Summary:
The messenger in Euripides' play The Medea plays and essential role. The messenger in the play is a slave of the royal house. He is not a nurse or any other particularly significant role that would, make him stand out against the other slaves. His role in the play is simply a role of a storyteller.
Derrick Martin
Paper #2 11/22/05
Prof. Anderson
A33320865
Messenger A nalysis
The messenger in Euripides' play The Medea plays and essential role. The messenger in the play is a slave of the royal house. He is not a nurse or any other particularly significant role that would, make him stand out against the other slaves. His role in the play is simply a role of a storyteller. He is sent to deliver news that Medea's dress that she smeared with poison has had the desired effect, and killed the princess Creusa and her father king Creon. He saw the event first hand and has come to tell Medea that she must flee before she is murdered for her treacherous acts. The messenger states that he was originally overcome with joy along with the majority of the other slaves; when they thought Medea and the king had reconciled and the kids were not going to be banished. He even says "some [servants] kissed the children's hands and some their yellow hair." Medea asks him to recall how they died. He recalls the story impartially, but with vivid detail and great enthusiasm.
Through the intensity that the story was told the speech further accentuates the climax of the play. The messenger tells the story of the princess death in gruesome detail. Descriptive literary techniques help the audience feel how the slave felt while watching it live. The use of simile is perfected, "Like the drops on the pine-bark, so the flesh from her bones dropped away, torn by the hidden fang of the poison." Metaphors are also used to help the audience envision what has happened off stage as well, this is exemplified when the recount of the father trying to escape is described as resembling "ivy [that] clings to the twigs of the laurel, So he stuck to the fine dress." While passages like, "The white foam breaking through her lips and her rolling The pupils of her eyes and her face all bloodless" further make it possible to envision what has taken place off the stage. The messenger's use of imagery to portray looks on the victim's face allows us to see Creusas personal demise almost in slow motion.
The fact that the audience feels like a witness to the event is extremely important to this tragedy. The use of similes, metaphors, and imagery in the monologue of the messenger was a common tactic used by playwrights to depict scenes that were not easily shown on stage. To keep from having a break to change set, particularly while leading up to the climax. The use of a messenger in The Medea was even more important when acted out rather than read. A messenger acts as a foil, and adds to the overall dramatic value of a play, raising its excitement, and simultaneously contributing to a smooth flow.
Without the messengers speech in The Medea the overall understanding and appreciation for the plot would be lost. If the messenger speech had not occurred and confirmed the murder of Creusa and Creon there would have been no real reason to go immediately and slay her children so that no one else could. This would have allowed Jason time the get to Medea, and she would not have got warning to flee and would have been murdered by Jason. Jason's all encompassing grief would not have occurred, along with Medea not getting her revenge. The audience would not have formed any personal sentiments with either character, be it Jason or Medea. Consequently the audience would not have been able to fully appreciate the plot.
The use of a messenger speech also allows the audience to see Medea's elation that Creusa and Creon are dead, she even says to the messenger that she will "count [him] among her benefactors and friends." Althought she thanks the messenger it is still not enough. She wants to hear the gory details, and says that it "would delight [her] twice as much if [he] said they died in agony." This shows us Medea's determined and sadistic nature in regards to forcing grief upon Jason. The speech also helps us to see how much Jason cares for the children because he went through the effort of trying to get Creon to "reprieve these children from their exile." So when Medea ultimately slays her own children and does not allow Jason to even touch their flesh or give them a burial at home, it hurts him all the more. If we did not have the messenger speech we would not fully be able to appreciate the extent of Jason's pain, and would therefore take away from the overall worth of the tragedy.
Without the messenger speech in The Medea, the audience would lack a great deal of appreciation for Euripides' work. The play would have been a more awkward performance. Set changes during the climactic period of the tragedy would have taken focus off of the plot. The bloody murders could not have happened on stage because of tradition, so they would have been left totally unexplained. If left like that the thematic conclusion would have been clouded, and the audience would not have felt an understanding with the plays underlying themes and issues, as well as the characters themselves. This includes Medea and her aggressive and vengeful nature as well as Jason and his overwhelming grief. Without this messenger speech Euripides' work would not have been an entertaining and well written tragedy.
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