares many similarities with the deployment of Achilles' wrath in the Iliad. As Ruby Blondell (1999: 163-64yf K D V S R L Q W H G R X W W K H Q X U V H V R S H Q L Q J G H V F U L S W L R Q R I 0 H G H D U H F D O O s many features of Achilles' grief at Patroclus's death. Medea does not eat (24; cf. //. 19.205-14yf V K H O L H V S U R V W U D W H R Q W K H J U R X Q G F I \f; she retreats from her friends (27-33yf D Q G V K H U D L V H V W K H I H D U W K D W V K H P L J K t kill herself (43; cf. //. 18.32-34yf , Q W K H Z R U G V R I W K H Q X U V H 0 H G H D V L Q V H Q - sibility to the advice of her friends assimilates her to "a rock or the surging sea" (doq 8e nexpoc, f\ QaXaooxoq / kMScov, 28-29yf D F R P S D U L V R Q U H D F K L Q g back through literary history to Patroclus's complaint about Achilles' harsh- ness (//. 16.33-35yf 0 D V W U R Q D U G H D G \f. As Gill (1996: 154-74yf K D s noted, Medea's acts and choices later in the play confirm her psychological resemblance to Achilles. Like Achilles, Medea makes the choice of a difficult but honorable life, rather than a prosperous and easy one (598-99; cf. //. 9.410-16yf V K H U H I X V H V P D W H U L D O F R P S H Q V D W L R Q I R U W K H R I I H Q V H W R K H U K R Q R r (616-18; cf. //. 9.378-87yf V K H S D V V L R Q D W H O \ G H E D W H V Z L W K K H U W K X P R V R Y H U Z K D t she should do ( 1056; cf. //. 9.644-48yf D Q G V K H L V Z L O O L Q J W R F K R R V H D P R G H R f revenge that implies her own death, if not a physical death like Achilles (//. 18.95-96 and 1 14-16yf D W O H D V W D Q H P R W L R Q D O R Q H D Q G \f. Until the infanticide, Medea's revenge has much in common with the development of Achilles' wrath, thus justifying the chorus's hope that she may become the subject of an epic tradition. The infanticide brings that possibility to an abrupt ending. Such a deed does not fit into the subject matter of epic. Achilles kills, but does not shed his kindred's blood. As Richard Seaford (1994: 1 1-13yf K D V H P S K D V L ] H G W K H , O L D d and the Odyssey depict a society characterized by the solidarity of the house- hold and therefore tend to exclude stories of intra-familial killing. Homeric accounts of the death of Agamemnon and its aftermath, for instance, downplay Clytemnestra's role and do not mention Orestes' matricide.30 The non-Ho- meric character of Medea's infanticide is fully revealed in the exodos, whose 30 About the Odyssean accounts of the return of Agamemnon and their contextual specificities, see Garvie 1986: x and Heubeck et al. 1988: 16-17, with further bibliography on the Atreidae-paradigm in the Odyssey. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Revenge and Mythopoiesis in Euripides' Medea 1 71 progression can be read as a negation of Iliad 24. Both involve the encounter of a murderer (Achilles or Medeayf D Q G W K H I D W K H U R I W K H Y L F W L P V \f (Priam or Jasonyf D G L V F X V V L R Q D E R X W W K H F R U S V H V D Q G S U R Y L V L R Q V I R U W K H L U I X Q H U D O V < H t those three themes receive opposite treatments. The Iliad closes off its an- nounced subject matter - the anger of Achilles - on a scene of reconciliation, physical proximity, and shared grief (//. 24.507-12yf F R Q Y H U V H O \ W K H I L Q D O V F H Q e of Medea brings the tension and physical distance between Medea and Jason to a climax, as she stands on the top of the skene far away from him and proclaims that she killed the children solely to hurt him ( 1 398yf $ F K L O O H V H P S D W K \ Z L W h Priam leads him to grant the old man's request, accept material compensa- tion for the death of Patroclus, and return Hector's corpse (//. 24.560-70yf ; in contrast, when Jason begs Medea to let him bury (1377yf R U D W O H D V W W R X F h (1399-1400; 1402-03yf W K H F R U S V H V R I K L V V R Q V V K H L P S O D F D E O \ U H I X V H V W R G R V o (1378-83yf D Q G G L V P L V V H V K L V V X S S O L F D W L R Q V D V H P S W \ Z R U G V \f. Achilles' reconciliation with Priam leads to the celebration of grandiose funerals that gather the whole Trojan community around Hector's body (//. 