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Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. In the time the play was written, what would the audience have typically known before coming to the theater?
2. Why does Medea think Jason is a coward?
3. Why does Medea promise she won't hurt Creon?
4. Who does Medea plan to take revenge against?
5. When did Medea kill for Jason?
Short Essay Questions
1. Why do you think Euripides chooses to portray Jason as completely cavalier to the effect of his behavior on Medea?
2. Do you think, with the chorus being so sympathetic to Medea, that it undercuts her claims that her life is more difficult because she is a foreigner? Why or why not?
3. What is significant about the way Creon encountered the poison?
4. Do you think Medea gains or loses sympathy during her scene with the messenger? Why?
5. What happens that enables Medea to put her plans into action?
6. Does the descriptions of the poison's effect lend credence to the idea that it was magical in nature?
7. Why is Medea's position as an outsider in Corinth so important to her and the chorus?
8. Knowing her plans for her children, why do you think Medea asks Jason to beg Creon to allow them to stay?
9. Why do you think Euripides introduces the Delphi oracle into the story?
10. What is the significance, in the first scene, of the Nurse urging the children to hide from their mother until her anger has passed?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
Aegeus introduces the concept of an oracle to the play. Examine the role of the oracle and the important role this concept plays within the context of the play.
Essay Topic 2
Medea has been a reviled character as long as the myth has been known, and yet Euripides clearly attempts to make the character sympathetic. Discuss the various methods the author uses to elicit audience sympathy for Medea, using specific details and examples from the text.
Essay Topic 3
The chorus plays an integral role within "Medea" and many classic Greek plays. Discuss this role, considering the following: What was the primary function of the chorus; how were the lines of the chorus delivered, and why was that delivery used; what is the interaction between the audience and the chorus?
This section contains 1,012 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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