Medea’s Violence: Apathy as a Politics of Withdrawal

This article explores the political implications of the figure of Medea by analyzing the affinity between violence and nonviolence in her actions. A new reading of two versions of the mythical material—the apparently violent Medea in Euripides’s tragedy, and the apparently nonviolent Medea in Christa Wolf’s novel, Medea: Stimmen—shows that her actions, which have no means at their disposal, are effective in that they exercise a form of active apathy: Medea acts by withdrawing from the effects of the patriarchal order, especially in her refusal of the affects that are expected from her. This interpretation shows that, far from being a madwoman, Medea is a stoic, capable, and effective in action.