24.692-804yf ; Medea announces that she will bury the children "with [her] own hands" (1378yf K H Q F H S U R E D E O \ D O R Q H L Q W K H W H P S O H R I + H U D $ N U D L D D V D Q F W X D U y located in Perachora at the fringes of Corinthian territory. Medea's intention to take the corpses there excludes Jason and the Corinthian community from the funerals and involves a very different burial from the emphatically public funerals celebrated for Hector in the Iliad,31 Medea's prophecy sanctions the departure of her revenge from the model of Achilles and closes off the hope that it may inspire an epic tradition. Just as the plot of Medea's revenge progressively departs from the story of the Iliad, so does the evolution of her internal audience confirm that no one will be there to listen to and perpetuate an epic tradition about her. The audience's fundamental role in the performance of Greek poetry, especially praise poetry, is now widely recognized, thanks in particular to the work of Bruno Gentili (1988yf 7 K H L Q G L V S H Q V D E O H L Q W H U D F W L R Q E H W Z H H Q S R H W D Q G D X G L - ence is epitomized in Medea through the intertext of the first stasimon. The phrase Qeonxv doi8dv that the chorus uses to refer to the "divine gift of song" (425yf H F K R H V W K H K L J K O \ P H W D S R H W L F S D V V D J H R I W K H 2 G \ V V H \ Z K H Q 2 G \ V V H X s challenges Demodokos to sing the fall of Troy exactly as it happened (Qecniv doi8r|v, Od. 8.498yf 6 X E V H T X H Q W O \ D V K H K H D U V ' H P R G R N R V G H V F U L E H W K H W U L F k 31 The rituals to be instituted in Corinth (ypi 8e xfji8e, 1381yf D U H S K \ V L F D O O \ G L V F R Q - nected from the tomb in Perachora and involve atonement, not burial. Dunn 1994: 109-1 1 suggests that one of the reasons why Medea buries the children in Perachora, far from the cult place in Corinth, is to make the place of burial inaccessible to Jason. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 1 72 Marianne Hopman of the wooden horse and the sack of Troy (two episodes where he played a major roleyf 2 G \ V V H X V Z H H S V X Q F R Q W U R O O D E O \ D Q G L G H Q W L I L H V Z L W K K L V R Z n victims (Od. 8.521-34yf 7 K H S K U D V H * H D U F Z G R L G Y W K X V F R Q M X U H V D S D V V D J e deeply rooted in literary history that bases epic performance on the close emotional connection between bard and audience. In contrast, the evolution of Medea's internal audience makes it clear that the infanticide leaves her bereft of potential listeners to her praise. As the plot of the revenge departs from the Homeric model, so does the initial sympathy of the internal audience move towards alienation. Initially, Medea enjoys a full, unconditional support from the Corinthian women, who affirm that she will "justly pay back" (ev8iKGyf \ D S H . 7 H L D U _ L \f Jason for his offence, chastise his guile (410-14yf D Q G H I I H F W L Y H O \ F X U V H K L P \f. Their attitude changes radically after the disclosure of Medea's revised plan (772-810yf $ I W H r a vain attempt to dissuade her (811-13yf W K H F K R U X V O D X Q F K H V L Q W R D Q R G e that extends their own moral estrangement to the implied Athenian audi- ence.32 As Mastronarde (2002 ad 824-65yf K D V V K R Z Q W K H S U D L V H R I $ W K H Q L D n wisdom (aocpiocv, 828-29yf D Q G P R G H U D W H ( U R V \f implies a systematic contrast with Medea's dangerous cleverness (aocpr|, 305yf D Q G G H V W U X F W L Y e desires (627-62yf : K L O H $ O F H V W L V L V S U D L V H G E \ W K H F K R U X V D Q G Q R W L R Q D O O \ W K e whole Greek world, Medea finds herself alienated from both the chorus and the implied Athenian audience. Musical images confirm that Medea's moral alienation from her internal and implied audience voids the possibility of an epic tradition celebrating her. While Alcestis leaves a song for all the Greeks to hear and hum, Medea's pali- node