ABSTRACT
The presentation of the Medea myth in literature and in art finds its echo in the theatre of the courtroom where wronged women who have refused passively to accept their place have, instead, responded with violence. Medea is an image of deviant femininity, as are Lady Macbeth and the countless other un-feminine literary and mythological women who challenge the power of the dominant culture and its ally, the Law. Medea mutates from vamp to a murderous image of destructive fury, the soul sister of the implacable Furies of classical mythology. One way in which Law and society may deal with the fear engendered by women who commit the ultimate crime is to remove from them the attribute of rationality: to contend that the only possible explanation for their actions lies in the unhinging of their minds. The case law on battered women, as well as their fictional equivalents, are stories of the postmodern Medea.
