2022 IB Diploma Extended Essays

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While there is some stigma regarding divorce in modern society, it is a much more accessible possibility for everyone. In the United Kingdom, divorce rates were approximately 42% in 2021 (Atanasovska, 2021). As a result of this normalisation of divorce, society is less opposed to breaking marriage oaths and there is an expectation for everyone, especially women, to accept the events and move on. In Bartlett’s adaptation, Jason responds to Medea’s anger with, “This reaction has become predictable and dull. It’s going on too long.... they can’t see why you haven’t put it behind you. Why you’re still stuck here.” (Act 2, Scene 1). Bartlett also utilises stage directions for Jason’s character, to indicate that Jason is ‘ bored of this ’, ‘this’ being Medea’s tears and accusations. The characterisation of Jason as ‘bored’, through his facial expression and his brusque change from pretending to be sympathetic to revealing his accusatory beliefs, delineates that in current society, women are expected to quickly move past their divorces. Medea is expected ignore her emotions and accept her situation as is. Furthermore, Jason generalises society through his vague use of the collective pronoun ‘they’, when referring to other people’s thoughts on Medea. Without specifying who he is referring to, Jason implies that the entirety of society expects Medea, the woman, to simply accept her situation and move on. In the words of Fisher, “in these 21st-century terms, [Medea] is being over the top and [Jason is] right to protest. At such moments, the play becomes a soap-opera episode about a woman reacting badly to a messy divorce.” (Fisher, 2012). This review of Medea encapsulates societal reactions to the character of Medea, and the expectations placed on her regarding her marital relationship. She is constantly told by Jason, his friends, and others, that she should cease complaining about Jason’s actions and focus on herself. This invokes an understanding of Medea’s loneliness, caused by the expectations placed on her by society, starkly contrasting Euripides’ Medea, whose fuming reaction to Jason’s betrayal was accepted by a considerable portion of society, as oaths were more important than modern gendered expectations of acceptance. Bartlett’s society valued