explicitly becomes out of tune with her audience. The musical harmony mentioned in the third stasimon as a distinctive feature of Athens (832-34yf implicitly suggests that the song left by Medea will not blend into the local tradition. As the revenge proceeds, that discordance becomes increasingly apparent. As the tutor points out, Medea's scream of anguish upon hearing that her sons' exile has been revoked "does not sing" (o\> £iyf Y F R L D \f with his news. Later, her response to the report of the princess's death, which she finds a "most beautiful tale" (k(xM,igtov... hayf R Y \f that she enjoys hearing (xaipei<; KMovacc, 1131yf D U L V H V W K H L Q G L J Q D W L R Q R I W K H P H V V H Q J H U . Whether she cries at good news or rejoices at bad, Medea's interaction with her internal audience contrasts with the emotional and musical connection between the epic bard and his listeners. That departure is confirmed a contrario 32 The notion of "implied audience" mirrors that of "implied author" and was devel- oped by Wayne Booth (1983yf W R U H I H U W R W K H I L F W L R Q D O D X G L H Q F H G H V F U L E H G D Q G F R Q V W U X F W H d by the play. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Revenge and Mythopoiesis in Euripides' Medea 1 73 by the chorus's final mention of "the bed of women, cause of many suffer- ings" (1291-92yf 6 L P X O W D Q H R X V O \ D G L U H F W U H I H U H Q F H W R D Q G U H H Q D F W P H Q W R f the misogynic tradition deplored in the first stasimon, the chorus' expression sanctions the end of the hope to see the poetry of Hesiod, Archilochus, and Hipponax replaced by an epic tradition in praise of women. The increasing distance between Medea's palinode and the genre of epic reaches its climax in the final laments embedded in the tragedy. Tradition- ally, laments are a type of publicly performed songs closely tied to praise poetry (Alexiou 2002: 182yf $ W W K H H Q G R I W K H , O L D G W K H O D P H Q W V I R U + H F W R r simultaneously assert the community of the living, grant eternal kleos to the dead, and announce the epic tradition that will rise in his honor. The three solo songs performed by Andromache (24.725-45yf + H F X E D \f, and Helen (24.762-75yf D U H I R O O R Z H G E \ D Q W L S K R Q D O U H V S R Q V H I U R P W K H F R P P X Q L W y (24.746; 24.760; 24.776yf D Q G W K H P D W L F D O O \ U H V H P E O H W K H Z R P H Q V J U H H W L Q J V W o Hector in the homecoming of Book 6 (Richardson 1993 ad //. 24.718-76yf . The laments embedded in Iliad 24 point toward the future performance of the epic itself.33 In contrast, the laments at the end of Medea are isolated ut- terances, bereft of the community that would bring everlasting honor to the dead. While Medea's farewell to her children (1021-40yf L Q F O X G H V W U D G L W L R Q D l lament themes, it nevertheless perverts the genre, since it is performed be- fore the death by the future murderer and is devoid of antiphonal responses (Mastronarde 2002 ad 1030yf 7 K D W V D P H L V R O D W L R Q F K D U D F W H U L ] H V W K H O D P H Q W s and dirges performed by Creon (Gpf|voyf Y \f, Medea (9pf|vei, 1249yf D Q d Jason (Gpriveiq, 1396; 0pr|VGyf \f, as well as the funerals and hero cult that Medea plans for her children. Unlike the aetiologies for the cult of Alcestis (Ale. 445-54yf R U + L S S R O \ W X V + L S S \f, Medea's prophecy does not mention songs to be performed in honor of the children, an omission all the more striking as the actual cult seems to have included dirges and laments.34 In its tragic stylization, the cult for the children is featured as a silent ritual. Medea's revenge arouses not praise but mournful silence from her internal audience. The infanticide and the manner of the children's burial irremedi- 33 The generic relation of lament and epic was first emphasized in 1974 by Alexiou (re-edited in Alexiou 2002yf D Q G K D V U H F H Q W O \ U H F H L Y H G P X F K D W W H Q W L R Q ) R U D V W L P X O D W L Q g survey of the scholarship on the question, see Due 2006: 30-56. Comparative evidence on the fluidity of the boundaries between the genres of lament and epic poetry has recently been adduced by Aida Vidan 2003 in her analysis of South Slavic traditions. 