Eloquence

Content Objectives

The AP English Language course focuses on rhetoric: the choices writers and speakers make to reach most effectively a particular audience for a particular purpose. In class, we read closely many essays and articles, analyzing the effectiveness of diction, syntax, and rhetorical devices. We do not, however, practice enough. My students participate in Socratic seminars and other forms of class discussion; however, we do not do more formal forms of oral communication. This unit will help me change that.

To look at them, one cannot tell that so many of these well-groomed, respectful, hard-working teens live in converted two-room garages with their families, some having moved four or five times before landing there. But they do. It would also be difficult to believe that this child with the ready smile, willing spirit, and generous heart is the same child whose brother, sister, mother, father, cousin, aunt, or uncle (and sometimes the student himself) has had—at the very least—a run-in with the law, sometimes resulting in time in jail or juvenile hall. Also, like Medea, many of them are immigrants or were born into immigrant families fleeing economic and/or social conditions in their home countries for better opportunities in the United States, a country that currently is not always a welcoming one and that too eagerly seeks to marginalize them even more than they already are. These are the personal experiences that I believe will generate interest in and enthusiasm for my curriculum unit and that will carry them through the difficult tasks ahead.

By the end of this unit, my students will realize the power of both the oral and the written arguments. Contrary to what they currently believe or tell themselves—that some people "are just good with words," but they're not one of them, so why waste their time trying—they will come to understand that crafting a persuasive argument may take time and research, but it is doable by them, not just those they think are gifted. They will come to realize that the skills they learn through this project is something they will carry with them forever, that they own their education; it is, in the words of my father, "the one thing that no one can ever take from you." My last objective for this unit is that they realize that although another person's life may never depend on the eloquence and persuasiveness of their words, their own lives will, in one way or another.

Essential Questions

1. Is Medea's behavior justifiable?
2. Should Jason be held partially responsible for Medea's actions?
3. Is there a true version of events?
4. What constitutes a just outcome?
5. What makes an argument persuasive?
6. Does justice depend on the abilities of one's advocate?
7. How can one frame a narrative to appeal to the broadest possible audience?

Enduring Understandings

1. Crafting a persuasive argument takes time and attention to detail.
2. Delivering a persuasive oral argument takes practice.
3. Knowing one's audience is essential to writing and delivering an effective argument.

Background

Euripides

Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, Euripides is generally considered one of the top ancient Greek tragic poets and playwrights. Believed to have been born in Athens between 485-480 B.C. to a noble family, he began producing plays in 455. According to Richmond Lattimore, Euripides was "only moderately successful in his own lifetime," but gained greater fame and exerted greater influence posthumously. ⁵ He entered his plays into the Greek festivals but won first place only four or five times ⁶ during his lifetime. Medea, presented in 431 at the annual festival of Dionysus, won third place.

The Quest for the Golden Fleece ⁷

For the purposes of this lesson, the legend of Medea, a gruesome one, begins with Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece. Jason's uncle, Pelias, usurped the throne from the rightful king, Aeson, Jason's father, and sent Jason into exile. Upon Jason's return, King Pelias feigns gladness to see his nephew's return. During a dinner celebrating Jason's return, Pelias finagles Jason into volunteering to set out on a quest for the Golden Fleece before Pelias surrenders the throne to Jason.

When Jason arrives on the island of Colchis with the Argonauts, Medea falls madly in love with him. She is not just the daughter of King Aeetes, ruler of Colchis; she is also a witch, a sorceress whose specialty is potions. Not believing that Jason will be successful, King Aeetes agrees to allow Jason to take the Golden Fleece—if he can get to it, for it is no easy task. The Golden Fleece hangs in a cave guarded by a dragon. But even before he can get to the cave, he must first yoke two bulls and then sow a field with seeds. The catch? The bulls breathe fire. Medea, however, is unwilling to allow the man she loves to fall victim to her father's machinations. She convinces Jason to take her with him when he leaves in exchange for her aid in winning the Golden Fleece. He readily agrees. So she concocts a salve that Jason slathers on himself, rendering him impervious to harm from the bulls' fiery breath, and he is able to harness the bulls, much to the disappointment of King Aeetes. Jason then plows and sows the seeds given to him by the king. What Jason does not know, though, is the magical property of the seeds, for they are no ordinary seeds. These are dragon's teeth from which spring warriors fully formed and ready for battle. Again, Medea intervenes. She tells Jason to throw a stone in the midst of the warriors, and he does. When the rock hits one, the warrior turns and attacks the one next to him. A fierce battle ensues, and by the end, all the dragon's teeth warriors lie dead in the field. King Aeetes hides his displeasure and congratulates Jason, encouraging him to enter the cave to collect the Golden Fleece. However, Jason heeds Medea's counsel to wait. In the dead of night and unbeknownst to her father, Medea leads Jason into the cave where the Fleece is guarded by the dragon. She drugs it, allowing Jason to collect the fleece. Fearing reprisal and her father's wrath, immediately they flee Colchis on the Argo, taking with them Medea's brother. Upon discovering Medea's betrayal, King Aeetes sets sail after them. Medea again acts to protect Jason, but this time with fatal consequences. She kills her brother and dumps the pieces of his corpse into the sea. She does this knowing full well that her father will stop to collect those pieces, something he must do in order to provide his beloved son a proper burial. Thus, Medea and Jason successfully escape to Iolcus.

