Medea

The famous Greek tragedy Medea, by Euripides, is about a woman who is so distraught by her ex-husband’s actions that she snaps and commits brutal crimes like killing his new bride and father in law, Creon and she even killed her children, an act so unthinkable that most people today shutter at the thought of it. People have scrutinized the play for centuries in an attempt to discover Medea’s true motives. Some believe that she is not actually evil, just mistreated to the point where she simply would not take it anymore. However, Medea is truly evil because she murdered the princess and Creon, she slaughtered her own children, and she never actually attacked Jason himself, but only the ones he loved. Medea exacted her first malevolent act of revenge on the woman that Jason left her for, the daughter of Creon. While she seemed to be giving her a gift, she was actually giving her a cursed dress that ignited her skin when she put it on. Creon, not knowing the flames could not be extinguished, jumped on her to try and smother the flames. He too, met his demise next to his daughter. Medea chose to attack the princess because she knew that she meant a lot to Jason. Her death would not soon be forgotten by him. Medea knew that this would hurt him emotionally, so she decides to do this and expunge the thought of his future that he had planned. The next act of revenge by Medea is one so controversial people today still converse about the true motives. Medea kills her children to get back at Jason. She loved them herself, but her hatred of Jason led her to kill her own two boys. This is explained when she expresses to Jason, “I loathe you more than I loved them.” While most people would have a difficult time doing this, she found the unfortunate task to be a facile one because she knew that this would hurt Jason in a way that no physical pain ever could, and that the emotional and mental scars left behind would be augmented in his mind. People today talk about whether