34 For recent work on the cult of Medea's children, see Pache 2004: 9-48. Evidence for the songs performed in that context include Philostratus's mention of a "mystical and inspired lament" (Her. 53.4yf D Q G W K H V F K R O L X P W R 0 H G H D Z K L F K U H I H U V W R a "mournful festival." This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 174 Marianne Hopman ably thwart the chorus's hope that Medea's revenge will give rise to an epic tradition favorable to women. If the infanticide prevents Medea from becoming the focus of such an epic tradition, why then does she not follow her initial intention to kill Jason? The mixed motivations mentioned in the play suggest that Medea's change of plan is at least partly dictated by the mythical tradition. To be sure, psychological causes can be invoked. In the second part of this article, I noted the psycho- logical necessity that ties the death of the children to Jason's remarriage. In Medea's logic, as Gill ( 1 996: 1 54-74yf K D V V K R Z Q W K H G H V W U X F W L R Q R I W K H S K L O L a between the parents necessarily results in the death of the children who embody that bond.35 That reasoning underlies Medea's final accusation that Jason's "sickness" was the cause of the children's death ( 1 364 yf , Q K H U Y L H Z W K e infanticide brings to its logical conclusion a chain of causes and effects initi- ated by Jason. Moreover, the language (803-06 and 1398yf D Q G R U J D Q L ] D W L R n of the play make it clear that Medea sees the infanticide as the most effective way to harm Jason. Its revengeful power is emphasized by the timing of the disclosure of her new plan right after the Aegeus scene (790-806yf ) R F X V L Q g at it does on Aegeus's sterility and his hopes for paternity, the conversation emphasizes the importance for Greek males to father legitimate children and perpetuate the family line. Medea's new plan, which she describes to the chorus immediately after Aegeus's departure, applies Aegeus's concerns to Jason's situation and involves the full extinction of the latter's progeny, both present and future (803-06yf $ O W K R X J K D V W U L N L Q J S H U L S H W H L D W K H L Q I D Q W L F L G e plan is carefully prepared for and grounded in Medea's understanding of her situation. Yet other scenes, in particular Medea's great monologue, suggest that psychological motivations could have been dismissed to let the children live. When Medea contemplates the pain that the murder will bring her (1046-48yf and the future joys of which she will deprive herself ( 1058yf V K H P R Y H V E H \ R Q d these psychological considerations and ends with an argument of external necessity: since "at any rate, it is necessary that [the children] die" (navxcoq oxp' avaYicn KaxOaveiv ercei 8e xpri..., 1062 = 1240yf V K H Z L O O S H U I R U P W K H G H H G 6 35 Except for Gill's contribution, Medea's change of plans, although a central issue of the play, has received little scholarly attention. 36 The repetition of those lines at 1062-63 and 1240-41 has led most editors to deem the first occurrence spurious, an excision confirmed by the Berlin papyrus that does not have 1062-63. See Page 1938 and Mastronarde 2002 ad loc. Even if the lines in the monologue are spurious, the argument remains that Medea's final justification for the filicide relies on the unavoidability of their death. