Medea

Stage Directions

"She grabs his hands”

“She collapses’

“Medea collapses to her knees”

“Medea stares at them. She is about to speak when Jason enters”

“ Medea watches her sons present Kreusa with the package”

“We see Medea, coved in blood. She carries the bodies of her sons. The rain stops. The thunder subsides”

What Medea said about herself

“Troubles come upon me like great waves”

‘Theres still life in me, I'm not finished”

“I have courage, enough to this through”

“Experts in terror, experts in pain”

“I abandoned my father, I slaughtered my brother”

“I have the magic of my ancestors”

“My shipwrecked life”

“I choose to take back my life”

“I am already nothing”

“Drowning in loss”

“Intensity of feeling”

“I blame myself, my pride, my sex”

“These tears are a sign simply of a women weakness’

“My heart is wrenched in two”

“Pathetic, weak- willed women”

“Throw off your sex”

What Other Characters Say About Medea

KREON

"Im afraid of you"

"Proud, lustful and Half mad with bitterness and jealousy"

"You're a stranger here, and your nature is dark, unknown"

"I fear your magic and your anger"

JASON

"You were nothing when I found you"

"You're jealous of Kreusa"

"Stop this stubbornness, open your eyes and see the help im offering you"

"I don't blame you for what has past"

"In letting me see my beloved boys, this is grace"

"You shall be hated, cursed by the gods"

"You're trying to kill me with grief"

"Temper would get you into trouble"

"You've forced yourself into exile"

"Your words don't hurt me"

"You're your own worst enemy'

"You've insulted the royal family"

"Still, I don't hate you"

"I civilised you"

AEGEUS

"My old friend and her young family'

"I will do all i can to protect you"

"Your marriage always seemed so complete a partnership"

ATTENDENT

"Are you insane? Can you smile at the devastation of our royal house"

CHORUS

"Once showed kindness to all the women of Corinth'

"We are not here to listen to her morbid self-pity"

"Slandered by the tongue of gossip"

"Extremities of passion lead us only into terrible danger"

" May they know the pain, that now we see in you"

"Murderous hands"

"Helpless wife"

"This terrible grief could make her do something foolish'

"Take your revenge Medea, the gods support you"

" The future for you now is dark uncertainty"

"We pity you hapless, helpless mother"

"Has a stone in place in place of her heart"

NURSE

"Fell horribly in love

"Slit their royal fathers throat"

"Fury that won't be calmed'

"Stays locked up in grief"

"She'll turn a bloody hand to her own house, her own family"

"She just snarls and glares when anyone approaches"

"Medea has begged him to remember his vows'

"Drives her to an awful grief, she has not eaten, she has not slept, she is half mad with sorrow"

"Can't bear to see her sons, the products of their father"

"She'll burn the bliss of Jason and his new wife"

"Weeps herself into nothingness and cannot be consoled"

"What she guards is her loss, nurturing it into fury"