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…
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.…
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…
Medea’s relationship to Jason, as a Middle Eastern woman, provides for disaster if broken, for it is made up of Medea’s excessive sacrifices to be with a man of another race. She entered the relationship fully aware of the obstacles she’d encounter to be with Jason and of the fact that even if they managed to be together, the relationship would be illegitimate. This implies that her love for him was deep, clearly, she’d do whatever to be with him, but it makes her vulnerable if this love is tossed away. To lose Jason after all her efforts, such as “betraying [her] father for him, killing [her] brother, [and] making [her] own land hate [her] forever,” would prove that all of that was for nothing and that he never saw her the way she saw him. As with Addie and Sethe, her reaction is natural, her entire life was disrupted when Jason divorces her and thus her capacity to be a good mother is gone. She cannot be expected to be a good mother when all her life’s work is being unraveled before her eyes; she will lash out and attempt to regain a sense of herself. In the sorrow that Jason creates, Medea attempts to create the same sorrow for him and this plan incorporates killing their children. It is barbaric and vile, but it is irrational to label Medea as a bad mother for those murders. All her life before her, Medea was striving towards greatness, to…
One of the reasons as to why Medea is such a compelling character is because she does not have one particular tragic flaw. Her tragic condition is the result of a convergence of flaws. I think that these can be summarized by the idea of Medea not recognizing any balance in her emotions. She fled her father's home with an intensity of emotions invested in Jason that were never calculated nor any type of deliberation present. This same abandon is seen when Medea kills her brother. It is also evident when Medea cannot accept that Jason has stopped loving her and loves another. While Medea does consider the implications of killing her own children, it is to no avail as the intensity of her emotions overcomes all reason. When the Nurse understands…
Furthermore, Medea takes offense to men having nothing to bind them to their commitments and women having to uphold to higher standards of commitment. In her eyes this is an injustice because whether it is a man leaving his wife, or a wife leaving her husband it only reflects negatively on the woman. She states “we women are the most wretched…we have bought a husband, we must then accept him as professor of our body… for women, divorce is not respectable; to repel the man, not possible” (24). From this statement we can tell that women are not afforded the same options as men, but still women are less respected if they do not act according to the social expectations of women. Jason leaving Medea not only subjects her to societies ridicule and shame, but a personal shame. The extent of her loyalty as went unappreciated and it results in her feeling used. Medea states, “Do you see how I am used- In spite of those great oaths I bound him with-By my accursed husband? Oh, may I see Jason and his bride ground to pieces in their shattered palace for the wrong they have dared to do to me, unprovoked! ” (22). In Medea's eyes his actions are a betrayal and her actions express those of vengeance. Has much as she has done for him she would have never thought that Jason would have shamed her in the way that he did. The idea that unexpected behavior leads to belittlement can be best expressed in Aristotle's, understanding of an insult, when he states, “if [a person] should have been expecting the opposite. For what is greatly unexpected is the more painful... From these considerations it should be clear what seasons, times, dispositions and ages are easily moved to anger… (144). Medea was not expecting Jason to dishonor her because she has fulfilled…
However, they are incorrect because the Nurse and Chorus’s compassion is presented several times, where they try helping her and offering her advice. Medea, being the crazy woman she is, is considerably expected to behave in the manner she did. To take revenge against Jason, and in reference to killing the kids and new bride, Medea says, “To make you feel pain.” (p. 46) She is explaining how she wants to make him feel pain emotionally and mentally rather than physically. Jason says about himself at the end of the play, “...who will get no pleasure from my newly wedded love, /And the boys whom I begot and brought up, never/ Shall I speak to them alive. Oh, my life is over.” (p 44) It hurts Medea enormously that she killed her kids, but only did it for revenge. The Chorus, towards the end of the story, tries helping Medea and giving her advice, but she does not…
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…
When Leunig proclaims “It is the supreme way to hurt my husband,” she reveals to the audience her inability to concede defeat, ultimately leading to the destruction of Jason’s happiness and the City of Corinth’s order. On the surface, it may appear that Medea’s actions are driven by her homelessness and hereditary ties; she faces being left vulnerable with no “native land” to take her back. Yet, ultimately it is Medea’s pride which leads to her exacting revenge. Through her language and character development, Euripides paints the picture of a scorned woman, who must make others share in her own suffering to feel at peace. Medea will ignore the advice and pleas of the Chorus and Nurse, seeing her revenge out until the bitter end.…
play explains that Medea has no objection to murdering when it suites her, as she has killed both her brother and Jason's…
When Jason finally makes his appearance on stage, he still is not a likeable character. He is very arrogant, ignorant, and manipulative. He tries to persuade Medea that divorcing her and remarrying was actually benefiting both…
In the work prologue, we discover Jason 's quest to Colchis to obtain the Golden Fleece as a task created by his uncle, Pelias in order to claim his rightful inheritance. He assembles a team and they set sail for Colchis on the ship, the Argo. Upon reaching Colchis, King Aeetes instructs Jason to plow “a field with a team of fire-breathing bulls.” (Euripides 527). During his task, he meets King Aeetes ' daughter, Medea. Medea, proficient in magic, helps Jason. She helps him “plough the field, lull the dragon to sleep, steal the fleece, and escape back to Greece, killing her own brother to distract the attention of their enraged Colchian pursuers.” Jason and Medea go to Iolcus only to realize Pelias goes back on his word. Angered by this, Medea talks Pelias 's daughters into boiling him alive by telling them the act will make him immortal. The treacherous act forced Jason and Medea into exile. Jason and Medea marry, have children and move to Corinth. While in Corinth, Jason divorces Medea to marry the princess of Corinth. Because of the divorce, Medea 's spirit is destroyed and she is driven to an unstable state of mind.…
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.…
That being said, it is crucial to analyze the new perspective in order to formulate an educated theory on what Ancient Greek marital roles used to be. Jason and Medea are married with children when Jason chooses to suddenly leave to marry the daughter of the king of Corinth. Euripides is insinuating that in some instances male gender roles overpower their marital roles. As a Greek man it is his duty to gain honor and status as well as to create a family. However, as a Greek husband it is his duty to be devoted to his family and to never leave them. From this text we can infer that the desire of a man to achieve honor and status can lead some men to abandon their families. The prospect of one day being king is too much for Jason, he leaves and forgoes his marital roles. His choice to relieve himself of his duties as a husband infers that not all men in Ancient Greece were morally sound, taking a very loose interpretation of the word “honor.” Additionally, Medea involves herself in some actions that go against what would be considered socially…
not care because all she wants is her husband. Jason soon realizes that Medea is…