A key element of both Medea and the School for Wives is the power and position of women in male dominated worlds. For the writers of the time, the style and techniques used to portray these women on the same level as men, would unquestionably have been provocative. Generally speaking, the social worlds of the plays were based upon patriarchal societies where the male was given absolute power. The playwrights of both plays use this commonly accepted value of the relevant society and turn it around to explore the ability of women to triumph in the male realm.
             Medea in her opening speech comments on the injustice women suffer in a patriarchal society. She addresses the women of Corinth regarding their duties as wives to their husbands. "For women, divorce is not respectable." Medea points out that a woman is not free to socialize in public, as men are. While men roam wild, indulging sexual appetites or enjoying the company of friends, women are expected to stay at home. The implication of injustice and voicing this was quite challenging and provocative. One wonders how an audience of males and females would react to this. Medea it seems may have tolerated some degree of Jason's philandering but his total betrayal stirs her sense of outrage. Even the nurse registers the hurt Medea suffers.
             "Jason has betrayed his own sons, and my mistress, for a royal bed.. He has married Glauce, Creon's daughter. Poor Medea! Scorned and shamed, she raves, invoking every vow and solemn pledge that Jason made her."
             Medea is a very complex character in the play. She has both male and female qualities. For example, her previous despair and eruptions of passions were classified as 'typical' female. Her emotional rage is stalwart and her masculine qualities are introduced for the first time, which is typical of ancient Greek males. She dominates the stage immediately and her power radiates through her actions ...