Medea, A play written by Euripides. The play is set in Corinth, a Greek city. The play consists of much conflict. Jason, Medea’s husband who has abandoned her and her two sons, in hopes of achieving a higher social status and advancing his station. His idea was to marry Glauce, which happened to be the daughter of Creon. Creon, was the king of Corinth, the city where they were residing. In short words, Jason chose to advance his ambitions rather than stay loyal to his family. His actions destroy Medea completely, they leave her heartbroken considering Medea went through great lengths for her love. Although she was devastated, it also led her on to a dark path. A path that she was convinced would relieve her of her grief, revenge. Medea ended up blinded by hate, she ended up killing Glauce, the king Creon, and even her sons, all in the name of revenge. Does this make Medea a victim, a monster, or both? From my perspective, Medea is both a victim and a monster. She starts off as a victim, being betrayed and manipulated by her beloved Jason. A person she gave up everything for, her home, her family. It took a toll on her emotional wellbeing. Although she started a victim, she let her feelings influence her into becoming a monster. Understandable, being heart broken, feeling like you no longer have anything to live for. All due to the fact the person you gave it all up for abandoned you, and the family you together created. What’s not understandable nor acceptable is letting
Euripides is sympathetic to the plight of women in Greece. In Medea most of the characters are women. The male characters in the play do not seem to portray as much depth as the women featured. Jason, Medea’s husband, is leaving her for the king’s daughter. He shows himself as well versed in rhetoric and very self-serving. Creon is the king who openly admits that he is afraid of Medea and her clever ways. Even Medea’s sons seem to serve the purpose of pawns in Medea’s master plan of revenge.
For Medea must fall in love with Jason and then she will use her great skill with magic to help Jason acquire the fleece. Because of Hera’s hatred towards Pelias Medea’s life is now destined for extreme agony, shame, and guilt. Her love for Jason causes her to tear away from her loving parents and dishonor her father by helping his enemy. Hera’s plan to avenge Pelias also flood Medea’s head with thoughts to keep her from straying from Hera’s plan. Unfortunately for Medea her decision to help Jason was not her own and was a careful thought out plan by Hera. Her life would never again be the same. Even though Jason promises to love her always and promises that she will be his wedded wife, he breaks this promise as soon as she become old and he is given the opportunity to marry royalty. Medea decisions were not in any way wise but if it were not for the arrows of Eros she would have had better judgment on the stranger. Medea’s behavior in this story shows that of loyalty and confusion in her heart. She is in agony because she can not conceive as to why she feels so much love for a stranger and does not wish to dishonor her father by doing so. But then she is constantly
In Medea, a play by Euripides, Jason possesses many traits that lead to his downfall. After Medea assists Jason in his quest to get the Golden Fleece, killing her brother and disgracing her father and her native land in the process, Jason finds a new bride despite swearing an oath of fidelity to Medea. Medea is devastated when she finds out that Jason left her for another woman after two children and now wants to banish her. Medea plots revenge on Jason after he gives her one day to leave. Medea later acts peculiarly as a subservient woman to Jason who is oblivious to the evil that will be unleashed and lets the children remain in Corinth. The children later deliver a poisoned gown to Jason’s new bride that also kills the King of Corinth.
Throughout the entirety of the play, Medea, there are multiple victims of other people’s actions as well as their own. This raises the question: out of all the people who suffer in this classic play, ultimately, who is the tragic figure? Although many people have to suffer slow, painful deaths in the play, the answer is narrowed down to the two main survivors: Medea and Jason. While Jason is the victim of his children getting murdered by Medea, the tragic figure still remains Medea due to how she is the one who suffers the most throughout the play because of Jason and societal expectations.
From the beginning of the play the conflict between good and bad where Medea and Jason are concerned has been ambiguous. Both characters have done terrible things in order to attain what they want. Nothing could stand in the way of them including Medea’s father, whom Medea betrayed and to pile on the grieve she kills her brother and drops parts of him into the sea so as to delay her father thereby ensuring that Jason and his Argonauts could fulfil their quest to attain the Golden Fleece. When Jason betrays Medea and walks away from their marriage we immediately identify him as the villain, yet the reader fails to understand that during that time when this play was written it was still socially acceptable for the man to walk away from his marriage provided he gives back the dowry he attained from the wife’s father. In this case Medea did not bring any such items so it was even easier for him to leave her so as to empower himself. It was Medea’s role as a woman belonging to that age to accept Jason’s decision however she feels betrayed that he would break a vow made in front of the gods, and apparently she was not a regular woman even by the standards of that time as she had an intellect that could rival that of scholarly men. So to exact her revenge she destroys everything Jason loves leaving him to regret ever betraying the marriage.
Euripides created a two-headed character in this classical tragedy. Medea begins her marriage as the ideal loving wife who sacrificed much for her husband's safety. At the peak of the reading, she becomes a murderous villain that demands respect and even some sympathy. By the end, the husband and wife are left devoid of love and purpose as the tragedy closes.
What kind of woman would go to an extreme to kill not only her king and his daughter, but also her most precious gift, children, all due to love? Euripides Greek drama Medea, which dates back to 431 B.C.E conveys this image of a woman named Medea, who was not only a powerful foreigner who did the impossible to follow the man she loved through ocean waters, but also, viewed as a witch who threatened lives and who was feared. Does Medea really deserve or convey an aura of being a witch? or convey characteristics of being a human being? Her actions seem to show traits of being a woman deeply in love, human qualities, rather than a witch.