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Revenge and Mythopoiesis in Euripides' Medea 1 75 The line - possibly spurious in the monologue - is repeated immediately before the children's murder. In both instances, it follows a fearful allusion to the possibility that the children may die at the hands of Medea's enemies (1060-61; 1238-39yf $ V 0 D V W U R Q D U G H D G \f points out, those passages (as well as 1301-05 and 1380-81yf S U H V X S S R V H W K H D X G L H Q F H s awareness of a tradition in which the children were killed by Creon's relatives. No matter whether the infanticide by Medea is a Euripidean innovation, the children have to die because the audience expects it and a long mythical tradition says so.37 Ultimately, the infanticide is only one among the many competing versions that variously ascribe the death of the children to Hera, the angry Corinthians, or Creon's relatives.38 Medea's latitude for revenge concerns the manner and motivation of the death but cannot alter the brutal fact that is yielded by the mythical and ritual material. In spite of her clever- ness, her palinode is bound by the tradition that shapes the expectations of her - and ultimately Euripides' - audience. A TRAGIC REVENGE As Medea's palinode departs from the epic genre that would yield her praise, the staging and intertextual references of the final scene signal its distinctively tragic tone. As Maurice Cunningham (1954yf D Q G % H U Q D U G . Q R [ \f have shown, Medea's final appearance on the chariot of the Sun positions her as the deus ex machina that closes off many Euripidean tragedies. In addition to offering Medea an escape from Corinth to Athens, the device conveys a complex and ambiguous range of meanings. Medea's quasi-divine status may cast her as an incarnation of ferocious vengeance and divine retribution for Jason's betrayal of his oaths (Knox 1977: 209-1 1 yf , W P D \ D O V R V W U H V V K H U O R V V R f humanity and transformation into a being that is simultaneously infra- and supra-human (Cunningham 1954: 158-60yf ) U R P D P H W D S R H W L F S H U V S H F W L Y H , the device simultaneously anchors Medea's revenge in the genre of tragedy and emphasizes her control over it since she, a mortal woman, now occupies a position normally reserved for the gods.39 37 The thorny issue of whether the infanticide was first introduced by Euripides impinges on the question of the relative chronology of Euripides' Medea and that of Neophron, about which see Mastronarde 2002: 57-64, with bibliography. My argument, however, is not affected by that problem. 38 For a full account of the many versions of Medea's story, see Moreau 1994 and Graf 1997. 39 Another indication of the tragic character of the revenge comes at 1282-89 from the chorus's comparison of Medea with Ino, the subject matter of a Euripidean tragedy of unknown date. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 1 76 Marianne Hopman Medea's masterful appropriation of the tragic genre is further confirmed in the allusions to the language, plot, and staging of Aeschylus's paradigmatic trilogy, the Oresteia, in the final scenes of the play.40 Beyond the individual echoes and references previously noted by commentators (Cunningham 1 954: 152; Katz 1994: 88; and Boedeker 1997: 138-39yf W K H O D V W V W H S V R I K H U U H Y H Q J e fundamentally subvert and appropriate the logic of the Aeschylean trilogy. Elements of vocabulary and staging concur to create an uncanny re- semblance between Medea's infanticide and the death of Agamemnon in Aeschylus's tragedy. A first possible allusion to the imagery of Agamemnon occurs when Medea characterizes the murder as a "sacrifice" in her monologue (1054yf $ O W K R X J K W K H S K U D V H F D Q E H X Q G H U V W R R G D V 0 D V W U R Q D U G H D d 1053-55yf K D V D U J X H G D V D G L V W R U W L R Q R I U L W X D O O D Q J X D J H W K D W I U H T X H Q W O \ R F F X U s in tragedy, it may also be read as a specific allusion to the Oresteia which, as Zeitlin (1965; 1966yf K D V E U L O O L D Q W O \ V K R Z Q P D N H V S D U W L F X O D U O \ W K R U R X J K X V e of sacrificial imagery. The fifth stasimon, performed while Medea kills the children off-stage, confirms the Aeschylean connotations of the murder and its resemblance to the death of Agamemnon. The comparison of Medea to a "wretch, bloody Erinye driven by an avenging demon" (xdAmvav cpoviav t' 'Epwbv \yf W D $ ; * 7 R S R Y \f41 parallels the attribution of Agamemnon's murder