Upon their arrival, Medea realizes that King Pelias has no intention of relinquishing the throne, so she devises a plan to end Pelias's reign. How she accomplishes this differs slightly on fairly minor details. In one version, she plays directly to the king's vanity, promising him she can make him young again. In another version, she promises his daughters that she can restore their father's youth. In both versions, she demonstrates this power by cutting up an old ram and placing the pieces in a cauldron filled with a potion, and out springs a spry, young lamb. Upon seeing this, the parties agree to have Pelias's daughters cut him up into pieces and place those pieces in the cauldron. However, there is no rejuvenation. And for the second time, Jason and Medea must flee. They end up in the kingdom of Corinth, where they settle and start a family. After a number of years, Jason abandons Medea and their children to marry the Princess of Corinth. Medea exacts revenge on Jason by gifting to his new bride a robe and crown laced poison. The poison kills not only the princess but also her father, King Creon, who dies trying to save his child. However, they are not the only victims of Medea's wrath. To punish Jason further, she takes from him what she thinks he loves most: the lives of his children. She then escapes to Athens, taking advantage of the sanctuary promised to her by King Aegeus.

Analysis of the Relationship of Medea and Jason: It's Complicated

According to Edith Hall, Medea is unique in Greek tragedies for being the only "kin-killer[]" who, by play's end, is not punished or in some other way held accountable for her crime. ⁸ For example, at the end of Sophocles' Oedipus the King, Oedipus is blind (by his own hand) and banished from his homeland as the result of a curse he himself laid on the killer of King Laius, not knowing that King Laius was his father and that the killer was Oedipus himself. ⁹ In Aeschylus' trilogy Oresteia, Agamemnon is killed by his wife, Clytemnestra, for sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia to the gods for a favorable wind to sail to Troy. ¹⁰ In turn, Clytemnestra (and her lover Aegisthus) is killed by Orestes, her son, for the slaying of Agamemnon. ¹¹ For the murder of his mother, Orestes is pursued by the Furies (spirits of vengeance and justice whose particular specialty is punishing those who murder a family member). Not until he reaches Athens is he tried and acquitted of the crime, with Athena herself casting the deciding vote. ¹²

It is tempting to think of Medea as a one-dimensional character: vengeful wife and baby killer who, literally, got away with murder. However, analysis of her dialogue with other characters reveals a woman more complex and a relationship more complicated than any one reading can possibly reveal.

When Creon comes to inform her that she is banished from the kingdom of Corinth, he admits that she frightens him. Based on the rumors he has been hearing, he is "[a]fraid that [she] may injure [his] daughter mortally." ¹³ He fears her cleverness, and so he is taking precautionary measures to protect his daughter from the harm she is plotting against his daughter and Jason. ¹⁴ But despite these fears and against his better judgment, he is persuaded by Medea to give her a one-day reprieve to get her affairs in order before she leaves. ¹⁵ She accomplishes this by appealing not to Creon the King but to Creon the parent. This exchange between the two is a perfect example of Medea's ability to find her opponent's weakness and exploit it for her own gain.

In her first appearance before the Chorus of Corinthian women, she begins to examine the role of women in society and the double standard to which men and women are held. She claims that "women are the most unfortunate creatures" ¹⁶ because they must "buy a husband, and take for our bodies/A master; for not to take one is even worse." ¹⁷ She notes that men have it much easier than women:

A man, when he's tired of the company in his home, Goes out of the house and puts an end to his boredom And turns to a friend or companion of his own age. But we are forced to keep our eyes on one alone. ¹⁸

Medea's critique is a feminist one, one that pointedly criticizes the unfairness of what is expected of men and of women in the same situations. We see this again in her in her first tête-à-tête with Jason.

