Madea was once a loving wife and mother until she was betrayed by her husband Jason. Medea then transformed into a bitter, hateful, and vindictive woman after she found out about her husband’s infidelity. In Euripides’ “The Medea,” the quote, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” is truly depicted by the protagonist Medea. One would think Euripides was trying to portray Medea to as an authentic woman as much as he could. It seemed like he wanted to tell the story of Medea as raw as possible and leave nothing to be and leave nothing to be imagined. The reader would come to this conclusion, because of the actions of Medea once she is infuriated by Jason’s behavior. Medea did not want to be reminded of Jason at all, she even hated her own …show more content…
The reader would make this inference when Madea says, “How I wish the Argo never had reached the land of Colchis, skimming through the blue Symplegades…” Medea seemed to forget about all of her other problem once she let the pain of Jason’s infidelity consume her. It appeared that in the beginning of the play Medea was filled with bitterness and her motherly duties and self-worth meant nothing to her anymore. Also before Medea made her entrance into the play Euripides uses foreshadowing by having the nurse say, “Go indoors children. That will be the best thing. And you, keep them to themselves as much as possible. Don’t bring them near their mother in her already blazing her eye at them As though she meant some mischief and I am sure that she’ll not stop raging until she has struck at someone. May it be an enemy and not a friend she hurts.” The nurse implies that Medea will, in some way hurt the …show more content…
It was the moment when Creon told her that she and her children had to leave the city that Medea decided to beg Creon to let her stay until daylight of the next day. She wanted the extra time to, not pack her things and leave, but to come up with a plan to kill Creon and his daughter, Glause. Medea was going to kill them, because they were the people Jason was leaving her for. Medea gave up everything for Jason, and she was the reason Jason was who he was. She provoked Pelias’ death for him, she also killed her brother, betrayed her country, and walked out on her family. One would consider Medea at this point in the play to be a callous, merciless, and rather ruthless person considering she killed four people, two of which being her sons. She made the reader feel sympathetic towards her at the beginning of the play, but now she has become the antagonist and the people one would fear for are the
In the first conversation the reader sees between Medea and Jason, it is clear that Jason is not suffering from the situation at all and even goes to call Medea an idiot for speaking baldy of the king and his daughter, whom he is marrying. Jason claims that the reason he left Medea for the King’s daughter is because he is looking out for the best interest of Medea and their children. He even goes on to tell her, “However much you hate me, I could never wish you any harm.” Although his justification seems like a good excuse and a smart plan, it does not seem genuine seeing as to how quick he dismisses her and does not want to stick up for her by talking to the Creon about letting her stay and not exiling her and their
In addition to the interactions between Medea and the Greek Chorus, it is important to explore the scenes preceding the tirade. The nurse’s opening monologue offers great insight into Medea’s state of characterization prior to her newfound interactions. The nurse anaphorically describes Medea’s actions towards Jason. The Nurse begins, “She wouldn’t have made the daughters of Pelias kill him, she wouldn’t have had to flee to Corinth here, she wouldn’t have done all that she did for Jason, She wouldn’t have been so darned complaisant to Jason” (311). Euripides’ use of anaphora creates emphasis on everything Medea has done for Jason. The Nurse believes that upon meeting Jason, “she wouldn’t have” fallen in love with Jason. Medea’s motivation was a clear passion to woo Jason. Formerly, Medea completes Jason’s task of achieving the Golden Fleece, originally a man’s task. With her cunningness, she uses her witch supremacies to her advantage, acting on her desire for Jason. Furthermore, the Nurse foreshadows Medea’s shift in characterization from anguish to dexterity in her
Regardless of Jason’s actions, Medea was bound to loss her temper, lash out, and hurt those once so dear to her. This reaffirms the Nurse’s suspicions, Creon’s, and the
In the Greek Tragedy Euripides: Medea, Medea is sad and angry towards her husband Jason for getting
revenge on Jason by any means possible. Euripides voiced the fear of her cunning mind through Kreon when he said "I am afraid of you [...] Afraid that you may injure my daughter mortally. [...] You are a clever woman, versed in evil arts, and are angry at having lost your husband's love." (280-284, pg 622) The fact that a male character would say something of this caliber says something about the roles of women during this time. Even though they are still seen as second class citizens to the men, a smart woman is feared. Ultimately Medea's strength is tested and she becomes crazed with
Medea's identity as a weak woman is emphasised at the very start of the play. It is made very clear that she has come to misfortune through no fault of her own and is powerless in her problem ("her world has turned to enmity"). Being unable to change her situation is an example of her portrayal as a weak woman figure. We are told that she has been
However, no one in the play except the Nurse thinks for a second that Medea could bring herself to murder her children. Medea even has an internal debate over whether she could bring herself to commit such a crime, showing once again that she is not completely in control of her emotions. In the end, she decides to go through with it rather than leave them “to the mockery of my enemies” (78). In the end, Medea appears in the sky in “a chariot drawn by dragons” (84). She has already killed the boys and she attributes their death to Jason’s “weakness” (86) and his “lustful heart and new marriage” (86). The play ends with Medea disappearing from view with the children.