to the vengeful Erinyes of the house (A. Ag. 59, 463, 1119, 1433, 1580yf . As in Aeschylus's play, the chorus hears cries from within the skene ( 1 270-78yf and senses that a murder is being performed but fails to act quickly enough to prevent it; the helpless agitation of the Corinthian women who cannot decide whether to enter the house (1275-76yf U H V H P E O H V W K H F R Q I X V L R Q R I W K e old men of Argos running across the stage during the murder of Agamemnon (A. Ag. 1 330-7 1 yf 7 K H Z H D S R Q Z L W K Z K L F K 0 H G H D N L O O V W K H F K L O G U H Q L V G H V F U L E H d by one of her victims as a "hunting net of swords" (dpKt>cov ^icpoix;, 1278yf that closely resembles the net-like garment used by Clytemnestra to ensnare 40 My suggestion that Medea makes precise allusions to both the text and performance of the Oresteia is supported by the probability that Aeschylus' plays were re-performed after his death. Evidence for such a revival includes Ar. Ach. 9-11 (where Dikaiopolis speaks of sitting in the theatre expecting Aeschylusyf 5 D Z K H Q $ H V F K \ O X V V D \ V W K D t his tragedies have not died with himyf D Q G 9 L W D $ H V F K Z K L F K V W D W H V W K D W D G H F U H e passed after the death of Aeschylus authorized the continuous production of his playsyf . See Dover 1993: 23, with bibliography. 41 The text is difficult. The manuscript reading xmy aA,aatopcov "remove that Erinye through the agency of avenging divinities" seems implausible, since Medea is being com- pared precisely to one of those divinities. The text that I print here follows the emendation \yf F D $ [ [ D 7 R S R Y S U R S R V H G E \ 3 D J H . This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Revenge and Mythopoiesis in Euripides' Medea 1 77 Agamemnon (A. Ag. 1380-83yf ) L Q D O O \ R Q F H W K H F U L P H K D V E H H Q S H U S H W U D W H G , Medea appears holding the corpses of the children just as Clytemnestra comes out of the skene between the bodies of Agamemnon and Cassandra.42 Vocabulary and staging concur to assimilate the infanticide to Clytemnestra's murder of her husband. Those similarities carry dangerous implications for Medea since they sug- gest that like Clytemnestra, she will eventually fall at the hands of an avenger. That scenario is in fact exactly what the chorus fears and Jason hopes. The chorus's concerns for the pollution (jiidaixata, 1268-69yf L Q Y R O Y H G E \ W K e shedding of kindred blood (aijia, 1256yf D Q G I R U W K H G L Y L Q H Z U D W K \f that will irremediably follow, reflect the same notion of pollution and retribu- tion that structures the Aeschylean trilogy and prompts Orestes' murder of Clytemnestra in the Choephoroi and the Erinyes' incessant pursuit of him in the Eumenides. Likewise, Jason too expects Medea to encounter an Aeschylean type of retribution. Right before learning the full extent of her revenge, he asserts that she will face a "just punishment" (8(icnv, 1298yf D W W K H K D Q G V R I W K e royal family and fears that the children may be the victims of the retaliation (1293-1305yf + L V I H D U V D Q G K R S H V U H O \ R Q W K H V D P H Q R W L R Q R I M X V W L F H N W _ \f as do Aegisthus's revenge for the banquet of Thyestes (A. Ag. 1577-1611yf , Clytemnestra's retaliation against her husband for the sacrifice of Iphigenia (A. Ag. 1412-25yf D Q G 2 U H V W H V U H Y H Q J H D J D L Q V W K L V P R W K H U I R U W K H P X U G H U R f his father (A. Ch. 306-14 and passimyf : K H Q - D V R Q X Q G H U V W D Q G V W K D W 0 H G H a has killed their sons in addition to his bride, his orders to open the door of the skene (1314-16yf U H O \ R Q W K H H [ S H F W D W L R Q R I V H H L Q J W K H W Z R F R U S V H V U R O O H d out of the stage building, perhaps on the ekkyklema, like those of Agamemnon and Cassandra in Agamemnon (A. Ag. 1372yf D Q G W K R V H R I & O \ W H P Q H V W U D D Q d Aegisthus in the Choephoroi (A. Ch. 973 yf : K H Q 0 H G H D V D S S H D U D Q F H R n the top of the building undermines this expectation, Jason still invokes the 42 About the paradigmatic status of the death of Agamemnon and Cassandra off-stage, see Lebeau 2003: 310-11. 