Preview

Marriage and Revenge Cost Medea

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
749 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Marriage and Revenge Cost Medea
Medea from Euripides ' Medea is the main character. She is the Princess of Colchis and a sorceress. She was married to Jason until he decided to leave her for another woman. Jason and Medea had two sons. As the play progresses, Medea 's character comes to life. The physical characteristics that Euripides identifies of Medea are limited. She was a female that was beginning to age. Her complexion was pale and her eyes were swollen from crying. She was a princess and sorceress which represents a woman as tender and fierce. Medea was very sad in the play and was mentally depressed. Medea was in Corinth with Jason because of her love for him. She betrayed her father and killed her brother in order to be with Jason. She was no longer welcomed in her own country. Medea had been living with Jason in Corinth for ten years. They had been living very modestly. Their marriage was an ideal marriage and they were both devoted parents to their sons. Medea was always faithful to Jason. Medea received word that Jason intended to marry the daughter of the king of Corinth and everything changed for Medea. Medea became the ex-wife whose husband left her for a more attractive woman. Medea is pitied by many and received sympathy from society. Medea was honest about her feelings for Jason. Medea was very jealous of Jason 's new bride-to-be and was determined that Jason would not be happy with another woman. This relates to the sexual tensions between ex-wives and ex-husbands. Medea was very religious. She was polytheistic, worshipper of many gods. She was also a sorcerer. She prayed to the gods about Jason breaking his vows to her and what she should do in order to correct the wrong brought to her by Jason. Medea was courageous, single-mindedness, and quick to take action. She was a woman who took action against anyone who bothered her, then she would get even. Medea desired to love and be loved. She wanted to be a mother to her children and a wife


Bibliography: "Medea"

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Euripides constructs Medea to be a powerful voice in a world of silent women. All women of the time were treated the same way, and they weren’t valued. Medea was a King’s daughter, sorceress and Apollo’s granddaughter, so just those factors made her different. Medea was not herself when she was with Jason, she changed when she became Jason’s wife living as a foreigner in a ‘civilised’ land far from her native home. As “an exile,” Medea has been self-contained and submissive, she has “won a warm welcome from her new fellow citizens” and has been “complete support” to her husband. Despite this, Jason shows “criminal behavior” and leaves Medea for a “princess’ bed” in order to further his own social position. As Medea reminds Jason, he “owes his life” to her; she has helped him gain the Golden Fleece, even killing her own brother to ensure their escape and then tricking Pelias’ daughters into killing their father the King. Medea’s sense of betrayal is then amplified when Jason tries to convince Medea that he did it for…

    • 1687 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    How Does Creon Kill Medea

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Medea is driven mad by her love and hatred for her husband, Jason. In the story, Medea plans to kill Jason, Creon, and Creon’s daughter who Jason plans to marry. She wants to kill him because he betrays her love; Jason is in love with the power he could possess once he marries the new bride. Medea vows to make Jason suffer the same pain she had suffered. In three particular instances of the play, Medea could have stopped her ploy for revenge, but she chose not to.…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Jason left Medea for his new bride and new throne Medea was enraged. Medea immediately went seeking for revenge against Jason and his new bride. Medea gifts the new bride a beautiful gold dress and diadem sent by the children and the new bride dresses in her present. Euripides depicts Medea’s vengeance through her gifts and a messenger is sent to tell Medea what had happened. “The wreath of gold that was resting around her…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Medea's first public statement, a sort of "protest speech," is one of the best parts of the play and demonstrates a complex, at times even contradictory, representation of gender. Medea's calm and reasoning tone, especially after her following out bursts of despair and hatred, provides the first display of her ability to gather herself together in the middle of crisis and pursue her hidden agenda with a great determination. This split in her personality is to a certain degree gender bias. The lack of emotional restraint is "typical" of women, and the strong attention to moral action is a common trait of heroes. Medea actually uses both of these traits so that her wild emotions fuel her ideals, thus producing a character that fails to fit into a clear mold.…

    • 658 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Creon and Medea

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The “barbarian” princess and witch Medea met the Argonaut hero Jason while he was in Colchis on his quest for the Golden Fleece. She fell in love with Jason and used her magical knowledge to aid him in the seemingly impossible tasks set by her father King Aeetes as the price for obtaining the Golden Fleece. She fled Colchis with Jason back to his home at Iolcus in Thessaly, but they were soon forced to flee once more to Corinth, where they lived in relative peace for some ten years, during which time they bore two sons. Jason, however, looking to better his political position, deserted Medea in favour of an advantageous marriage with Creusa (known as Glauce in Greek), the daughter of King Creon of Corinth.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Medea's Revenge

    • 196 Words
    • 1 Page

    In “Medea” and The Tragedy of Revenge the main argument is motives for Medea's revenge on Jason. The author argues that Madea did it out of lust and believed Jason deserved it because he was a man with injustice and an oath-breaker. The writer believes Medea's actions were out of jealousy and lust because the first person she aims to kill is Jason’s new love interest Glauce. The author brings up some great examples one that was most interesting is how Medea even after she was successful with killing both Creon and Glauce she had no reason to kill her children. She stills finds it necessary to destroy Jason in every way that ruining his new life was not enough and also does not end up killing Jason. Medea commits unsophisticated revenge on Jason…

