On the contrary, the Norton version of Medea paints one of the strongest women in Greek society. When reading the Norton version, there is an insatiable thirst to read what Medea will say next since she has a technique of persuasion that is unrivaled by any woman in the play. All the more so supporting this is the legendary Creon himself admits to Medea, “Your words are soothing, but I’m terrified of what’s in your mind.” (Norton, 753). When the notorious ruler Creon can agree that the words are soothing, but terrifying, one must know that the language is far more cunning than simple animalistic urges. The pinnacle of the differences is the language surrounding the slaughter of Medea’s children. Medea utters confusing phrases, “…I must kill …show more content…
She desires to kill her spawn out of love instead of her spawn dying at the furious hands of Creon’s men. “Arm yourself my heart. Why am I waiting to do this terrible, necessary crime? Unhappy hand, act now.” (Norton, 776). This quote performs to show the reader the internal struggle that is absorbing Medea’s beyond distressed mind. Norton’s version makes it clear that Medea is not acting on animalistic urges, but is fighting amongst her own thoughts on whether or not to kill her children. “…do not weaken, don’t remember that you love your children dearly, that you gave them life. For one short day forget your children.” (Norton, 776). Again, this furthers the point that Medea cares about these children more than an animal just slaughtering out of urges. An animalistic urge would act almost immediately. After many discussions within her head, Medea decides that the best route for her children, and her mind, is to end their suffering. Ending the children’s suffering also deepens the suffering of Jason, making it impossible for Jason to ever heal. It was quite obviously a lot more thought went into this decision ending her children, unlike any animalistic, primal
... is one example of how he used a poem to write about what the power of love can do to someone, i.e. bring someone to his or her demise. This kind of approach to myth telling is also prominent in another myth written by Ovid, which can be found in Book 14. This is the story of Dido and Aeneas. In this instinct Dido is tricked and deceived by Aeneas, when he takes advantage over her and uses her. Therefore Dido is left on her own and since her passion of love towards Aeneas was so great, she then finds herself depressed and kills herself. This action is called upon from the power of love and by killing herself she deceived others as well. Now, this is not the exact same comparison as to Medea’s story but it does depict what beholds those who have fallen deeply in love. Good reasoning and justice falls second when it comes to women’s emotions of passion and persuasion.
Throughout the whole story, you are torn with emotions between the characters. At first, you feel sorry for Medea. Her husband, who she has saved from death, has left her for another woman. She has been "all/obediant" their entire marriage, transforming herself into the sort of wife required by society. You can't help but sympathize with her.
While both women do wrong by the law of man, and Medea against the law of the gods, they do it for different reasons. In the beginning Medea kills many people and monsters with little or no concern of the consequence. When the story deals with modern times Medea kills out of pure revenge and spite for Jason. She plots for weeks to kill Jason’s new bride and poisons her, and then before she leaves the country she murders her two sons, she had with Jason, before she rides off in her bright white chariot.
Medea is a tragedy written by acclaimed Greek playwright Euripides.fortunately, had the opportunity to view last night's performance. Euripides cleverly uncovers the reality of Ancient Greek society, shining a light on the treatment of women and the emotions and thoughts that provoked during their time in society. As they were voiceless, Euripides acted as a voice. The scene is set during a male- dominated society, Medea the protagonist challenges the views and chooses to ignore the normality of civilisation. Treated as an outsider her passion for revenge conquers the motherly instincts she possesses, provoking a deep hatred and sparking revenge towards her once loved family.
The tragic play Medea is a struggle between reason and violence. Medea is deliberately portrayed as not a ‘normal woman’, but excessive in her passions. Medea is a torment to herself and to others; that is why Euripides shows her blazing her way through life leaving wreckage behind her. Euripides has presented Medea as a figure previously thought of exclusively as a male- hero. Her balance of character is a combination of the outstanding qualities of Achilles and Odysseus.
The nurse believes that she may harm the children and foreshadows their actual death. After she hears Medea cursing her sons she tries to sway Medea to more logical train of thoug...
Aphrodite, caring for only Jason, causes Medea to fall in love with him because of her known magical talents. To help Jason, Medea kills her own brother, betting that her father would stop for her brother’s body parts and allow her escape with Jason. While her escape plan works due to her innate sense of the way people react, Medea is now homeless. Still, the society expected Medea to give up everything for Jason, while he was allowed to ditch her with no social consequences. “And she herself helped Jason in every way. This is indeed the greatest salvation of all,-For the wife not to stand apart from the husband.” (Medea, pg. 616, line
These focus elements, of pity and fear are essentially what formulate the action within Medea, and in turn, reflect upon the characters creating a relevance to the audience, and the cathartic response for which Aristotle was so passionate. A key point within the text of Medea, which represents the perpetuation of these emotive elements, is when she is informed by Kreon, [Lord of Corinth] that she is to be exiled, as the following excerpt details.
Her hatred toward Greek women continues as she discusses the fact that she should not have to bear children or have a strong maternal instinct in order to be considered a woman of societal worth. Women should be as important in battle as men are, as she states on page 195 when she says “They say that we have a safe life at home, whereas men must go to war. Nonsense! I had rather fight three battles than bear one child. But be that as it may, you and I are not in the same case.” The gender imbalance in the ancient Greek civilization is greatly upsetting to Medea, creating her mindset that Greek women are weak and simple minded while Greek men are oppressive and inequitable. Medea shares
Ironically, Medea’s actions are similar to a man when she takes charge of her marriage, living situation, and family life when she devices a plan to engulf her husband with grief. With this in mind, Medea had accepts her place in a man’s world unti...
As with Medea and Jason, the battle between the two lead to former's madness, leading to the death of the enemies she considered, and, unfortunately, leading as well to the death of her own children. Medea felt betrayed and left behind by her husband Jason, as well as continuously aggravated by Creon despite the fact that it was she who was in a disadvantaged position.
... the Chorus, they condemn her for it, but, they can see and understand the reasons behind why Medea did what she did. For this reason at the end of the play the audience still has some sympathy for Medea, although severely diminished from that at the beginning of the play.
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 decisions and this is done so the readers can see that Medea thinks for herself, and doesn’t let any male control her life. In the play, Medea states, “I had rather stand three times in the front line than bear one child” (1. 249-50). This shows that her internal conflict with not wanting to go through childbirth again is proof that her character is a little bit of a “masculine” woman. In the quote she is saying she’d rather battle than give birth. In a way, it is an example of Medea’ rejection of the foundation of the typical role of woman. Another example of Medea having an
Medea is a tragedy of a woman who feels that her husband has betrayed her with another woman and the jealousy that consumes her. She is the protagonist who arouses sympathy and admiration because of how her desperate situation is. I thought I was going to feel sorry for Medea, but that quickly changed as soon as I saw her true colors. I understand that her emotions were all over the place. First, she was angry, then cold and conniving. The lower she sinks the more terrible revenge she wants to reap on Jason.
Medea was a very diverse character who possesses several characteristics which were unlike the average woman during her time. As a result of these characteristics she was treated differently by members of the society. Media was a different woman for several reasons; she possessed super natural powers , she was manipulative, vindictive, and she was driven by revenge. The life that Medea lived and the situations she encountered, (one could say) were partly responsible for these characteristics and her actions.