What happens in Chapter 6 of Medea?
The Second Stasimon holds a brief but crucial place between Jason's cold departure and Medea's firm resolve. The Chorus of Corinthian women, deeply affected by what they have witnessed, sings about the perils of Eros and the tragedy of exile. They start by praising moderation in love—Aphrodite, they argue, should come gently, rather than in the overwhelming, destructive wave that has engulfed Medea. The ode then shifts to the nightmare of being stateless: being forced from one's homeland means losing all sense of identity, a fate the Chorus sees as worse than death. They note that a person without a city has no one to turn to in times of suffering, and they subtly recognize that Medea, who has been doubly displaced—first from Colchis and now facing expulsion from Corinth—represents this horror. The stasimon ends with a sense of civic pride, celebrating the fortunate lives of those born in a thriving city, sharply contrasting with Medea's complete dispossession. This ode serves as a choral interlude, slowing the dramatic pace while heightening the emotional tension before Aegeus arrives.
Analysis
Euripides uses the Second Stasimon as a critical pivot in both structure and tone. While the First Stasimon expressed sympathy for Medea's betrayal, this ode expands its focus to larger cosmic and civic issues, subtly shifting the Chorus's feelings from solidarity to anxiety. This choice is intentional: by celebrating measured Eros, the Chorus indirectly critiques Jason's coldness and Medea's overwhelming passion, avoiding simple moral judgments.
The theme of metron—measure and proportion—pervades the ode, acting as a counterbalance to the play's growing intensity. Euripides employs the elevated style of the lyric form to create philosophical distance, but the imagery of exile quickly draws that distance back into Medea's harsh reality. The refrain of the rootless wanderer who has "no city" mirrors Medea's earlier description of herself, linking the Chorus's abstract ideas to the specific drama.
Tonally, the stasimon embodies a dual movement: it laments and it warns. The Chorus's praise of civic belonging serves both as a lament for what Medea has lost forever and as a subtle critique of Creon's order. In this way, Euripides uses the ode to spread moral scrutiny across various elements—passion, political authority, and fate—rather than allowing it to rest solely on one character. This ambiguity represents the ode's most nuanced success, keeping the audience’s sympathies in a productive state of tension just as the story approaches Medea's horrifying plan.
Key quotes from Chapter 6
“Let Eros never come to me with murderous intent, / nor with irresistible passion, but with gentle grace.”
The Chorus opens the stasimon with a direct prayer to Aphrodite, establishing the ode's central argument that love in excess destroys rather than fulfills.
“There is no life for those without a city; / the most pitiable of all is the man who has no place to turn.”
The Chorus pivots from love to exile, articulating the civic horror of statelessness that defines Medea's precarious position in Corinth.
“May I never be without my homeland, / passing my days in the helpless grief of exile.”
The ode closes with a personal prayer from the Chorus that doubles as an implicit lament for Medea, whose exile is now all but certain.
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Create an accountSign inVocabulary in Chapter 6
- Eros
- The Greek god of love and desire, whose arrows were said to cause people to fall passionately in love, sometimes with destructive consequences.
- irresistible passion
- An overwhelming romantic or sexual desire so powerful that a person cannot resist or control it, often leading to ruin.
- exile
- Forced removal from one's home city or country, often as a legal punishment, leaving the person without a homeland or community to return to.