Character Analysis Of Medea

Although Medea is ruthless in her actions, she also displays some compassion for her children while describing her plan to hurt Jason(25, 768). By the end of the play, Medea kills her children, this is due to her unwavering desire to inflict suffering on Jason in revenge. Her desire to hurt Jason is fulfilled but at a cost; by killing her children medea inflicts inflicts suffering upon herself. Medea replies by saying “so it must be” when the chorus told her “Of women you will be most unhappy,” essentially acknowledging that she has

First, we will look at the motive in this case. What could have possible motivated Medea to murder her children? Medea has been scorned by her husband, Jason, who left her for another woman (Puchner 529). You see, Creon has arranged for Jason to marry his daughter (Puchner 529). Jason, believing this would be the best decision he could make for his children, accepted Creon’s offer (Puchner 543). Medea could be heard wailing and crying out in rage from this betrayal (Puchner 532). So, Medea decides to break her husband’s heart, as he had broken hers, by killing their sons (Puchner 548). She could have easily left, after being exiled by Creon, and started a new life for herself and her children (Puchner 535). In a time where Medea could have

In Medea, Medea finds out that Jason is leaving her for someone better than her to gain power. She is an emotional wreck due to Jason’s betrayal because she has sacrificed so much for him. She even went out of her way and killed her own father and brother for the love between her and Jason. Now that Jason is abandoning Medea for another woman when she has abandoned her family, country, and home for him, Medea is fierce. Medea seeked revenge on her husband whom she loved so much by killing his new bride, Glauce and her children she had with Jason. Medea states in lines 1238- 1247, “I must kill the children quickly and be gone. They must die, in any case, and as they must it is I, who gave them life, must kill them. Let there be no weakness now, no tender memories of their birth, of them as babies…”.(pg. 66) Medea’s children were the product of her and Jason’s love which symbolized the marriage they once had, so Medea killing her sons represented their marriage coming to an end. Killing her children will also hurt Jason which was Medea’s ultimate goal and revenge for hurting her. Similarly, in

Her revenge was called “’almost a poetic gesture. She kills her kids after (Jason's) done all this, it kind of makes sense,’" in an article by Steve Bornfeld. In the design of the show, I wanted to create a world that absolutely made sense. I wanted the audience to feel the echo of the old cliché that those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. In our current times, it becomes more and more obvious we still have have not learned from Medea. Medea, to me, wasn’t a woman to be over- sensationalized or set aside as strange. Medea is a cycle, repeating herself generation after generation, who required a timeless and realistic world to spiral downward in, and I strived to give it to her. As long as women find themselves losing control in life and making their children into their victims, Medea will have a practical and current necessity which makes her almost commonplace, which is echoed in every aspect of my production design, from the set and lights to the costuming

Medea plans to kill her children instead of Jason. The main reason being that, by killing the children, it will cause Jason eternal pain. Medea’s position of citizenship also affects her emotional state and actions. Medea is an immigrant. She speaks on how she tried to blend in to this “strange Greek society” (7) and failed. I feel it is because of this failed effort that Medea finally understands that she is a foreigner—and also unwelcomed—and has no home to return to. It is for this reason I believe Medea continued with her plan. She had nothing to lose and had to leave Corinth anyways. Medea appears to be a very outspoken woman. On page 7, Medea expresses her opinions of the women of her time. Medea embodies the voice of women. She makes it sound

For Medea, her “trigger” for her murderous rampage was her beloved husband, Jason, cheating on her with the princess of Corinth. Unfortunately, this is normal in their society, so Medea’s reaction seemed way overblown. This suppressed her feelings in a way, due to the lack of understanding, making her deal with these intense feelings through murder. However, you must think about what Medea is going through. She was sent away from her hometown because she killed family there.

When Medea's quest for revenge leads her to slaughter innocent beings, and some call her justified, but there are many reasons why this is not the case. Those who believe Medea was just in her murders agree that Medea was betrayed by Jason in his breaking of marriage oaths, and in order to bring justice, feels the need to bring suffering to him. Kim Zarins refers to Medea as ¨a victim of Jason's false love¨ (Zarins 2) Medea loved him so passionately and then hated him so much that she was unaware of except her desire for vengeance. David Allsop said,¨ Medea's love of Jason stems from an oath made in the Argonautica, 'in our lawful marriage-chamber

At first when i read the play Medea, I believed that the main character Medea was insane and was completely overreacting. I saw Medea as a weak person who had to rely on her husband instead of being able to support herself, I thought that when she swore revenge on Creon and Jason that she was acting like a child, and she should have just accepted her circumstances. However Medea let her passion explode and she did not control her emotions causing her to be banished from Corinth. Because of her banishment, I thought Medea was not smart because she only made her problems worse instead of dealing with them. Medea also killed her innocent children in order to obtain revenge on Jason, which I thought was a very petty and awful thing to do.

