Essay on Medea and Nietzsches Will to Power - 4275 Words

Medea and Nietzsches Will to Power When Medea kills her children, audiences react with shock and horror. Any sympathy viewers have built for the woman is, in the words of Elizabeth Vandiver, â€Å"undercut† by this act (15). Since Medea is the protagonist, we question why Euripides chose to make her a child murderer. Most scholars agree that he invented this part of the myth. He also lessened her role as witch by drawing attention to her human qualities. This only highlights the infanticide (14) because we cannot excuse her ruthless act as monstrous and non-human. However, Medea remains very human until after she kills her sons. Appearing at the end of the play in the deus ex machina, she takes over not only the position but also the†¦show more content†¦In doing so, she changes from a suicidal victim into an ÃÅ"bermensch, Nietzsche’s Superman, able to survive the tragic events of the play. Analyzing Medea’s actions using the Nietzschean approach helps explain why Euripides may have not only made her a child murderer but also why he placed her in such a lofty position at the end of the play, apparently escaping any justice imposed from an external force or entity. In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche explained Greek culture as a battle between what he called the Apollonian and Dionysian forces (Campbell 334). The Apollonian, named after the god Apollo, is â€Å"order, lawfulness, perfect form, clarity, precision, self-control, and individuation† (Schact). Fiona Jenkins describes it as â€Å"an art of the visible: it is linked to the power of dreams, illusion . . . Through the Apollonian moment of art the individual is reconstituted as a product of his own ‘dream.’† Joseph Campbell adds that Apollo is the god of prophecy, light, and the sky (336). He is also associated with purification of guilt and error (Fagles 17). The Dionysian, named for Dionysus, is marked by chaos, drunkenness, madness, and instinctive emotions (Kreis, â€Å"Nietzsche, Dionysus and Apollo†). It is excess, dismemberment, and rebirth; the dark, earth-bound force of suffering (Jenkins). The Dionysian alienates figures from social, political, and familial bonds, destroying those who refuse to succumb to its power (McClure). Nietzsche says that theShow MoreRelated Tragedy In Drama Essay1713 Words   |  7 Pagesof the Greek tragedies is Medea, which is one of the few with a female as the title hero character. Medea demonstrates the changing attitude in Greek drama, and introduces a more human aspect to the hero’s behavior. In the earlier dramas, the heroes were influenced heavily by fate, and the tragic flaw and eventual downfall often had something to do with fate. However, in the case of Medea, we see the hero as falling outside the realm of divine intervention. Though Medea is wronged by Jason, thereRead MoreI Learned About Literature, Reading, And Even1773 Words   |  8 Pagesbe to find. The next works that I became attached to, almost against my will were Medea and Beloved. Of these, neither were ones that I would have ordinarily and voluntarily chosen to read, and yet, they grew on me day by day. From them I learned again, to see the world from the perspective of others. Specifically, from Medea, I began to understand the plight of women, and though it was undoubtedly worse for Medea then it might have been now, it still seems clear that women are marginalized daily