Medea: Shadows and Longing
Medea, that mythical sorceress whose magic built a king and then destroyed him. For over 2,000 years she has captivated our attention. Reviled by some for her unspeakable actions, understood by others as a woman robbed of any personal agency. Medea operated in the shadows, often crafting her spells in secret, and she can also be seen as being in the grips of the shadow self. Her longing for her prince, and perhaps power, possessed her above all. In this episode, Angela Natividad and I explore the themes of Medea, then find examples of her in contemporary society (Amber Heard, for example). We draw from both art and literature to discuss how Medea, as a symbol of the dangerous woman, is entwined with both the systemic disempowerment of women and capitalism. The central question we used was borrowed from Margaret Atwood's introduction to Christina Wolf's contemporary retelling of Medea's story: "Like a tunnel full of mirrors, it both reflects and echoes. The question it asks the reader, through many voices and in many different ways, is: What would you be willing to believe, to accept, to conceal, to do, to save your own skin, or simply to stay close to power? Who would you be willing to sacrifice?" You can watch this with closed captioning and view the transcript here. In "Entering Hekate's Garden," Medea plays a central role as the Queen of Poisons. You can find this book, along with my others, in different formats from major online booksellers. Access the PDF of the slides in the video here. Go deeper by joining The Covina Institute.