Euripides also carefully reveals the elements of Medea's past that demonstrate her readiness to violate solidarity of family ties in order to pursue her intractable will; Jason and Medea's original tryst, for example, required that she kill her own brother, thus choosing marriage ties over blood ties. Secondly, Medea's selfishness provides power to her fatal flaw. Medea's selfishness and lack of humanity is displayed through the act of killing her own two sons. Medea understands that the slaying of her children will make Jason miserable. During this time, the chorus recognizes her self-worship and states, “But can you have the heart to kill your flesh and blood” (Euripides, The Medea, 816)? Medea does not stop to think what pain she may cause to herself by murdering them. She is only concerned about her happiness that will be derived from Jason's grieving. Medea comes to the conclusion that it is worth the suffering just to see her ex-husband unhappy. Medea states, “Yes, for this is the best way to wound my husband” (Euripides, The Medea, 817). This exhibits Medea's selfishness by the slaying of her sons just to cause sorrow to Jason for her own pleasure. Medea's rage also leads to her fatal flaw of excessive passion. Her excessive passion, fed by rage, leads Medea to do uncalled-for acts of violence and murder.

As a mother, Medea on the surface is not the best, as she eventually kills her children, ignoring their pleas for mercy ("Mother, don't kill us"). However, we must not ignore the heartache and pain that Medea endures in killing them. It takes incredible conviction to carry it out ("parted from you, my life will be all pain and

All of the past acts of betrayal that Medea did was in the cause of Jason but he chooses to betray her from the dearly-bought oaths. Jason status-seeking self no longer wants to be with his barbarian wife but he says that he still cares about the welfare of the children. None of that changed the Medea’s mind away from revenge. No matter how unholy it maybe, Medea still wants to give Jason a penalty which will cost him more than his death- no children to continue his heritage. This article helps me understand more clearly about how Medea was convinced to do such a crime. She knew that if she had to take her children with her during her exile, they had slim probability of survival. Also, if she left them behind, they would not be safe as the royal family wouldn’t like them after the death of princess. Even if they were safe, they would be helping Jason grow his lineage through them. With them being alive and in the care of Jason, she could still be laughed at through her children. With all of these reasons, she convinced herself that the children would in their own interests be better

She feels that if she left her children with Jason they would not be treated properly and mocked since they are part barbaric. Medea is a woman of pride and does not want to give her enemies a reason to mock or laugh at her in any circumstances (781-782). She would rather not leave them with Jason as she feels he would still have someone around him he loves and she feels like there is no place for barbarian children in the Greek city: “Children, there is none who can give you safety” (793). Since she needs to move quickly to Athens after she commits the murders of the royal house she decides it would be difficult to take them with her as they will slow her down and endanger her escape. For these reasons, Medea sees it fit to best kill her children to get revenge on Jason.

Medea was a troubled soul once Jason left her for a younger princess. When the nurse says “Rulers are fierce in their temperament; somehow, they will not be governed;”, it rings very true of Medea (Puchner 531). Someone so accustomed to getting her way will by no means let anyone, including her beloved Jason, treat her with any disrespect. She not only felt dejected by Jason, but she felt she could do nothing to change her circumstance but take out deadly vengeance against those that committed such a hiatus act towards her. With all things considered, Medea felt Jason took everything from her when he left. Jason became her everything. When she

She continues to describe her state, “A typically unfair attitude, I suppose…” (316). Later, in the tragedy, Medea boldly leaves the house after murdering her own children in pursuit of satisfaction. Medea shows audiences the horror that can come when one lets the desire for revenge rule his/her life.

In the tragedy Medea, Jason is faced with realization of the death of his twin sons who were killed by their, mother, Medea; he falls into agony as he laments, inspiring a katharsis in the reader. Jason cheated on Medea, assuming that it was okay with her, saying, “…I/ Grew tired of your bed and felt the need for a new bride” (18). Jason desired a bride of title so that his current children and future children could be brought up “worthily” (26). He betrayed his family and Medea’s love for another woman, causing Medea began to seek revenge. She decides to do two acts: kill her husband’s fiancée and kill her own sons. “…I shall kill my own children. /My children, there is none who can give them safety,” Medea expresses, as she plots her plan (26). Jason is unaware of this act that his wife is ready to commit. No longer does he have a fiancée, but now he has lost his heirs to the kingdom. The tragic act occurring among family members, happens in Medea, which was highlighted in Poetics. The death of Medea and Jason’s sons leads to Jason’s