Letters to Medea

Dear Medea,

It could be said that you went a little overboard, killing your husband’s new wife, her father, and then your two children! Are you mad! I feel as though I can understand why you would kill Jason’s new bride, I mean come on he is still married to you and he lets that cankerous whore in your bed! I even get the whole killing her father deal as well. To end the lives of your children; isn’t that taking the whole revenge things to far? No offense or anything.

Sincerely,

A semi-fearful fan, that has no children for you to kill.

Coward,

You dare say I, as you put it “went over board.” Half-measures are not for the likes of me. You examine my life as you would a shark, from the safety of your decrepit ship. Does a lion have need to explain herself to her prey? No! I do as I so chose because I am Medea; I am that I am. I will not allow one who was once so close to my heart run free with his trespasses, no crime against me will go unpunished. I do not partially commit to my actions, only a coward such as you would commit to half-measures. I killed those children, but they were no longer MY children. Those sacks of flesh were merely an extension of my foolish husband, and as I would a rotted limb, I cut them free. I would do so again if need be, I suffered his choices, choices in which he thought it well to not include my heart in. So I did more than he, I included his heart in my decisions, I carved it out entirely and thereby decimating any roots that threaten to take hold and regrow anew for all time. So I ask you, coward, am I not merciful in my finality?

Medea

P.S. Don’t ever have children, for you know not their worth.

Apollonian and Dionysian

There is no point is stating Nietzsche’s genius, most would agree that he had some amazing things to say, even if they do not agree. I find myself agreeing with many things that he says, specifically how he breaks down, or creates a different way to look at what theater does to us and for us.

He compares aspects of theater in his essay The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music utilizing the Greek gods Apollo and Dionysus. First he describes the Apollonian aspect as being the tangible part of theater, the stage, the construct of the play itself, separation of the audience as is like physical art forms that Apollo was responsible for, like sculpture, paintings and such.

Then there is the Dionysian aspect which occupies the art world within the mind in the states of dreams and drunkenness.

A representation of Dreams

While separate and unrelated to theater it means nothing. But when compared to each other and then the audience it is neat to see the whole picture. The audience is put into a kind of emotional frenzy when there is action on stage, specifically anything tragic. Then in the Greek tradition the Chorus would end the play explaining why things happened the way that they did. This serves as a way to calm the audience down from say a murder, suicide so that thought can take place to possibly see the why and the how’s. The emotion would be the Dionysian and the chorus and the medium of theater would be Apollonian. Both of these seem to work in opposition, and in many ways they do, but only on the surface. This tug of war between pathos and logos, or emotion and rational thought give the audience a unique full experience. The emotional side provides the shock and jarring experience that many enjoy when they see a production, then the very structure and idea of that structure allow for that emotion to be contained and visited in a controlled manner by the viewer; allowing for them to visit aspects of a production in a controlled manner at their leisure. Like I said before I like this perspective, primarily because I never saw these aspects of theater. Now that I do, I feel as though I gain much more from the whole experience.