He claims her "loose speaking" ¹⁹ is what forced King Creon to banish her from Corinth, and despite his own efforts to "calm down/The anger of the king," ²⁰ it was her "folly, continually/Speaking ill of [the king]" ²¹ that prevented him from arguing successfully on her behalf. Incensed, she accuses him of cowardice, going through the litany of ways in which he owes his success to her. Jason counters that she is mistaken: she owes him. It was he who did her the favor, that "instead of living among barbarians,/You inhabit a Greek land and understand our ways,/How to live by law instead of the sweet will of force." ²² He goes on to argue that his marriage to the princess "was a clever move,/Secondly, a wise one, and, finally, that I made it/In your best interests and the children's." ²³ He further argues that part of her anger stems from sexual frustration, that if she wasn't so distracted by the "love question," she might see how sensible his actions are. ²⁴

Whether it is the persuasiveness of Medea's argument or Jason's inability to articulate sincerely his concerns for the position of his children in Corinth (neither he nor Medea are citizens of Corinth, thus neither they nor their children are conferred the rights of citizenships), the Chorus sides with Medea, chiding him, "Jason, though you have made this speech of yours look well,/Still I think, even though others do not agree,/You have betrayed your wife and are acting badly." ²⁵ These are the speeches that the class will examine, which will later come in handy when they are preparing for trial and analyzing the text for evidence to later use at trial. ²⁶

Insanity Defense

There is no question that Medea killed the princess of Corinth, King Creon, and her own two children. The trial is to determine whether she will be acquitted based on her affirmative defense of insanity.

A defense of insanity asserts that the defendant cannot be held liable for his or her acts because of a mental defect. How this is determined depends on how the law defines the proper mens rea (criminal intent). The insanity defense in American jurisprudence has a long history. There is no universal rule for all states; however, the majority of jurisdictions follow some form of the M'Naghten Rule. ²⁷ In 1843 in England, David M'Naghten, believing that British Prime Minister Robert Peel was persecuting him, killed the British prime minister's secretary, mistakenly believing that it was Peel. ²⁸ The rule holds that

every person is presumed to be sane and that to establish the insanity defense it must be clearly proved that the defendant did not know [emphasis added] that what he was doing was wrong. ²⁹

M'Naghten is sometimes paired with the Irresistible Impulse Doctrine, which adds that a "defendant should not be punished for an act where he had no freedom of will" due to his mental disease or defect. ³⁰ In other words, a defendant cannot be held responsible for actions he cannot control, even if he knew that his actions were wrong.

The other major insanity defense test is the Durham Rule. In Durham v. United States (1954), the United States Supreme Court held that "a person is not responsible for a criminal act if he suffered at the time from a mental disease or defect and if the act was a 'product' of the disease or defect.'" ³¹ In short, a defendant is not criminally liable for acts committed because of the mental disease or defect. The Supreme Court provided no assistance in defining what constituted a "product," so courts had difficulty applying the rule. Because of this, Durham is now out of favor and used only in New Hampshire, where it originated. ³² For this reason, the Durham Rule will not be the standard by which Medea will be judged. Also, if the M'Naghten Rule is the standard of review the jury uses to judge Medea's guilt or innocence, she will clearly lose for there are no expert witnesses to call upon to speak to Medea's mental state. Instead, for purposes of the mock trial, students will use the rule developed by the American Law Institute:

A person is not responsible for criminal conduct if at the time of such conduct as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirement of the law. ³³

A blend of the M'Naghten Rule and the Irresistible Impulse Doctrine, the Model Penal Code allows some flexibility for the defense attorneys to argue there is no evidence that she knew what she was doing was wrong, or that even if she knew it was wrong that she could not control her actions. For example, after Medea convinces King Aegeus to give her safe harbor if she can make it to Athens on her own, she confesses to the Chorus that it makes her "weep" to think of what she will do after her children have delivered to the princess the poisoned robe and diadem: kill her children. ³⁴ Is implicit in this confession an acknowledgement of the wrongness of her planned act? Discussion in Socratic seminars, whole-class discussions, and/or fishbowl discussions will lay the groundwork for this line of defense as well as provide students the opportunity to raise counter-arguments to such a defense. It opens up for debate how to interpret her actions, her words, her motivation. And that is where (I hope!) the most fruitful discussions will take place.

Jury Nullification

There is one other possibility that may result in a verdict in Medea's favor: jury nullification. This happens when the jury acquits a defendant despite the fact that all elements of the charges against him or her have been met. ³⁵ Circumstances under which a jury might do this are when the jury feels following the letter of the law would result in an unjust verdict, or a verdict that would offend members' senses of morality or fairness. Because jury nullification is, in essence, the result of a breach of the jury's duty to render a verdict based solely on applying the law to the evidence presented at trial, attorneys may not present the concept to the jury.

In this case, it would not be a complete surprise if the jury decides that despite the evidence that Medea was not insane at the time she acted, they cannot convict her because they dislike Jason and the callous way in which he treated Medea and their children. This line of discussion will manifest in class discussions as students try to make sense of characters actions and motivations. A not-guilty verdict could be their way of holding Jason partially liable for his actions.