Volume 19, 2007 - Brown University

Fluency and Fear: An Investigation of
Rhetoric as Presented in Euripides’ Medea
Hillary Dixler
In his “Notes on the Balinese Cockfight,” anthropologist Clifford Geertz examines
the implications of this seemingly obscure societal ritual. He argues that the
performance “Of Cocks and Men” in Bali is ultimately “a story they tell themselves
about themselves” (1973: 417, 448). Although the essay has a relatively
narrow focus, the analysis points to a broader theory of performance within society.
Geertz ultimately demonstrates that through performance, a society can
show itself to itself. When looking at the text and conditions of performance of
Euripides’ Medea, then, one might ask: what was Euripides showing the Greeks
about the Greeks? Among several other cultural values and tendencies, Euripides
expresses in his play a deep concern for the way rhetoric and words are used
in his society. In its plot, themes, structure, and performance, Medea demonstrates
a simultaneous dependence on and aversion to words, which constitute
one of the definitional qualities of Greek drama and life.
From the opening of his play, Euripides frames the story of Medea as one
centered on words and their power. Explaining Medea’s history, the nurse introduces
the theme of manipulation of words within the first few lines of the play
saying, “Nor would she have persuaded the daughters of Pelias / To kill their
father” (Med.II.9-20). Stressing the act of persuasion and its relation to the
crime, Euripides creates a backstory for Medea that revolves around deceptive
words. Medea herself, much later in the play, explains that her circumstances are
in part due to the power of persuasive words to deceive. In her second long
address to the chorus of Corinthian women, Medea explains, “My mistake was
made the time I left behind me / My father’s house, and trusted the words of a
Greek” (Med.II.784-785). The significance of spoken deception continues
through the play as the characters emphasize the importance of promises,
pledges, and oaths, all of which imply verbal agreements. Euripides shows that
words are tremendously powerful in their ability to bind people to each other
through such “contracts.” Yet, in showing the facility with which those same
characters break oaths and use words to deceive, Euripides reveals a simultaneous
respect for and distrust of words.
Euripides more fully develops his hesitant relationship with rhetoric in his
play through the character of Medea. Aside from attributing her downfall to
believing Jason’s words, Medea further explains to the chorus the dangers that
rhetorically fluent people present in general. The greatest crime, in Medea’s
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