43 Similarly, Burnett 1973: 17 points out that audience's expectations are deceived when they do not see the princess's and Creon's corpses rolled out on the ekkyklema and hear a long, unusually gory messenger speech instead. The use of the ekkyklema to display the murder tableaus in the Agamemnon and the Choephoroi is discussed by Taplin 1977: 325-27 and 357-59. The lack of a linguistic signal to the device leads Taplin to doubt that it was used in the Oresteia (and even to conclude that it was not invented during Aeschylus's lifetimeyf D Q G W R V X J J H V W W K D W W K H F R U S V H V Z H U H F D U U L H G R X W E \ P X W H V F H Q H V K L I W - ers. What matters for my argument here is that the corpses of Agamemnon, Cassandra, Clytemnestra, and Aegisthus were brought outside the skene and that Jason expects the same to happen with the corpses of his sons. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 1 78 Marianne Hopman model of retributive justice by announcing that the children will arise Furies (1389-90yf D Q G E H F R P H Y H Q J H I X O G H P R Q V M L L G D [ R S H F \f. This is a word used in the Eumenides (piaaxop', A. Bum. 177yf W R V L J Q L I \ W K H D Y H Q J H U Z K o would punish Orestes for the murder of his mother and thus perpetrate the cycle of retributive justice. Like the chorus, Jason senses that the infanticide resembles the murder of Agamemnon and thus expects Medea to undergo Clytemnestra's fate. Medea, however, manages to undermine those expectations. As a drama- turge fully in control of the tragic genre, she circumvents the danger of becom- ing a new Clytemnestra by combining characteristics of various Aeschylean figures.44 Earlier in the play, the nurse's description of her mistress "bulling her eye" at the children (o|i|ia...Ta'opo'U|ievr|v, 92yf X V H V W K H V D P H S D U W L F L S O H D s a description of Orestes (xorupoujievov, A. Ch. 275yf W K D W Z D V I D P R X V H Q R X J h to be parodied by Aristophanes (Ra. 804yf 7 K H L Q W H U W H [ W X D O H F K R M X V W L I L H s the nurse's concern that, like Orestes, Medea may shed kindred blood and explains her recommendation that the children stay away from their mother (89-95yf : K L O H W K H L Q I D Q W L F L G H F R Q I L U P V W K H Q X U V H V I H D U D Q G F O R V H O \ U H V H P E O H s Clytemnestra's murder of Agamemnon, it also assimilates Medea to Agamem- non himself. Like the king of Argos, Medea kills her own children, and her description of the infanticide in terms of a "sacrifice" (xoiq enoun Oujkxgiv, 1054yf L V U H P L Q L V F H Q W R I W K H O L W H U D O V D F U L I L F H D O O R Z H G E \ $ J D P H P Q R Q D W $ X O L s (0\yf 7 7 L S * Y \ D [ S R T $ $ J \f. Medea's resemblance to Agamemnon reaches a climax in the exodos, when she appropriates some of his words. Jason's descriptions of Medea as a lioness and Scylla ( 1 342-43yf K D U N E D F N W o comparisons made by Cassandra about Clytemnestra (A. Ag. 1233, 1258yf D Q d thereby confirm Medea's resemblance to the Argive queen.45 Medea's answer that "long is the speech that [she] could have made" (jioncpav av ec^exeiva, 1351yf G L U H F W O \ E R U U R Z V I U R P $ J D P H P Q R Q V F K D U D F W H U L ] D W L R Q R I & O \ W H P Q H V W U D s greetings (nctKpav yap e^exeivaq, A. Ag. 916yf D Q G W U D Q V I R U P V L W W K U R X J K W K e use of a counterfactual construction. That subtle intertextual appropriation displays Medea's awareness of, and careful distancing from, the Clytemnes- tra model by integrating Agamemnon's perspective. In her own and other characters' words, Medea combines features of Clytemnestra, Clytemnestra's victim, and Clytemnestra's murderer in a way that blurs the lines across the Aeschylean cycle and makes her own punishment impossible. 44 Medea's assimilation of the characteristics of several Aechylean figures has been pointed out by Boedeker 1997: 138-39. 