The Standpoint of Goodness: On the Dramatic Ethics in Medea

Abstract

In Medea, Euripides not only portrays the most classic female characters in ancient Greek tragedy through dark, violent, and bold means, but also presents the differentiated ethics and morals in ancient Greek polis to the audiences from a mythological perspective, the core conflict of tragedy points to the irreconcilable micro conflict, which directly involves different standpoints of goodness. This paper combines the concept of "literary judge" with the drama studies, attempting to explore the tragic causes of the Medea murder case from the aspects such as moral oppression in ancient Greek polis life, the transition from maternal mythology to patriarchal mythology, the continuation of personal values, and the consistency of ethics.