2022 IB Diploma Extended Essays

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and Bartlett’s plays. Ironically, Bartlett’s Medea believes herself to be magic, which is an outrageous claim for modern times, where society understands the world through a realist perspective, whilst in Ancient times, magic and Gods were more openly spoken about. Bartlett’s Medea, in a fit of anger, reveals to Pam that she can use her ‘magic’ to have Jason and Kate murdered. The scenarios which Medea describes in the modern play are almost identical to the original play, implying that by placing Medea in a modern setting, her anger towards Jason’s actions did not diminish or increase, from the original. Furthermore, in both plays, Medea graphically enumerates all of the ways she could commit murder, which highlights the true extent of her anger. Despite the patriarchal stereotypes, Medea is a character who experiences anger, sadness and bravery in both plays, demonstrating that Euripides and Bartlett believed that women could experience all typically male and female emotions. The reactions of other characters to their murderous fantasies constructs the extent to which the productions of the two plays reflect society’s perception of women in the two time periods. Pam’s shocked and horrified, ‘ What? ’ in response to Medea’s monologue marginalises Medea’s angry emotions as being atypical for women in her position, in the social context of Bartlett’s play. On the other hand, in Euripides’ play, the chorus feels vindicated by and acceptive of Medea’s murderous intent, they claim that thanks to Medea, “no more shall we women endure the burden of ill-repute” (lines 420-421). Bartlett’s productional choice to have Medea by marginalised by her society, directly contradicting the acceptance that Medea received by characters in Euripides play confronts the audience with the notion that the social expectations of women have not necessarily improved over time.