Medea as Woman, Hero and God in Euripides' Play Essay

More importantly, she seems to be able to identify the flaws that lead her astray. The first mistake Medea traces her current predicament back to is her vulnerability to be manipulated when thinking with her emotions instead of her better sense. On first falling in love with Jason, she recalls "I was ensnared, girl that I was, by your/words" (86), words tapping into her emotions. This of course inspired the all the more magnanimous goof of replacing her family with her husband who as the queen describes "alone...took the place of/ all!" (164-165). For the Queen of Colchis, bad decisions have been her major shortcoming, a fact that she both realizes and takes responsibility for. Thus acknowledgment is the first step towards her redemption. Evidence for this can be seen through her pathological appeals to Jason which illustrate how the Queen has used her emotional mind-set as a strength instead of a weakness. Medea "betrayed [her] sire" (109), "lost [her] throne" (163), and killed her own brother for Jason. She reminds him that, in addition to all the sacrifices she made for him, her devotion has not faltered when she says, "At your bidding I have withdraw from/ your palace...and --/ what follows me evermore -- my love for you" (140-143). After winning Jason's sympathy, the humble woman concludes "by my favours to you...restore me to the bed

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.

She has no chance of being a hero because she acts out of hurt in her marriage and love turned to hate. She decides to murder the princess, her children, and leave Jason alone. The power Medea takes may be considered severe, yet she has made the decision not to be a silent wife who does what her husband tells her to do. David M. Schaps writes, “As Medea sees it-or at least as she presents it-her problems are all based in the fact that she is a woman. Because she is a woman she is powerless; because she is a woman she is peculiarly vulnerable in matters of love; because she is a woman she

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

The duty of women portrayed in Greek society is a major subject in Euripides Medea. In old Greek society, ladies are delicate and compliant as per men, and their social position is viewed as exceptionally mediocre. Feminism is the hypothesis of men being viewed different in contrast to women and the male predominance over ladies in the public eye. Women's lives are spoken to by the parts they either pick or have forced on them. This is obvious in the play Medea by Euripides through the characters of Medea and the medical attendant. During the day and age which Medea is set ladies have exceptionally restricted social power and no political power by any stretch of the imagination, despite the fact that a ladies' maternal and residential power was regarded in the protection of the home, "Our lives rely upon how his lordship feels." The constrained power these ladies were given is diverse to present day society yet parts are as yet forced on ladies to acclimate and be a devoted spouse. Ladies have dependably been dis engaged because of their sex in present day and antiquated circumstances alike. In Corinth they are required to run the family unit and fit in with social desires of an obedient spouse. Medea, being an eternal and relative from the divine beings has a specific power in insight and guileful keenness. Being an outsider, Medea's wayward nonsensical conduct was normal in this play as she was not conceived in Greece and was viewed as an exotic foreigner. She goes over to the group of onlookers as an intense female character regarding viciousness. Some of Medea's responses and decisions have all the earmarks of being made a huge deal about as creators for the most part influence characters to appear to be overwhelming; this makes a superior comprehension of the content and the issues which are produced through the characters. Medea's ill-conceived marriage and the double-crossing of Jason drive Medea to outrageous vengeance. Medea acts with her immortal self and confer coldhearted demonstrations of murder instead of legitimize the results of her actions. Medea see's this choice as her lone resort as she has been exiled and has no place to go, "stripped of her place." To make sensitivity for Medea, Euripides

Internal conflicts within Medea shed light on her true character and her difficulties to make decisions. Throughout the play, there are many cases of Medea contemplating her

<br>Medea dwells in self-pity until contriving a scheme that will avenge her hurt. Wallowing in self contempt is generally a quality attributed to women by society. Medea is so unhappy with herself after her marriage with Jason ended that she wanted to die.

Medea questions the firmly held belief in Greek society that women are weak and passive. Wanting revenge on Jason for his betrayal of her, Medea must take control of the situation, a stereotypical masculine quality. Though she cannot become a man or take power like a man, she perceives her

In Euripides’ Medea, Medea is very furious because Juno left her and her children to remarry the princess. Medea does not accept the betrayal and demands punishment for leaving her after all she has done for him. Creon is aware “I’m afraid of you. You could hurt my daughter, even kill her. Every indication points that way”(793). Medea knew she was going to exile and pretended to be a victim and swore that all she said was just out of anger. Little did the king know that she had a vicious plan to kill his daughter and Creon as well. Medea indeed got what she wanted. She obtained revenged by killing her children on top of the bride and the king.“Forget your children. Afterward you’ll grieve. For even if you kill them, they were yours; you loved them. I’m a woman cursed by fortune”(817). This shows how woman did not have power over their children. Medea’s husband was the owner and that’s why she killed them because her children were not in reality hers, she just gave birth to them.

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.

Although Medea, like many women, gives up her family, home, and body for her marriage. Medea feels that “of all things we women are the most unfortunate creatures,” (8) and further discusses the difficulties and unjust situations women face such as “for there is not easy escape for a woman, nor can she say no to her marriage” (8) and how men do not use the same rules. For example, Medea feels that “what applies to me does not apply to you” (9). She seems envious of the freedom men possess.

Medea accomplished that by giving birth to two children for Jason. As the play slowly unraveled, it plainly displayed that she was faithful towards her husband, but being an ideal Greek wife was not her factual nature. She was independent and her qualities made her different from the Corinth women. In the opening sequence, the nurse introduced Medea as a frightening woman when someone wronged her. “Her temperaments are dangerous and will not tolerate bad treatment. For she is fearsome. No one who joins in conflict with her will celebrate an easy victory”, the nurse presented (page 2, line). From this, the reader can envision how ordinary other Greek women were. How they didn’t have a mind of their own and were defenseless towards those shabby treatments from men. These women were submissive and didn’t have any control over their lives. However, the protagonist Medea did. She took matters in her own hands when her husband betrayed her.

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.

ultimate act of revenge towards Jason. She is so set on getting back at him that she commits the most heinous of acts. She murders her two children. Jason's acts may have pushed her over the edge of sanity, but one can argue that even an insane person would take their own life over the lives of their own children. This brings the insanity to a whole new level.

Euripides presents one of the most shocking female characters in literature, through Medea, a devotee of the goddess Hecate, and one of the great sorceresses of the ancient world. She was the daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis, and the granddaughter of Helios, the sun god. King Aeetes ' most valuable possession was a golden ram 's fleece. When Jason, the man Medea falls in love with, arrives at Colchis seeking the Golden Fleece, Aeetes sets Jason a series of seemingly impossible tasks as the price for obtaining it. Medea falls in love with Jason and agrees to use her magic to help him, in return for Jason 's promise to marry her. Jason fled once he obtained the Golden Fleece, taking Medea and her younger brother, Absyrtis, with him, as King Aeetes pursued them. In order to delay the pursuit, Medea killed her brother and cut his body into pieces, scattering the parts behind the ship. This caused the pursuers to stop and collect Absyrtis ' dismembered body in order to give it proper burial, which thus gave Jason, Medea and the Argonauts the time to escape. On Jason’s safe return to his home in Iolcus, Medea continued to use her sorcery. She restored the youth of Jason 's aged father, Aeson, by cutting his throat and filling his body with a magical potion. She tricked Pelias ' daughters into killing him, but left the corpse without any youth-restoring potion. After the murder of Pelias, Jason and