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The door to Medea's house remains closed for the entirety of the play and all of the events and speeches are delivered outside of the house. The door represents more than one metaphorical "barrier" in the play, perhaps most significantly the insurmountable divide that has developed between Medea and Jason, but it may also be seen to represent the divide between the foreigner (Medea) and the Greeks (everyone else), between Creon's rulership and true justice, or between truth and true-seeming rhetoric. When Jason commands his men to remove the bolts and open the door they never get a chance to do so: Medea appears above the stage in a flying chariot, carrying her dead children—the barriers will not, will never, be breached.
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The Door Symbol Timeline in Medea
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Door appears in Medea. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Lines 1-100
Outside the door to Medea's house in the city-state of Corinth, the Nurse laments that Jason's ship, the...
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...with their Tutor. The Tutor asks the Nurse why she is standing alone by the door talking to herself. She explains that she is so distressed she had to tell Medea's...
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Lines 201-300
Medea enters at the door. She tells the Chorus of Corinthian women that she has come out because she does...
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...her request and interrupts to say the ruler, Creon, is approaching. Creon arrives at the door and orders Medea into exile with her two sons. Medea asks Creon why he is...
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