CLA232H1 Lecture Notes - Ponos, Aegeus, Proxeny
Document Summary
Comparing greek male (jason) to barbarian female (medea) Play preformed as tragedy at city dionysia expected to be in favor of male. Audience: probably consisted mostly of males, but partially females too. Hard to imagine average woman there women there would have been prostitutes, foreigners or unmarried. Male with a male mindset male audience, male playwright festival where it was preformed was a civic institution -> citizens paid for it. *fully expect play to be in favor with jason. *actually: medea civilized and sensible (more so than jason) Women insuperior to men they were with. When preformed, medea was played by a man tragedies usually depict strong women in comparison to men. Many women come to bad ends, never simple morality tale. Plays create empathy for women lets athenian men feel like women: masculine genre, exploring women and playing the other . Conflict between greek man and the foreign, female other . In play: exhile (no home at all)
