Role Of Medea In King Creon

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.

The mistreatment that both receive from Jason and Agamemnon despite all that they do for them contributes heavily to their vengeful actions as well. Medea used her magical powers, defied her father, and killed her brother to devote herself to Jason, is still treated coldly and is neglected by Jason, who abandons her and their two sons and leaves her for Creon’s daughter. She realizes that “to annihilate the past is not possible: but its fruit in the present” can be used at her disposal to fulfill vengeance (Medea 1.364-5). She decides to channel the woe she

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.

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

Medea after being betrayed by her husband Jason, she takes advantage of the sympathy of others to carry out her agenda. As an outsider and “non-Greek” (326), she understands that the people of Corinth do not reserve much sympathy for Medea herself. However, she recognizes there is a possibility that people will take pity on her children, therefore she takes advantage of this knowledge by using the children as bait. Medea persuades Creon and Jason to sympathize with her predicament by acknowledging their decisions and actions, meanwhile using the children as a commoMedea’s

In order to stop Jason from marrying Creon’s daughter, she kills her and Creon. Medea furthermore kills her children as a way to give Jason even more pain (and on some accounts, save her own children from the royal family’s vengeance). Through her murderous actions, Jason’s power is even greatly more diminished. At the end of

Medea’s version of justice is taking matters into her owns hands. She wants to take revenge on Jason by murdering his fiancee and his children. Medea killed her children to make Jason pay for his wrongdoing. Though she did feel regret, she still carried on and committed sacrilege against her children. Her actions was not justified in the court of law and in the eyes of men and women. She also not only killed her children, she killed Jason’s fiancee. The Corinthian princess, Glauce, died a brutal death by the gifts that Medea had given her. “She changed colour, staggered back and sideways, trembling, then fell into her chair again, almost collapsing on the floor” (Euripides 43). The messenger who went to Medea gave in full detail, a vivid description of the what happened to the princess of Corinth. Medea held no remorse for Glauce or the

is important to Creon, Medea asks why he must send her away. Creon states “I am afraid of you”

The play Medea uses the setting to help the audience better understand the meaning of the text. What is said depends greatly on who is around and where the character(s) are. For example, when Medea is by herself or with the chorus, she is speaking freely of her evil plans, however, when she was in the presences of Creon or Jason, she lied to their faces. The audience knows what her true thoughts and feelings are due to the setting. They are not tricked into thinking she has changed her mind but instead, they know when she is lying based on who she is around. After Medea devised a plan, she sent for Jason and pleades to him, “Jason, I ask you to forgive me for the things I said before. You’re used to putting up with my temper, since so many acts of love have passed between us…” (Medea, 870). This quote is a perfect example of how the setting changes the meaning of the words. This helps portray the overall them of identity. Medea is now full of rage and anger due to her husband leaving her for another woman. She has lost her sense of identity which was found in her husband. She is a refugee in Corinth and has no friends or family. She feels completely alone with nowhere else to turn but to anger and rage.

In pursuit of greater social status within the Greek community, Jason betrayed Medea “for a royal bed” by marrying Glauce. Medea has a hard time coping in society, as the role of women is very low compared to men. They are forced to become their husband’s possessions in marriage. Once Medea was betrayed, she was left with nothing and forced by Creon “to leave this land and become an exile” as Creon was afraid Medea would “do some irreparable harm to [his] daughter”. Her psychological state

Audiences/readers in the modern day, do not understand how horrible exile was with the Ancient Greeks. The person’s city/state is their home, but also the place that protects them. To live without friends, or family was considered a fate that leads to a horrible death. Medea went into exile for her husband, Jason. Euripides’ themes of exile and connected with the position of women.

Creon continues by telling Medea that he has heard of plans she has made to harm him, his daughter, and Jason and is exiling her

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

Soon after this, Medea is able to manipulate Creon as well. When Creon banishes her, she tells him of her great concern for her children and eventually convinces him to allow her to stay in Corinth for one more day. This allows Medea to continue with her plan to take out revenge on Jason. Medea acts and speaks like a Homeric Greek warrior, but tricks Jason by acting submissively like the ideal Greek woman Jason wished her to be. Medea approaches Jason with gifts for his new wife, apologizes, and tells him that she realized he was right. This move allowed Medea to remove all skepticism from Jason's mind, and he willingly took the poisoned dress to his bride. In the course of a few hours, Medea's ultimate manipulation skills enable her to exploit four individuals who are crucial to her murder plot.