“Social Relations between the Sexes in Athena Farrokhzad’s Morals According to Medea”

This paper explores how patriarchal power relations construct the idea of “nature” in Athena Farrokhzad’s Morals According to Medea (Moral enligt Medea, 2022), an adaptation of Euripides’ classic play Medea (431 BCE). The analysis will concentrate on Medea’s subversion of patriarchal “appropriation” tactics from a feminist perspective, particularly through ideological codes embedded in the dialogues between Medea and Morality, the only other character in the play. By doing so, it seeks to understand women’s position in relation to patriarchy through a materialist feminist lens, with particular attention to the conflict between Medea and Morality. The focus will also be on how Medea challenges traditional discourses of motherhood, constructed within male-dominated societal structures. The study will further discuss the ways in which she raises her voice in resistance, both as a local and as a refugee, within the spaces where she is either confined or expelled. The discussion will be framed within the context of the theory of social relations between the sexes highlighting the specific impact of women’s resistance and militancy in examining the mechanisms of sovereignty.