Betrayal In Medea

628 Words2 Pages

"Medea" by Euripides

"Medea" by Euripides is a play that was written and performed in 431 B.C. It is based on the Greek myth of Medea and Jason. When Jason betrays Medea by marrying a Corinthian princess, Medea plots and takes her revenge, destroying everyone her husband holds dear. "Medea" is an interesting, yet sad.it shows that she’ll do anything to bring him down
The play follows the actions of the Golden Fleece during which Medea betrayed her barbarian country of Colchis along with her family Medea happily lives in Corinth with Jason until he betrays her to marry Glauce, Princess of Corinth. As Medea grieves over her loss, her nurse fears what Medea may do to herself and her children. A chorus of Corinthian women visit to comfort Medea.
King Creon, Glauce's father, visits Medea and sentences her and her sons to exile, thinking of what she may do to his daughter; however, Medea convinces him to delay her exile for one …show more content…

Following the adventures of the Golden Fleece during which Medea betrayed her barbarian country of Colchis as well as her family, Medea happily lives in Corinth with Jason until he betrays her to marry Glauce, Princess of Corinth. As Medea grieves over her loss, her nurse fears what Medea may do to herself and her children. A chorus of Corinthian women visits to comfort Medea. King Creon, Glauce's father, visits Medea and sentences her and her sons to exile, fearing what she may do to his daughter; however, Medea convinces him to delay her exile for one day, giving her time to enact her vengeance. Jason also visits Medea and attempts to explain himself. The nurse laments the search for the Golden Fleece since it led Medea to Corinth with Jason. The Golden Fleece symbolizes the harmony of Medea and Jason’s early love and also Medea’s betrayal of her family and homeland for

Show More
Related

  • Euripides Medea Vs. Greek Prejudices And Gender Roles

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the story of Medea, the author, Euripides, addresses the topics of foreignism and female roles in the ancient Greek society. In the play, Medea, a foreign born woman, marries Jason, a Greek man, and moves to Greece to be with him after leaving her homeland with death and devastation. Then, when their marriage fails, Medea lashes out against Jason, causing her own exile and murdering her children, to which she has no love connection, and Jason’s new wife in the process. The main character, Medea, confirms many of the alleged Greek prejudices against foreigners and creates some prejudices of her own in return. Medea’s foreign roots and misconceptions, as well as her familial and societal atrocities,

    Read More

  • A Close Reading of Euripides' Medea

    650 Words  | 2 Pages

    Aside from providing a time frame that initiates a sense of urgency to the play (Medea only has a day to complete her plans), the exchange between Creon and Medea introduces the theme of her cleverness.

    Read More

  • Is Medea A Sympathetic Character Analysis

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sacrifices are often made in one’s everyday life. However, it is the repercussions of these sacrifices that elicit sympathy from one’s peers. Medea with, “...her heart unhinged in her love for Jason...persuaded the daughters of Pelias to kill their father” (Euripides 8-10). Euripides uses a mythological allusion by briefly referring to the legendary journey of Jason and the Argonauts. Euripides portrays Medea as a character who selflessly victimizes herself. Through this sacrificial act of love Medea, victimizes herself by acquiring enemies on Jason’s behalf. Furthermore, Medea betrays her...

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Jason And Medea

    666 Words  | 2 Pages

    Initially Medea appears to be irrational and weak-minded while Jason seems calm and composed, however by the end of the play, their roles are reversed; Jason is infuriated with Medea and loses his self-possession, while Medea is arrogant and dismissive. When the audience is first introduced to Medea she is ‘collapsed in agony’, in a low position reflecting her victimisation by Jason. However by contrast, Medea’s triumph is literally and symbolically established in her high position, being carried away in a chariot drawn by dragons, while Jason is left behind pleading and

    Read More

  • Jason And Medea Character Analysis

    1293 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story of Jason and Medea all begins with Jason trying to reclaim his father’s throne and his adventures to do so along with the help Medea. Everything did not go accordingly and their situation got worse. It then becomes into him betraying the one who helped him and her revenge. The story is a tragedy and how Jason and the Gods brought about his downfall.