Medea’s conflict with Jason proves to be the main conflict in the play, which really sheds light into the fact that Euripides created this play to challenge the notion of feminism. After Jason’s betrayal, Medea decides to take control. It is evident in the way she manipulates other characters within the play, and how she handles situations she is in, that she is quite intelligent. Her motivation and will to accomplish her own goals, portrays Medea as the complete opposite of a typical patriarchal woman who embodies the norms of patriarchy in Greek society. In the play, Jason says, “I married you, chose hatred and murder for my wife – no woman, but a tiger…” (1. 1343-44) This quote shows the misogyny with Jason, because he is saying that him and the society have made Medea this way. But maybe Medea started acting
She disdains her own sons, calling them “Accursed children of a hateful mother.” (112). Medea’s thoughts are often of suicide, as she laments “I wish my head would be struck by a bolt of lighting from above! What good is it for me to live longer?….I wish my hateful
Ever since she found out she had been betrayed by Jason, she has had “no pleasure left” in living. The only purpose left in her “cruel” and “accursed” life is to “strike dead” Jason, Creon and Glauce. Medea ends up killing Creon and his daughter but doesn’t make any attempt to kill Jason. To “perish his whole house” and “work revenge on Jason for his wrongs to [Medea]”, Medea plans to kill her two son as “it is the supreme way to hurt [her] husband”. Although Medea feels sad as shown by her “dewy eyes” and “these tears”, the audience are positioned to feel less sympathetic towards Medea due to her murderous actions towards her “own little
Euripides infanticidal re-imagining of the Medea myth continues to arouse controversy more than a millennia since it was penned in the fifth century BC. A key reason it does so is because of the way in which Euripides challenges and offends what are still, even in the 21st century, traditional notions of motherhood. As such, Euripides infuses his work with a great deal of ambiguity about Medea’s tragic downfall. Medea finds herself with extraordinary amounts of power coming about from not tolerating others and therefore dominating those around her. Medea dominates others to be in a position of power, when that position of power is taken away from her she reverts to harming anyone who opposed her. Medea’s cunning and cleverness, that leads her to dominate others and making people do what she wants. Medeas control of situations comes from a
Commonly considered one of Euripides greatest pieces, Medea is an insightful depiction of how a woman’s love for her husband, churns into a gruesome revenge scheme against him. This tragedy illustrates a tale of a woman who challenges Greek societal norms. In the era that the story takes place; women are often seen in submissive roles. However, the play’s main character, Medea, challenges their customs through her actions against the Kingdom of Corinth and 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
Relationships are very important in life. They define who we are and what we are capable of. The relationship can either be with a significant other, family member, friend, or co-worker. A person should always try to have a good relationship with someone to avoid hurting themselves or others. If the person does not feel happy or have a positive thought towards another person, then move on to next thing in life that does make you happy. In Euripides’s Medea, the main character Medea is an evil woman who only wants to seek revenge to those who have done her wrong. The play paints a perfect image of a distorted relationship between an ex-wife and husband with children. Medea is depressed, angry, and cold-hearted towards the world. She lost her husband who left her for another woman. Her relationship with children and the people around her are no longer healthy or happy. Medea was once a happy woman when she had her husband, Jason by her side. In today 's world people like to live a happy life, but once a disaster comes upon their life, they do not know how to deal with pain and anger. The main social issue in the play is revenge, marriage relationship, and gender role. The play Medea is a great example on how relationships can affect people in a negative and hurtful way towards the people around you. Medea strived to be powerful over people, especially men.
Medea’s strength is portrayed as her madness as she takes control and decides the fate of her enemies. She is a strong character and Euripides allows Medea to have a voice by allowing the audience to witness her break from the norm of what a woman of her time is expected to do. After giving up her family and former life to be with her husband, Jason, he decides to marry a younger princess while still married to Medea. Medea realizes that women are left to face the most miserable situations and says, “We women are the most unfortunate creatures” (229). Jason feels that Medea is to be grateful for what he is doing by marrying into royalty as it will afford all of them a better life. The representation of Medea by Euripides is powerful, manipulative, and extremely smart, yet because she is a woman she has limited social power.