The first woman I would like to talk about here is the Princess of Colchis, Medea. Her story is simple, but her reading is more complex. In class opinions were shared that represent the base opinions on Medea's story. She was an obsessive weak woman who went insane when her husband left her bedroom for another. Perhaps this is over-simplifying, but when asked to explain the infanticide she commits against her own children, there is hardly an explanation heard in classrooms that does not involve some mention of madness and jealousy.

Madness and jealousy could certainly be at work here. Medea's humanity suggests that these two conditions had a great impact on her decision making. But humanity is hardly that simple. What I would like to suggest, is that Medea's decision was not fueled entirely by these two chaos driven conditions, but instead was made after a significant realization on the part of Medea.

The following is my own work.

"Of all creatures that live and have understanding
We women are the wretchedest breed alive;
first, we must use excessive amounts of cash
to buy our husbands, and what we get are masters
of our bodies. This is the worst pain of all.
In fact, this is the greatest struggle, whether he'll be
a good or bad one, for divorce brings no repute
to wives, and yet they can't deny their husbands.
So coming into new rules and customs,
she must be a prophet, since she hasn't learnt at home
how to deal in the best way with her bed-mate.
And if we manage to find a solution to this,
so husbands live with and don't feel chained to us,
our lives are joy; but if not, it is necessary to die.
A man, however, when he becomes annoyed
with the company of those inside,
can go outside and stop his heart's distress.
We must look to only one other person.
They say that we spend all our time at home,
and live safe lives, while they go out to battle.
What fools they are! I'd rather stand three times
behind a shield than bear a child once!"

(medea, pg 45, lines 230-251)

Euripides’ Medea is a complicated woman in a difficult situation who seeks revenge not only against the husband who has betrayed her, but against the society from which she is being exiled. Medea has continually chosen to prioritize the position of the husband over all other
commanding positions of power in the patriarchal relationships in which she is subjugated. Medea begins with her father, then her brother, then her nation and continues in the name of love until that loves which she kills for is rejected. Upon this rejection she realizes that the only
recourse that a woman has against her husband is to dissolve her relationship with him through their children.

A young Medea begins her love affair with Jason and is confronted with the woman’s dilemma. She must choose between the position of wife and of daughter. Since Jason represents Greece, she is also forced to choose between her own "barbaric" nation and that of the foreigner. Her strength and the power of her emotions help her in her decision to deny her responsibilities as a daughter and as a princess and to help Jason win the golden fleece. She takes on the identity of the foreigner, the barbarian. In doing so, she portrays a bad Elektra. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electra ). In a situation where Elektra shows unfailing loyalty to her proper king and father Agamemnon, and embraces her brother Orestes as her entire family, Medea betrays her father and king and murders her brother.

Having denied the patriarchal relationships of daughter, subject, and sister, Medea places herself in a vulnerable position without the solid matrimonial relationship with Jason. This relationship is fruitful and Medea gives birth to Jason’s sons. Then Medea strengthens Jason’s family by adding years to his aging father’s life. Medea in this way reinforces the patriarchal order of Jason’s family by both regenerating it’s originator and by renewing its blood in Jason’s progeny. Perhaps if these sacrifices had been enough for Jason, Medea wouldn’t be remembered anymore than any other famous "good wife". Certainly she expresses the desire for this kind of meek loving relationship.

But the ways in which Medea reinforces the patriarchal power of Jason’s family are not limited to good magic and motherhood. Medea is an influence on the women around her and brings about the murder of Jason’s usurper and uncle, at the unsuspecting hands of his devoted daughters. Medea’s devotion to Jason is echoed in the devotion of the daughters of Pelias. The violence of which they are both capable is not criminal or feministically driven, but supportive of patriarchal power. Perhaps Medea would not be a "terrible woman" if Jason had honored their marriage. Then she would have been the most dutiful of wives, but instead she is left without a shelter, on the verge of exile by King Creon, Jason’s new father-in-law.

It is this realization, that inspires her to commit terrible deeds. The realization is that she as a woman could have been no better wife, could have denied herself any other shelter for his own as only a wife can, and yet was to be cast aside for a woman with a kingdom to give. Medea reflects on the kingdom that she gave Jason when she betrayed her own, reflects on the father she gave Jason when she refused her own, and on the family she gave Jason when she murdered her own.

Medea’s desire was only to be his wife, envied for her position in the household of the man she loved and served. This dream is destroyed by Jason’s ambition and is followed by the decision to dissolve her relationship with Jason through the violent unmaking of the children. Jason has denied her any connection to them, downplaying the role of the mother as simply the carrier of the man's children, and in doing so denies her any responsibility in their existence, and so she takes agency and denies Jason the living symbols of her devotion to him as awife. Medea’s realization of her fate of never-ending sacrifice that is the plight of the "good greek wife" leads her to finally reject that role in it's most basic manifestation.

My reading of Medea comes from the Euripides play, Medea translated by Stephen Esposito, Focus Classical Library Series, copyright 2004

"Garden Of Simple"

some crazy fucker carved a sculpture out of butter
and propped it up in the middle of the bonanza breakfast bar
and i am stuffing toast and sausage into my pockets
under a sign that says grand opening
while my dog is waiting in the car
i wake up, i check out
i fill the tank and wash the windshield clean
then i'm back out on the highway and BANG
that's when i remember my dream:

we were standing in a garden
and i had a machine that made silence
it just sucked up the whole opinionated din
and there were no people on the payroll
and there were no monkeys on our backs
and i said, show me what you look like without skin

science chases money and money chases its tail
and the best minds of my generation
can't make bail

but the bacteria are coming
to take us down that's my prediction
it's the answer to this culture
of the quick fix prescription

but in the garden of simple
where all of us are nameless
you were never anything but beautiful to me
and, you know, they never really owned you
you just carried them around
and then one day you put 'em down
and found your hands were free

so now it's early in the morning
at the longitude of memphis
and the sun is setting sweetly on hong kong
and the big plan is just to keep spinning
cuz the big bang is only just beginning
and sometimes it's all that we can do just to hang on
and what i meant to say is xxoo
which means i'm thinking of ya
which means i've been thinking of you all along

A.D.

I've decided to start something new here. My sky will always be there, I couldn't ever really deny it, but I'd like to play here with some of the interesting readings and thoughts I come across. I'd like to play with some myths here, and now that I've rebirthed this baby, I think it'll be fun for me, and hopefully fun for anyone who stops by. But now I've got to run..

so i'll talk to me later