45 About the intertextuality of the Scylla comparisons in Agamemnon and Medea, see Hopman 2005: 109-10. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Revenge and Mythopoiesis in Euripides' Medea 1 79 Medea's masterful appropriation of the Oresteia paradigm reaches its climax and conclusion in the treatment of the corpses. I noted earlier that her appearance with the dead children on high undermines Jason's expecta- tion to see the corpses rolled out in the Aeschylean manner. By withdrawing the children from the ground where tragedies typically unfold, Medea pre- vents them from becoming or inspiring avengers along the lines of the dead Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Similarly, Medea's control over the hero cult of the children protects her from future retaliation. In the Aeschylean trilogy, Clytemnestra attempts to placate Agamemnon's angry spirit only after en- countering an ominous dream. The libations that she sends byway of Electra and the captive slaves are ritually incorrect (A. Ch. 89-90yf D Q G F R P H W R R O D W e to cure the pollution (A. Ch. 5 1 4-22 yf 6 X E V H T X H Q W O \ V K H G L H V D W 2 U H V W H V K D Q G V , but fundamentally through Agamemnon's agency (A. Ch. 886yf % \ L Q V W L W X W L Q g rites of atonement in honor of her children, Medea simultaneously recog- nizes and avoids the pregnancy of the Oresteia paradigm. By becoming both "the murderer and the agent of ritualization of the event" (Pache 2004: 13yf , she undermines the audience's expectation to see her die in the manner of Clytemnestra. The conspicuous absence and apparent deafness of the gods to Jason's cries (1391-92; 1405-12yf F R Q I L U P W K H G H I L Q L W H F O R V X U H R I W K H U H Y H Q J e process. As the deus ex machina of her own plot, Medea undercuts the pos- sibility of divine retribution. She may not become the focus of an epic song, but she has created the perfect revenge tragedy. Read as a palinode that engages major genres and songs of Greek culture, Medea's revenge offers a rich reflection on the poetic space available to a new voice - a question, which, as Michelini (1987yf K D V V K R Z Q Z D V R I V S H F L D O L Q W H U - est to Euripides. Medea's revised version of the Argo saga fully exploits the power of Athenian drama to conjure distant times and spaces, symbolically re-enact past events, and thereby modify their interpretation and meaning. By killing the princess, murdering the children, and emerging as a new Scylla who dominates Jason from the roof of the skene> Medea offers a version of the Argo journey that nullifies her past relationship with Jason and deprives him of the heroic glory epitomized by the successful crossing of the Symple- gades. Yet her mythopoiesis also underscores the impossibility of creating a new story at odds with the mythical tradition. Even though Medea's initial plan to kill Jason would fulfill epic values and bring her glory, it cannot be completed, partly because of psychological motivations, and partly because the tradition says that the children will die. Medea's revenge cannot alter the brutal "facts" of life and death yielded by the mythic tradition; it can only appropriate them. This content downloaded from 198.246.186.26 on Wed, 22 Apr 2020 01:17:14 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 180 Marianne Hopman Ultimately, Medea's revenge fails to fulfill the possibility - already raised by the disguised Odysseus about Penelope at Odyssey 19.107-14 - that a woman may gain epic glory, kleos. Although her revenge initially resembles the plot of the Iliad, it increasingly departs from it and loses the support of the internal audience. In particular, Medea's refusal to return the children's corpses to Jason strikingly contrasts with the pity that unites Achilles and Priam in Iliad 24. Yet as Medea departs from the epic model, she also cre- ates a perfect tragic plot, one that appropriates - and therefore perhaps surpasses - Aeschylus's paradigmatic Oresteia. 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