Recognition and the Character of Seneca's Medea

Bexley, E.M.

doi:10.1017/s1750270516000051

Recognition and the Character of Seneca's Medea

Bexley, E.M.

Authors

Dr Erica Bexley erica.m.bexley@durham.ac.uk
Associate Professor

Abstract

This article examines the character and identity of Seneca's Medea. Focusing on the recognition scene at the end of the play, I investigate how Medea constructs herself both as a literary figure and as an implied human personality. The concluding scene of Seneca's Medea raises crucial questions about self-coherence and recognisability: in contrast to other moments of anagnōrisis in Greco-Roman drama, it confirms the pre-existing facets of Medea's identity, rather than revealing new ones. This concept of recognition as self-confirmation is also integral to Seneca's Stoic view of human selfhood, and Medea's use of Stoic principles in this play reinforces her dual status as textual entity and quasi-person.

Citation

Bexley, E. (2016). Recognition and the Character of Seneca's Medea. The Cambridge Classical Journal, 62, 31-51. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1750270516000051

Journal Article Type	Article
Online Publication Date	Aug 8, 2016
Publication Date	Dec 1, 2016
Deposit Date	Sep 27, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Oct 2, 2017
Journal	The Cambridge Classical Journal
Print ISSN	1750-2705
Electronic ISSN	2047-993X
Publisher	Cambridge Philological Society
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	62
Pages	31-51
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1017/s1750270516000051
Related Public URLs	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa27562#details

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Copyright Statement
This article has been published in a revised form in Cambridge Classical Journal https://doi.org/10.1017/s1750270516000051. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Cambridge University Press.