MEDEA Argumentative Essay Example For Students

MEDEA Argumentative Essay A monologue from the play by Euripides NOTE: This monologue is reprinted from The Plays of Euripides in English, vol. ii. Trans. Shelley Dean Milman. London: J.M. Dent Sons, 1922. MEDEA: From my apartment, ye Corinthian dames,Lest ye my conduct censure, I come forth:For I have known full many who obtainedFame and high rank; some to the public gazeStood ever forth, while others, in a sphereMore distant, chose their merits to display:Nor yet a few, who, studious of repose,Have with malignant obloquy been calledDevoid of spirit: for no human eyesCan form a just discernment; at one glance,Before the inmost secrets of the heartAre clearly known, a bitter hate gainst himWho never wronged us they too oft inspire.But tis a strangers duty to adoptThe manners of the land in which he dwells;Nor can I praise that native, led astrayBy mere perverseness and oerweening folly,Who bitter enmity incurs from thoseOf his own city. But, alas! my friends,This unforseen calamity hath witheredThe vigour of my soul. I am undone,Bereft of every joy that life can yield,And therefore wish to die. For as to him,My husband, whom it did import me mostTo have a thorough knowledge of, he prov esThe worst of men. But sure among all thoseWho have with breath and reason been endued,We women are the most unhappy race.First, with abundant gold are we constrainedTo buy a husband, and in him receiveA haughty master. Still doth there remainOne mischief than this mischief yet more grievous,The hazard whether we procure a mateWorthless or virtuous: for divorces bringReproach to woman, nor must she renounceThe man she wedded; as for her who comesWhere usages and edicts, which at homeShe learnt not, are established, she the giftOf divination needs to teach her howA husband must be chosen: if arightThese duties we perform, and he the yokeOf wedlock with complacency sustains,Ours is a happy life; but if we failIn this great object, better twere to die.For, when afflicted by domestic ills,A man goes forth, his choler to appease,And to some friend or comrade can revealWhat he endures; but we to him aloneFor succour must look up. They still contendThat we, at home remaining, lead a lifeE xempt from danger, while they launch the spear:False are these judgments; rather would I thrice,Armed with a target, in th embattled fieldMaintain my stand, than suffer once the throesOf childbirth. But this language suits not you:This is your native city, the abodeOf your loved parents, every comfort lifeCan furnish is at hand, and with your friendsYou here converse: but I, forlorn, and leftWithout a home, am by that husband scornedWho carried me from a Barbarian realm.Nor mother, brother, or relation nowHave I, to whom I midst these storms of woe,Like an auspicious haven, can repair.Thus far I therefore crave ye will espouseMy interests, as if haply any meansOr any stratagem can be devisedFor me with justice to avenge these wrongsOn my perfidious husband, on the kingWho to that husbands arms his daughter gave,And the new-wedded princess; to observeStrict silence. For although at other timesA woman, filled with terror, is unfitFor battle, or to face the lifted sword,She when her so ul by marriage wrongs is fired,Thirsts with a rage unparalleled for blood.