One of the most prominent surviving plays of Euripides in the presentday era is Medea. In it, he depicted the struggle between a motherslove for her children

always immediately recognisable. He approached tragedy from thepoint of view of man, and was interested in human beings.Today, Euripides plays are read by far more than those written byAeschylus and Sophocles. His brilliant portrayal of human nature hasenticed readers for countless generations.One of the most prominent surviving plays of Euripides in the presentday era is Medea. In it, he depicted the struggle between a motherslove for her children and a flouted wife's desire for revenge on herhusband. Like much of Euripides work, it is a tale which sometimesabandons, and sometimes, emphasises the age old conventions of Attictragedy.Attic tragedian plays traditionally follow a predetermined structureand cycle. This convention was used to characterise the play. InEuripides Medea, we see this tradition upheld. Essentially, the playwas split into five cycles, consisting of the Olbos, Hubris, Pythos,Até and Nemesis. In Medea, the ideas run parallel with these cycle andconventions are maintained.However, in the Pythos cycle, rather than focusing on the gods divineenvy, he focuses on an all too human aspect - jealousy. Medea isovercome with jealousy after Jason takes another woman as his wife.Once again, Euripides has abandoned the conventional ideas andreplaced it with his own thoughts.On the other hand, Euripides maintains the structure of the play intraditional convention, and his play follows closely with thePrologos, Parados, Episodia, Stasima and Exodus.But, to analyse the play, we must look closely at what conventionsEuripides has used, as well as how he has used them.The Chorus was an essential part of every play. As such Euripides hasused a chorus in his play to represent the Corinthian women. However,in other tragedies, the chorus played a much mor, detached role. Theywere important as narrators of commentators to what was actuallyoccurring. But in Euripides play, they have a more prominentinteraction with the main characters, especially that of Medea. Medeaand the chorus engage in long conversations concerning her plight andher plan of revenge. Thus, we can see that Euripides sometimesfollowed conventions.The tragedian stage convention in Attic theatre also followed aspecific rule. There were never more than three characters on thestage at one time. By studying Medea, we can see that Euripides neverhas more than three actors on stage and upholds the tradition.Therefore, we can see that Erupide's Medea only somewhat follows theconventions of Attic tragedy. Although he was maintained thetraditional structure, cycles, and actors, he has replaces some ageold ideas and themes, including the prominence of gods and the role ofthe Chorus.But throughout these uses and changes in convention, what really isEuripides trying to express?Well, one of the main purposes of Euripides's play was to reflect therole of women in Greek Society.The play is designed to reinforce Athenian stereotypes of women'snature. These are explained by Aristotle's theory that unlike men,women were 'unbounded' and incapable of controlling themselves, andneed to have boundaries imposed on them. Women in Medea are bounded bybeing kept as possessions of husbands and fathers, and by being heldwithin the codes of a society.In the play, Medea, as a foreigner, does not represent women ingeneral, but is rather portrayed as an exaggeration of an averagewoman.Even so, the generalised woman, as exemplified by the Chorus and minorfemale characters, is portrayed as jealous, persuasive, dishonest, andoverly emotional.Jason believes that Medea's desire for revenge is due merely to'sex-jealousy' and accuses her of murdering the children merelybecause 'He no longer slept with her', and Medea retorts 'And is thatinjury/ A slight one, do you imagine, to a woman?'Thus, there tends to be a view of women as overly sexual. Jason againemphasises this when he suggests that all women are sex-crazed - 'youwomen/ Have reached a state where, if all's well with your sex-life,/You've everything you wish for; but when that goes wrong,/ At once allthat is best and noblest turns to gall.'Women are also portrayed as overly emotional, rather than rational, intheir responses to situations. For all the Chorus' protests aboutMedea killing her children, when they actually hear her murderingthem, they lament the miserable mother , cursed, miserable woman , butare effectively so overcome with their emotions that they do not stopher, as perhaps men would have.Women, in the play, are also seen as persuasive, having the ability toachieve their means by begging or supplicating men. Medea is shown ashaving perfected this ability - every time she is shown attempting topersuade anyone in the play, she succeeds.Women are portrayed as inherently dishonest. This is furtheremphasised when Medea tells the Chorus: 'We were born women - uselessfor honest purposes,/ But in all kinds of evil skilled practitioners'.In conclusion, from the play we must assume that women were viewed assex crazed, overly emotional, and persuasive beings. However this wasthe view of Euripides. It is impossible to say what others,particularly women's; views were on women from just this source.The universe in which Euripides existed was not benevolent, or just.Hardship fell on all, the wicked and the good. The gods were not onlypowerful, but often impulsive, cruel and blind to justice. Needless tosay, these positions made Euripides unpopular. He was the unwantedvoice of conscience in his age, a man unafraid to point out the lieswith which a civilization comforts itself. Sophocles gives us heroes,and Aeschylus gives us a vision of history and teleology; Euripidesgives us real men and women with all-too human weaknesses, and hisvisions are often nightmares.