2022 IB Diploma Extended Essays

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Conclusion Through the expectations placed on the character Medea in both productions of Medea , and the verbal interactions between Medea and the chorus in Euripides’ play and the conversations between Medea and Pam and Sarah in Bartlett’s play, both playwrights are able to effectively reflect their society’s perception and expectations of women through their productions of the play. The impact of chorus’ reactions to Medea’s relationships and emotions, is bolstered by other literary devices employed by the playwrights, such as lengthy versus short monologues, and graphic imagery. Additionally, the paradigm of role reversal confronted the relative audiences of the plays with their patriarchal expectations of the feminine role to be weak and subservient to the male gender, providing an insight into the social constraints of the relative time periods. Furthermore, the similarities between the gendered management of emotions in Ancient Greece and modern times are revealed through the similarities between the emotions felt by Euripides’ and Bartlett’s Medea. Ultimately, the production of the plays Medea by Euripides and Medea by Mike Bartlett reflect their relative society’s perceptions of women through the contradiction of Medea’s character compared to a stereotypical women. Both Euripides and Bartlett accurately reflect the gendered expectations of their relative time periods, in the areas of a woman’s marital relations and her emotions.