Euripides' Medea

CHILDREN. Ah! Ah!

CHORUS. D'you hear them? Their cries? Stone heart, cruel fate.

FIRST CHILD. Mummy! No!

SECOND CHILD. Don't kill us!

CHORUS. Should we go inside? We could save their lives.

FIRST CHILD. Gods, help!

SECOND CHILD. The knife. Oh help!(43-44).


This passage thoroughly disgusted me. I could envision my one year old niece screaming because she doesn't want to go to bed, and her shrill little screams always make me get her out of her crib until she is comforted. How much more disturbing could the screams be of a child who is screaming, very literally, for their life? And throughout their screaming, Medea says nothing. She does not quiet them, she does not even attempt to nurture them. Instead, she very brutally endures their screaming and kills them anyways. How cold does one have to be for this to occur? I can only imagine.

Furthermore, I am disgusted with the thought of the chorus debating to save the children's lives but instead of even attempting any action to discourage their slaughtering, they do nothing. They simply discuss going inside to save their lives. It is simple human nature for someone to want to protect children, or so I thought. Apparently, in this telling of Medea, nothing could be further from the truth.

Another interesting facet of this passage is the fact the children are begging the Gods to help them. Ordinarily, upon thinking of Gods someone may think of mercy. If the Gods existed, they showed no mercy upon the children. They very blatantly watched them die. It makes me wonder if right before the children ceased to function, their belief in the Gods vanished.

At approximately 7 minutes and 34 seconds is the very passage I discussed. This is a moving version of Euripides' Medea, with the actors speaking and doing sign language at the same time. Very interesting.