At the age of 20, Jason of Argonauts loses one of his sandals on his journey back to Iolkos. He loses the sandal in a current of water, fulfilling the plan of the gods. Many years before, Jason's half uncle Pelias was told an oracle stating that a man wearing one sandal would someday kill him. Unbeknown to Pelias, Jason is secretly sent away by his mother, who deceptively mourns his death convincing others he was dead. He was sent away to Centaur Chiron who raises him after Pelias kills Jason's siblings. Pelias, thinking all of Aerson's children were dead and Aerson was successfully locked in a dungeon, takes over the throne of Iolkos. As Jason makes the journey back home to reclaim the throne, he loses one of his sandals. Pelias see's that …show more content…
The golden fleece comes from the god Hermes' winged ram and is considered sacred to the people of the time even to the point of having it displayed in a temple guarded by a dragon. Pelias cunningly informs Jason that if he successfully brings him the golden fleece he will give him back the throne. Pelias offers this expedition to gain the throne anticipating the task will prove impossible. Pelias assumes the mission is a certain death sentence, saving him from the horror of the oracle he was once told. Jason willingly takes on the challenge, boldly organizing a strong group of people to sail with him and having a special ship built for the voyage. On the expedition Medea, who later became Jason's wife, uses her sorcery powers to help Jason obtain the golden fleece by assisting in the completion of the tasks given to him by her father, the king. Jason successfully brings Pelias the golden fleece, but Pelias, never truly planning on giving up the throne refuses to let Jason regain his families rightful rule. These acts result in Jason having the opportunity to meet a wide variety of women many of whom he falls in love with before he leaves
these stories the Olympian gods in the stories play important roles that affect the lives of both Jason and Medea. The behaviors of these two character also have a great contrast between them. In the story of “Jason and the Golden Fleece”, Jason is the son of Aeson who is the legitimate king of Iolcus, in Thessaly. Aeson’s half brother Pelias steals the throne away from Aeson making himself the new king of Iolcus. Jason is the rightful heir to the thrown but his father feared for his life and sent him to live with the centaur Cheiron. In time Jason wanted to know of his parents and wanted to reclaim the royal
Once he began manipulating Medea, this made him realize, that he can manipulate anyone he chooses to. After he had captured the Golden Fleece, he abandoned Medea and married the princess of Corinth hoping to stable his wealth and gain more power. He, in turn, manipulated the royal family only to have the consistent power he needed and desired. This had then begun to escalate. Jason is now displaying a pattern of his manipulation. As Jason begins to free himself from his “evil” ex-wife, Jason manipulates the past into a lie and much bigger problem from his side of the story. His dishonesty makes his side of the story more believable and by doing so, his manipulation skills had become more deceivable. Jason is in denial of the many things Medea had done for him and when he told his story, he used omission in order to deceive his listeners. Jason then says, “Dark threats cast out against the majesties/ of Corinth, count as veriest gain thy path of exile.” (27). He then blames Medea and having Creon ban her from Corinth.
Jason’s innate desire for self-fulfillment included leaving his wife and children to marry the princess so he could be ranked higher. After the father realized his doings and how it affected his life from there on out he tried to fix it. Time was no longer on his side medea already plotted the revenge plan. Depression and madness struck jason.
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.
In addition to providing for his children, Jason also does complete the role of the protector. When Medea goes on her serial killing spree, Jason only knows that she has killed his new wife. Thus, Jason immediately thinks of his children and arrive as the palace “so [that he may] save the lives / Of [his] boys, in case the royal house should harm them / While taking vengeance for their mother’s wicked deed” (Euripides 391). He knows that the royal family of Corinth might see his sons and want to kill them because they are related to Medea; therefore, Jason wishes to whisk them away to safety before he loses them as well. However, he soon discovers Medea has also killed their sons, and he is absolutely stricken with grief. He mourns for “the boys whom [he] begot and brought up” and questions Medea on how she could have stomached such an unforgivable and sordid deed (Euripides 391). After many accusations from Medea, Jason then begs to see the sons’ dead bodies so that he may burry and mourn them, but Medea “prevents [him] from / Touching their bodies or giving them burial” (Euripides 393). Jason, left without a chance to mourn for the loss of his children, leaves Medea as she blames him for the deaths of their children.
When asked by Jason for the “sovereign sceptre and the throne”, Pelias replied that Jason must first bring back the Fleece, to bring back with it the spirit of his dead cousin Phrixus to his home, either unaware or uncaring that Phrixus was actually now married to a daughter of King Aeetes.
