Readings in Greek Literature (301-0-1)

Topic

Euripides' Medea

Instructors

Marianne Hopman
847/491-8361
Kresge Hall 4361
Office Hours: Tu/Th from 3:30-4:30pm

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-420: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

Under what circumstances might a mother decide to commit the unspeakable and willingly murder her own children? The range of contemporary retellings of the myth of Medea attests to the powerful resonances of a story whose contours originate in a tragedy composed by the playwright Euripides and performed in Athens in 431 BCE. In this course, we will explore how Euripides presented Athenian spectators with a performance that challenged their expectations about gender roles, heroism, revenge, and social ties, among other questions. We will read most of the play in Greek and put it in conversation with English translations of fifth-century BCE texts documenting the cultural horizon of expectations for the 431 BCE performance of Euripides' Medea. Assignments will include a series of scaffolded projects, oral and written, culminating with an original piece of scholarship on the play.

Class Materials (Required)

Mastronarde, D. J. Euripides: Medea. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. ISBN 9780521643863

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area