Interchangeability of Identity and Intent in Euripides' Medea

Euripides' tragic play Medea projects an exterior that embodies ancient Greek values but also holds elements of subversive feminist outlooks and progressive political/social perspectives. The way in which the play does this is by having an undefined villain/hero hierarchy that is tainted by Euripides' ambiguous intention for the play's trajectory as far as reception by the audience is concerned.

The only figures in the play that one would expect the audience to truly identify with would be the Chorus. The role of the Chorus in relation to the other characters seems to be one that enforces reiteration of pity for the tragic events that take place. Both Jason and Medea then are transformed into villains and heroes as their actions are, in the shifting context of reception, both moral and despicable with the Chorus centralized and used as a mediator for the emotions of the audience.

Jason on one hand embodies the typical Athenian male ideal: he is wealthy, cunning, strong in battle, courageous, competitive, and politically motivated/aware (take his new arranged marriage as a prime example), but viewed in another light, he is selfish, inconsiderate, arrogant, and misogynistic. While the audience of the play may empathize with Jason's politically charged marriage and desire to increase his wealth and bloodline, the lament of the Chorus reminds the audience of the pain he is causing his own wife and redefines him as a scoundrel.

Medea's actions too follow this paradoxical model of being just as well as corrupt. She has been treated less than human, given no genuine respect (despite all her selflessness during Jason's previous adventure), condemned to banishment, and replaced by a young virgin princess, all after she was an ideal loyal childbearing wife to Jason. Her revenge seems justified, but when she brutally sacrifices her children to murder Jason's fiancé, the Chorus again sings several long lines of lament for her merciless and sadistic quest for retribution. Where this interchangeability of good and evil becomes interesting is when the audience's own interpretation of the play's intent is considered.

With Jason as the hero of the play and Medea as the ruthless villain, the play itself delivers the message that women are treacherous and that even when a man tries to prosper in society, the irrational rage of a woman will always be something that can jeopardize him. Adversely, with the roles reversed, the play is exemplifies Greek society as an engine for female oppression and shows the acceptable values embodies by society as flawed, one sided, and in several respects, cruel.