In Euripedes’ play Medea, he depicts Medea as a woman who is consumed with vengeance and hatred after being betrayed by her husband Jason. This betrayal sparks a series of “unholy, horrible” murders. Medea’s actions can be justified through justice and revenge. Medea was motivated by Jason’s actions to pursue her own actions against Jason. Medea wanted revenge toward her husband for leaving her after she fully dedicated herself to Jason - and she also wanted to seek justice for the pain that he caused her. However, Medea went too far by killing her two children who were innocent in this matter. Ultimately, Medea’s final deeds are justifiable and outweigh Jason’s betrayal of his family.
Many of Medea’s actions, which offend the gods, and the subsequent consequences for such actions throughout the story exhibit the “Divine Double Blind” concept. Medea starts off by offending the gods when, according to Jason, Medea’s husband, she “slaughtered [her] brother in [her] home” (81), and then, as is explained by the nurse, Medea’s servant, she causes Pelias’ daughter to kill their father (32). Medea’s first misdeed is thus murder, and although it is through Medea’s actions that these crimes are committed, because the gods control all the mortals, the gods are actually the ones who made her do them. Sticking with the “Divine Double Blind” concept, the gods punish Medea by having her marriage to Jason fall apart. The nurse recites that “their fine love’s grown sick, diseased, for Jason . . . married the daughter of king Creon” (32). Jason has neglected Medea and married another woman, which Medea responds to with rage. She kills again, this time targeting Jason’s new wife and her father, King Creon.
Still today, we see many unfaithful marriages, but murder is not an option. A spouse who murders his cheating wife is more wrong than the wife who cheated in the first place, and killing his children to get revenge would be an unspeakable deed. A reader from today can't relate to the thought process of Medea, which lends a slim margin to any sympathy for the character. Euripides, however, does create slight sympathy for her when she mentions her lack of family and friends due to betraying them to be with Jason, who in turn betrays her. This piece of Euripides' story, though, is too miniscule to counteract the menacing thoughts of Medea. This same small mention is brought about in Ovid's version, but it also is just a brief point without much depth. The Argonautika takes a much more sympathetic route by describing Medea as a much younger, innocent girl. The fact that the second story shows the beginning more in depth leads the reader to see the hardships that may have led her to become the bitter woman Euripides depicts. Neither Euripides nor Ovid include the hateful image of Medea's father, which gives an immediate understanding to the reader as to why Medea can never go back to her homeland. Her betrayal to her father was too great. The readers of the time, knowing the outcome of the story, would have been shown why Medea plotted against Jason the way she did because the hardships she faces to help Jason are explained. Not only was her
Medea is the tragic story of a woman desperate for revenge upon her husband, after he betrayed her for another woman’s bed. It was written by Euripides, a Greek playwright, in 431 B.C. Throughout the play each character shows us their inconsistent and contradicting personalities, in particular, Jason and Medea. The play opens with the Nurse expressing her anxiety about Jason betraying and leaving Medea for another, wealthier, woman. Our initial reaction is to feel empathetic towards Medea, who has been abandoned so conveniently. But towards the end of the play, when Medea takes revenge on
She helped him in every way possible in his quest for the Golden Fleece, “Her heart on fire with passionate love for Jason... But now there’s hatred everywhere. Love is diseased.” (1) However, in a tragedy, the hero is supposed to make a single mistake which ultimately leads to their downfall. In this case, Medea is not a heroic character as she is a sorceress, murders her brother, and her own children. The hamartia is intended to bring down a character of high morality, but Medea can be viewed as a wholly evil character who is not guided by any moral principles. She is also manipulative and deceptive in the way that she treats the men around her, Creon, Aegeus, and Jason, while involving them in her plan for revenge. Euripides has shown this aspect of her personality through lines such as “Do you think that I would have fawned on that man unless I had some end to gain or profit in it?” (12) and “by a trick I may kill the king’s daughter” (25)
In the Greek tragedy of Medea there are many twists and turns throughout the story causing many to question who is more of the victim of the story. This essay will discuss who is the bigger victim of the story. Medea was the victim because she killed her children even though she didn’t want to & she also when she was under the spell of Aphrodite killed her brother so her love was able to get what he wanted and then disowned her family these things proved that Medea was the victim.
As the famous Greek playwright Euripides once said: “Stronger than lover's love is lover's hate. Incurable, in each, the wounds they make.” Such ideas are portrayed in one of him most famous plays, Medea. This play is a fascinating classic centered on the Greek goddess Medea. Despite its recent fame, during his time, Euripides was unpopular since he used what would be considered a ‘modern’ view where he would focus on women, slaves and persons from the lower classes. In the play, Medea commits filicide, which initially appears extremely horrendous, but as the audience is guided through the play, they develop sympathy towards Medea. In order to achieve this empathy and enhance the understanding of Medea’s pride and ideals, Euripides
Marriage – the amalgamation of two imperfect souls to form an affectionate and beautiful relationship – is exceptionally intricate and delicate. Two different people with different insights come together to form a harmonious relationship. Power, or control, is a chief concept that can “make or break” the relationship. Distribution of the ruling is frequently divided into males versus females. This partition leads to many conflicts and tribulations. In the catastrophic Greek play Medea, by Euripides, the liaison between Medea and Jason demonstrates how both males and females assert power in the relationship and how incorrect usage of this supremacy leads to dilemmas.