The Tragic Life Story of Medea as Mother, Monster, and Muse

Download or read book The Tragic Life Story of Medea as Mother, Monster, and Muse written by Jana Rivers Norton and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2019-11-13 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers a critical yet empathic exploration of the ancient myth of Medea as immortalized by early Greek and Roman dramatists to showcase the tragic forces afoot when relational suffering remains unresolved in the lives of individuals, families and communities. Medea as a tragic figure, whose sense of isolation and betrayal interferes with her ability to form healthy attachments, reveals the human propensity for violence when the agony of unresolved grief turns to vengeance against those we hold most dear. However, metaphorically, her life story as an emblem for existential crisis serves as a psychological touchstone in the lives of early twentieth-century female authors, who struggled to find their rightful place in the world, to resolve the sorrow of unrequited love and devotion, and to reconcile experiences of societal abandonment and neglect as self-discovery.