    • 196 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    medea study questions

    • 690 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. We learn that medea and Jason both absconded from medeas home country, which meant betraying them and killing medea’s family in the process. Once they were in their current country they had two kids, then Jason left them for the princess of the lands. And now medea is heartbroken and murderous.…

    • 690 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Critical Lens

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the play Medea, the main character Medea is extreme on seeking revenge on her ex-husband, Jason. Jason has left her and their two sons Creon and Creusa for the daughter of the Cornith King. Medea is livid with this action from Jason. Since Jason and the Cornith King(Ceron) are frightened by Medea they decide that her and the children are to be banished from the kingdom. This just makes Medea even more furious towards Jason. The nurse characterizes Medea as being in pain and anguish that she is suffering through the terrible time of Jason leaving her. She also says how Medea is so angry with Jason and his betrayal she is treacherous. This is shown to be true when she plans to kill Ceron and Creusa to punish Jason for betraying her. Heartlessly she kills them to seek revenge on him. She thought hurting Jason meant more to her than her children did even though she loved them. Her plan was to seek retribution upon Jason as she did. Her seeking revenge hurt everyone even though she was proud that she had accomplished making Jason hurt, she had and domestic conflict killing her own children whom she loved very much.…

    • 382 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Medea - Protagonist of the play, Medea's homeland is Colchis, an island in the Black Sea, which the Greeks considered the edge of the earth--a territory of barbarians. A sorceress and a princess, she used her powers and influence to help Jason secure the Golden Fleece; then, having fallen in love with him, she fled her country and family to live with Jason in Iolcus, his own home. During the escape across the Mediterranean, she killed her brother and dumped him overboard, so that her pursuers would have to slow down and bury him. While in Iolcus, she again used her devilish cleverness to manipulate the daughters of the local king and rival, Pelias, into murdering their own father. Exiled as murderers, Jason and Medea settled in Corinth, the…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Medea Tragic Hero Essay

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Helios’ granddaughter garners the favor of the gods through Jason’s broken oath and escapes without punishment due to that favor. She also utilizes her talent to bring about Jason’s demise and gain revenge for her broken heart. Euripides’ play casts Medea in a traditionally male role, scaring the male Greek audience and causing them to reanalyze what it means to be a hero. Since Medea is female, one does not immediately think her to be a hero. However, in analysis of her character and actions, she does not differ in characteristics of Heracles or Odysseus except in that she has more…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Greek play Medea, there are two protagonists, Medea and Jason. Medea, who is the wife of Jason has fallen in love with him and has left her country to be with him. After all this loyalty, Jason decides to divorce Medea and marry the king’s daughter; Glauce. Medea becomes filled with fury and anger and wants to kill her husband and the king’s daughter. We can also say that she becomes suicidal. Jason on the other hand, only seeks his own benefits because he has married the King’s daughter just to gain benefits for himself and leaves the woman he used to love.…

    • 394 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Euripides and Ovid present two entirely different sets of motivations for Medea's behavior which surface through her attitude towards Jason. In the Athenian tragedy, it becomes clear from the onset that Medea harbors an unnatural and overwhelming hatred for Jason and anyone he is connected to. Granted, anger is a natural response when one spouse leaves his or her mate for another partner, but it should not consume the abandoned person's life. As the Chorus notes, "It often happens...You must not waste away" (156-158). Medea's stern rejection of this advice is puzzling to the reader, but her reasons soon become clear in a soliloquy following a meeting with Aegeus in which she states "Let no one think me a weak one" (807). Medea is a proud character whose self-image reflects an important person, but as was the case with her anger, she takes this idea to an extreme. The rage that follows Jason's threat to her authority motivates her to think and act destructively. Ovid, on the other hand, saw Medea behaving for a different set of reasons.…

    • 1553 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the tragedy Medea by Euripides, Jason faces the death of his new wife and two sons that have been killed by his ex-wife Medea. Jason leaves Medea to marry the king of Corinth’s daughter; therefore, Medea takes revenge on him. Jason wasn’t always bad he was a good husband before he did what he did. Jason is a tragic hero because he fits the characteristics of a tragic hero.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the Nurse at the beginning of the story tells, Medea gave up everything she had to be with Jason. She left her family, and even killed her own brother to be able to run away with him. Medea, who has been dishonestly betrayed by her husband, uses revenge to punish him for his deeds and to seek the rewards which it offers to ones pride. The reader begins to feel pity for the main character and even excuse her actions. That is a result of identification with Medea, as a cheated spouse. In any kind of relationship during life, people expect fidelity, so they clearly understand why she wanted revenge.…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tragedy in Medea

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The sympathy increases when one learns the things she sacrificed to become Jason’s wife. She left her home, killed several men, including her brother, in order to give Jason an advantage. She is also ordered to go into exile from her native land. She has no friends or family in this unfamiliar country. This chain reaction causes Medea to reveal her tragic flaw. Jason becomes her enemy and she begins plotting her revenge. It becomes easier to understand Medea’s actions later in the play because her situation is one that some can relate to. She may be seen as a tragic heroine, even as she devises a plan to kill her own children. However, it is tough to overlook her shocking actions.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays