Medea: Child Murderess or Abandoned Wife?

This section was inspired by a theater production in the Munich Residenztheater based on The Golden FleeceGolden Fleece, The, a trilogy by Franz GrillparzerGrillparzer, Franz (1791–1872), and especially by the third part: MedeaMedea. The production conveyed to us that MedeaMedea is above all a stranger and refugee, lost in a rather reluctant or even hostile environment in CorinthCorinth, and abandoned by her Greek husband Jason. In what follows we discuss two alternative interpretations. The Greek interpretation of the play that was presented by EuripidesEuripides in the fifth century BC at Athens’ Dionysia, sees MedeaMedea as a vengeful wife who murders her children to destroy her husband. The German interpretation, probably strongly influenced by Grillparzer’sGrillparzer, Franz play, emphasizes that MedeaMedea suffered hard from being abandoned by her selfish Greek husband Jason in a discriminating environment that regards her as a barbarian. It is an empirical question whether the hypotheses of the two different interpretations hold. However, because of lack of scientific research, we have to restrict ourselves to narrative speculations. In order to discuss and compare these interpretations we will look for further arguments in Anselm Feuerbach’sFeuerbach, Anselm MedeaMedea painting and Pasolini’sPasolini, Pier Paolo MedeaMedea film.