摘要

希腊神话作为西方文明的摇篮和西方文学的源头，是古希腊人道德观、人生观和世界观的体现。美狄亚和伊阿宋的故事是希腊神话中的名篇，三大悲剧作家之一的欧里庇得斯据此创作出了脍炙人口的名篇《美狄亚》，千百年来一直为后人研究探索。美狄亚的形象应该被定义为受害者，复仇者还是女巫？伊阿宋的性格也值得探讨，在与美狄亚的婚姻之初，他就不自觉地处于婚姻关系的上风。美狄亚的杀子惩夫行为具有其特定的时代背景和深刻的内在原因，这也是本文讨论的重点。
本文将从历史唯物主义的视角，结合前人成果和对比希腊悲剧各种复仇故事，探究希腊悲剧复仇情节后所隐含的深刻的社会根源。文章首先明确希腊悲剧的意义及其对人类社会的影响，然后结合国内外研究成果对欧里庇得斯的悲剧《美狄亚》中人物形象和美狄亚复仇行为原因进行深入分析，并援引希腊神话中其他复仇故事比较，最后从古希腊道德观，哲学思想和民族精神等方面追寻希腊悲剧中复仇情节的根源，从而得出希腊悲剧对现代人世界观，人生观的启示。
本文既是为更深入全面学习英语和西方文化打下基础，又是对西方文化根源的一次探索，为广大英语学习者了解古希腊历史，文化，哲学精神等提供一项参考依据。

关键词：美狄亚，希腊悲剧，复仇情节，社会根源

Abstract

Greek Myth, as the cradle of western culture and origin of western literature, is the reflect of Greek ethics, view of life and world. The story of Medea and Jason is widely known by people, based on which Euripides, one of the three great tragic writers of ancient Greek, created the famous tragedy Medea. Medea’s story has been discussed and explored by generations. So the definition of Medea should be a victim, avenger or witch? And the character of Jason also needs discussion. From the beginning of their marriage, Jason has been the upper hand unconsciously. Killing her children to punish husband’s betrayal, which has its specific background and profound internal cause, is the focus point of this thesis.
This thesis explores the deep social origin behind the revenge complex in Greek tragedy from the viewpoint of historical materialism, combining the fruits of predecessors’ study and comparing with other revenge stories in Greek tragedy. It first makes the definition and effects of Greek tragedy clear. Then combining with the research findings at home and abroad, it gives a deep analysis on the images in Euripides’ Medea and Medea’s revenge act, and quoted other revenge stories for comparison. At last, it explores the origin of revenge complex in Greek tragedy from the perspectives of the ethics, philosophy and national spirit in ancient Greece and arrives at the inspiration of Greek tragedy on modern people’s view of life and world.
This thesis not only lays the foundation of profound and comprehensive study on English and western world, but also explores the origin of western culture, and it also provides more reference for vast English learners to understand the history, culture philosophy and spirit of ancient Greek.

Key words: Medea, Greek tragedy, revenge complex, social origin