The myth of Medea from the point of view of psychoanalysis

In this article, the myth of Medea is approached from a psychoanalytic perspective. It is based on two key ideas. The first is Freud's statement to Ernest Jones that fairy tales and myths may tell us about man's unconcious just as dreams do. The second is Philip Arlow's conclusion—shared by many other psychoanalysts—that myths are externalizations of unconcious childhood wishes and give them a concrete shape. These ideas cast a new light on myths as well as on Euripides ‘tragedy of Medea and add a completely new and deep dimension. Similar to a dream, a myth is viewed as an enigma; it may contain hidden wishes; its magic circle may turn events into their opposites and it can change its’ object by wrapping it in disguise. At the same time, the myth becomes clearly different from a story and a legend, or anything concrete for that matter. My interpretation of the myth of Medea is that of a girl's normal development, which essentially takes place in a two-person relationship before three-dimentionality is reached and understood. It is originally a description, which was sung collectively, of the achievements and difficulties of the development of a pre-oedipal girl, motivated by strong libidinal attempts to unite with her mother on the one side, wanting to separate from her on the other. An essential quality in this development is the pendulum movement towards and away from the mother, a swing that to a certain extent continues throughout a woman's life.