Aeetes was used to getting visitors who had come for the fleece, and had devised a test for quickly getting rid of them. He had a standing challenge to give up the fleece to anyone who could tame two fire-breathing bulls and then use them to plow a field with dragon's teeth. Jason was stumped by how to pass this quest and was saved at the last moment by Aeetes own daughter Medea, who gave him a potion of wild herbs that would protect him from the fiery breath of the bulls. With the help, Jason easily tamed the bulls, and began to sow the field, but noticed that where he had put the teeth, soldiers were springing up from the ground. Jason hid from them, most cowardly, but then came up with a plan for getting rid of them. He picked up a huge stone and threw it into the middle of the mass of soldiers, killing one. A quarrel immediately started amongst the soldiers over who had thrown the rock, and a fight broke out, killing all but a few, whom Jason was able to easily overcome. With the help of Medea, Jason was able to steal the fleece from its guardian, a dragon, by putting it to sleep, and escape from Colchis.
In “Jason and the Golden Fleece”, Pelias sends Jason to get the Golden Fleece, an almost unattainable task (Daly “Jason”). Nevertheless, Jason agrees to the task and with the help of two goddesses, Hera and Athena, he builds a ship: the Argo (Daly “Jason”). Jason and his fifty-man crew consisting of Atalanta, Heracles, Orpheus and many others then leave daling into the treacherous waters of the Black Sea (Daly “Jason”). Jason has many impossible tasks ahead of him but with the help of Medea, he is able to master “fire-breathing Bulls with brazen feet” and subdue many warriors (Daly “Jason”). In order to defeat the assailants, he “threw a stone into the midst of the warriors” (Daly “Jason”). Afterwards, Medea directs him to the Golden Fleece where Jason uses his wit and expertise to vanquish the immense and powerful dragon guarding the fleece. After going back out to sea, Jason and Medea, Circe’s niece, arrive on Circe's island for protection (Daly “Jason”). Later, she is informed they murdered her brother, Apsyrtus, in order to escape from king Aeetes. Consequently, she runs them off the island. Gillespie writes, “Circe grants their request: however, the couple does not tell Circe the whole truth about their deeds” (290). Even though Circe does not play a major role in “Jason and the Golden Fleece,” she is still an important piece to
In Medea, a woman betrays her homeland because of her love for a man. Jason is the husband that she ferociously loves and makes sacrifices for. They have two children together: Antigone and Ismeme. In Jason's quest for the golden fleece, Medea assists him in multiple ways. One of the things she does to help their cause is bring
Jason could be considered a fool to fall for the gift of children, clothes and a blessing from the heart that Medea offers. Jason doesn’t believe that Medea could do the unthinkable. Medea’s words soft and convincing thought out and bold. Jason wanting nothing more than to live a life filled with royalty, love and the women and children blessed after this day. Medea wanting nothing more
Jason upon seeing this begs her to spare the life of the second. Medea slays the second son and throws the body down at Jason as she makes her escape in a dragon pulled chariot. Jason concludes the play by saying that there are no gods if events such as these are permitted to
When Jason and Medea are fleeing from Medea’s father Aeetes, Jason and Medea need a distraction that enables them to escape on the Argo. Medea chops her own brother’s limbs off, knowing Aeetes would stop to pick up Apsyrtus’s limbs for a proper burial. Medea murders her own flesh and blood to help Jason and herself escape the wrath of her
Sent away as a child in order to avoid death by his uncle, Pelias, who took over the throne, Jason, son of Aeson and Alcimede, was raised by a centaur. When Jason turned twenty years old he aimed to reclaim his throne for the kingdom of Iolcus. During his journey to Iolcus, Jason aided an elderly lady in crossing the river. Little to his knowledge did Jason know he was fulfilling the prophecy concerning Hera’s revenge towards King Pelias due to past issues. The prophecy claimed that King Pelias would lose his throne to the man with one sandal. In this case, it was Jason who entered Iolcus ready to obtain his rightful throne wearing only one sandal because the other one was lost when he helped the
In Euripides ' tragedy, Medea, the main character Medea was taken away from her homeland and from her family and brought to a strange world by her husband Jason. Jason used her to get the golden fleece, as this was
Fearing for Jason’s life, he and Polymede pretended that the infant had died, and they had a funeral ceremony. King Aeson was imprisoned by Pelias, and Queen Polymede became Pelias’ wife, against her will. This was considered an act of incest and was not accepted by the people of Thessaly.