Stereotypical attributes traditionally associated with women, such as having a propensity to madness, or being irrational, frivolous, dependant, decorative, subordinate, scheming, manipulative, weak, jealous, gossiping, vulnerable and deceitful were common in the times relevant to both works, i.e. Ancient Greece and in the 19th and early 20th Century.

Masculine attributes in Euripides' time were more along the lines of being valiant, heroic, noble, dominant (over women,) politically powerful, assertive, and competitive. The 19th Century white British male was also expected to be domestically and politically dominant, stiff upper lipped, virile, authoritative, somewhat forbidding... patriarchal.

Though written millennia apart, both Euripides' "Medea," and Rhys's "Wide Sargasso Sea" portray the subjugation of women (by men,) in a patriarchal society, along with its inherent suspicion of women, their sexuality and power over men's perceived weaknesses. In both works, the leading man's financial status is enhanced by the relationship, his partner's...