Rather Be Reading

-
Image result for euripides medea
“Stronger than lover's love is lover's hate.
Incurable, in each, the wounds they make.”

I’d rather be reading Medea by Euripides rather than starting my weekly wash-day routine.

Euripides' Medea opens in a state of conflict. Jason has abandoned his wife, Medea, along with their two children. He hopes to advance his station by remarrying with Glauce, the daughter of Creon - king of Corinth. Jason's recent abandonment of his family has crushed Medea emotionally, to the degree that she curses her own existence, as well as that of Jason and her two children.

Fearing a possible plot of revenge, Creon banishes Medea and her children from the city. After pleading for mercy, Medea is granted one day before she must leave. After securing sanctuary in Athens, Medea sets her plan for revenge in motion. She intends on using her last day to complete her quest for justice.

An easy read when it comes to the genre of Greek tragedies, for me Medea stands as the ultimate story of a woman scorned. Not only is Medea a super feminist who’s plight in the story leads her to call out the injustices that all women suffer at the hands of men, she is also a sociopath whose cunning and quick thinking helps her exact revenge on her husband.

The Chorus of the play weeps at her ultimate decision. Readers immediately identify how crazy her character is. But at the end of the play, she succeeds in her scheme fully…


MEDEA:               […] I pray that I may see him,
                             Him and his bride and all their palace shattered
                             For the wrong they dare to do to me without cause.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#NotMyAriel?!: 10 Times White Actors Portrayed Real-Life Characters of Color

-
Image
If you’ve been living under a rock for the past year and a half, you probably haven’t heard about the many reboots of original animated movies that Disney has in the works – there are about 21 to be exact. With the astounding success of Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book, Aladdin, and others, Disney has found a formula that works and they’re sticking with it. The latest movie set to begin production is “The Little Mermaid,” and Disney has revealed its casting for their leading lady, Ariel. Halle Bailey, of the R&B duo Chloe x Halle, will be Disney’s newest princess in the upcoming live-action film. And while many fans of Halle’s vocal abilities are praising the media-powerhouse’s choice, others are clearly upset with the decision. Why is that? Why else? – race. To be clear, Ariel is a mythological creature whose story was written by a Danish author – Hans Christian Andersen – that does not make Ariel Danish. SHE IS A MERMAID. MERMAIDS ARE NOT REAL. If mermaids are not
Read more

The National Museum of African American History and Culture

-
Image
I jumped at the opportunity to take a trip to Washington D.C. I knew that I needed to see the National Museum of African American History and Culture. My friends who had traveled to the nation's capital arrived before the museum's opening date and those who visited previously made it seem as though it was my rite to experience it. The museum took me on an emotional journey through a time that I didn’t know affected me so strongly. It's the most beautiful structure that I’ve ever seen; its magnitude is breathtaking. The one thing that I noticed immediately was the pattern on surrounding of the building; it was odd but familiar. This thin screen or "scrim" perforated by geometrical patterns is based on historic iron grilles found in African-American communities in Charleston, South Carolina, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African Amer
Read more

Disparities of Cherry Hospital - Asylum for the Colored Insane

-
Image
Living in the southern states of America was difficult for Black Americans. Not only were we vulnerable to the burden of daily racism –  in the form of public lynching, violence, and the caste system known as Jim Crow – but the impact of the eugenics movement shifted the violence into medical legality on those placed in mental institutions. Between 1907 and 1940, more than 18,000 sterilizations of individuals deemed as "defective" took place in mental institutions, particularly in southern states. That was the norm for mental hospitals at the time, but nothing is more heart-wrenching than the story of Junis Wilson and his time at Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro, NC. Junis Wilson had been a resident of Cherry Hospital from the tender age of 17. He was accused of rape in 1925 and because he only communicated in grunts and strange hand gestures, he was deemed insane by a judge and locked up at the Asylum for the Colored Insane. For decades, no one tried to understand him or le
Read more