Euripides, one of the most famous playwrights of ancient Greece, could be considered an early advocate of women's rights. With works such as Alcestis and Medea, he clearly places emphasis on the plight of women and even integrates them into the chorus of the latter work, a feat that was not often performed in ancient Greece. Over the years, it has been argued that the two central characters in each of these plays offered contrasting representations of the women of their times, and I can confidently say I agree with that argument. I will expand my point by pointing out an important similarity between Alcestis and Medea, followed by a key difference, and I will finish by contrasting them with the ancient Greek representation of an “ideal woman.” First, although my thesis states If I support the thesis that Alcestis and Medea represent contrasting ideas of a woman, some similarities are not lost on me. In fact, I noticed a significant one, which shows that, in the end, they are simply human. This is the love of the two women for their children. In the case of Alcestis, even though she has agreed to take her husband's place as the one who should die, her last thoughts are of her children. It is evident that she wants to be sure of the well-being of her children when she begs Admetus to “[not] remarry [and to] spare them a stepmother, an inferior substitute, full of resentment and anger, who would raise her hand against [her] children and [those of hers]” (Alcestis 324-7). In this way Alcestis wants to ensure that a potential stepmother does not “completely ruin [his] hopes of marriage (Alcestis 337)” by talking about the daughter, while he has no fear for the male child because “he has his father, a great tower of st. ..... middle of paper...... you know, and doesn't cause a commotion outside his house. On the other hand, it is quite clear that Medea is far from the representation of the “ideal” woman due to her vengeful spirit, her scandalous ways, and the fact that she ultimately ended up hurting her children, regardless of the amount of pain or sadness lived before, not to mention the fact that she also killed her brother, according to many stories about her. In short, I think that Alcestis and Medea are two very different women in Ancient Greece. They may have their reasons, but considering only what we are presented with, only Alcestis fits the mold of the “ideal” woman. Works Cited Euripides. Alcestis, Medea, Hippolytus. Diane Arnson Svarlien and Robin Mitchell-Boyask. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2007.Powell, Barry. Classic myth. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000.