1. Medea

2.  Jason (Medea’s husband)  Pelias, his uncle, tells him he can inherit throne  If he retrieves Golden Fleece (magical ram) located at Colchis  Colchis – in the Black Sea, at the edge of the known world  Jason sails on the Argo (with the Arogonauts)  Learns the GF is in possession of King Aeetes (or Aietes)  Aeetes – sun of Helios  Medea, Aeetes’s daughter, falls in love with Jason  Uses her knowledge of magic to help him survive challenges  Yoking of fire-breathing bulls  Dragon’s teeth that sprung up as armored men BACKGROUND (TRUST ME, YOU’LL NEED IT)

3.  Medea drugs dragon and kills her brother (throws pieces into the sea)  Medea marries Jason and helps him return home  Pelias reneged on bargain  Medea persuades his daughters to butcher father  Tells them they can restore you by killing him and mixing him in cauldron with herbs, etc.  Medea and Jason run away to Corinth where they live together for around ten years and have two kids.  After a while, Jason realizes that Medea is no longer useful to him and leaves her for the younger princess Glauce, the daughter of King Creon of Corinth. BACKGROUND (TRUST ME, YOU’LL NEED IT)

4.  Greek drama explores the human condition:  Certainty/Uncertainty  Free will vs. destiny.  Moral responsibility.  Human suffering  So what? The Greeks were the first to make drama a major part of culture. GREEK DRAMA

5.  MAJOR POINT: NO VIOLENCE ON STAGE. If violence is part of the story, the characters talk as if it happened somewhere else.  Prologue: First scene of the play (exposition).  Parados: Chorus’s first song.  Scenes: Major divisions of a play (rising action).  Odes: Chorus songs between scenes—review the action from the scenes. Divided into strophes and antistrophes of equal length.  Strophe: The chorus moves from right to left while singing.  Antistrophe: The chorus moves from left to right while singing.  Exodos: The final scene of the play (climax, falling action, resolution. STRUCTURE

6.  Unity of time: The plot of the story takes place in a single day.  Unity of space: The setting of the story is one location.  Unity of action: Everything in the story relates to a single plot (no subplots/side stories). THREE UNITIES

7.  Models appropriate reaction  Comments on the action  Provides history/background  Sometimes establishes major themes/ideas  Represents common man CHORUS