    Read More

  • Jason Brings His Own Downfall in Medea, a play by Euripides

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    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. Medea then kills the children. Later, she refuses to let Jason bury the bodies or say goodbye to the dead children he now loves so dearly. Jason is cursed with many catastrophic flaws that lead to his downfall and that of others around him.

    Read More

  • medea

    455 Words  | 1 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Representation of Womens Roles in Society- Medea

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    Medea’s illegitimate marriage and the betrayal of Jason drive Medea to extreme revenge. Medea chooses to act with her immortal self and commit inhumane acts of murder rather than rationalize the outcomes of her actions. Medea see’s this option as her only resort as she has been banished and has nowhere to go, “stripped of her place”. To create sympathy for Medea, Euripides plays down Medea’s supernatural powers until the end of the play. Throughout the play Medea represents all characteristics found in individual women put together, including; love, passion, betrayal and revenge. Medea’s portrayal of human flaws creates empathetic emotions from the audience. The audience commiserates with Medea’s human flaws as they recognize them in themselves. Medea plays the major role in this play as she demonstrates many behavioral and psychological patterns unlike any of the other Greek women in the play; this draws the audience’s attention to Medea for sympathy and respect.

    Read More

  • Euripedes Medea versus Aristotlean Poetics

    1558 Words  | 4 Pages

    Aristotle, a philosopher, scientist, spiritualist and passionate critic of the arts, spent many years studying human nature and its relevance to the stage. His rules of tragedy in fact made a deep imprint on the writing of tragic works, while he influenced the structure of theatre, with his analysis of human nature. Euripides 'Medea', a Greek tragedy written with partial adherence to the Aristotelian rules, explores the continuation of the ancient Greek tales surrounding the mythology of Medea, Princess of Colchis, and granddaughter of Helios, the sun god, with heartlessness to rival the infamous Circe. While the structure of this play undoubtedly perpetuates many of the Aristotelian rules, there are some dramatic structures which challenge its standing with relevance to Aristotle's guidelines, and the judgment of Medea as a dramatic success within the tragic genre.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Sacrifice In Medea

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    Her personality is full of extremity and ‘savage temperament’, and could be characterized as sociopathic, but was ammunition to Jason’s fight for triumph. However Jason’s foolishness and forgetfulness allows him to become victim to Medea’s ‘monstrous’ deeds, rather than the victor. Jason’s thoughts to become king overshadow the logic analysis of what his wife, ‘transfixed by desire for (him)’, would do in response to his controversial marriage for the crown. Euripides’ produces Medea’s plan of filicide as purely for her own benefit; to hurt the ‘traitor’ yet she lost any respect she held on to and became a ‘contemptible creature, killer of children’ with no admiration by any other being other than herself. The once pitied woman fighting for ‘recompense’ is now an enemy of women and the battle for gender equality, as she murders her own family and destroys many other lives in the process, which shows how Euripides understood the constant battle for women. This portrayal of selfishness represents how many people cannot believe in something completely unless they see something to gain out of it. Medea’s manipulation as she wept before the chorus not only support her intentions, but also tip her over the edge between extreme revenge to unfathomable murder as she rationalizes her

    Read More

  • Justice in Euripides' Medea

    434 Words  | 1 Pages

    Later in the story, our sympathy transfers from Medea to Jason. Her revenge turns immoral, leaving readers with a sense of uneasiness. It is not so much the fact that she kills Creon and his daughter, but the fact that she slays her children in cold-blood.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Medea's Fault

    890 Words  | 2 Pages

    Medea’s tale began when Jason came to her father’s kingdom on a quest for the Golden Fleece. The king gave Jason many impossible

    Read More

  • Aristotle’s Poetics

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The Medea, Medea gives up her home, murdered her brother and tossed the pieces of his corpse and betrays her family to escape with her lover Jason. Against her father's wishes she helps Jason recover the Golden Fleece. Afterwards, Medea and Jason fall in love, get married and Medea gives birth and raises two sons. Unfortunately, Jason abandons Medea and marries King Creon's beautiful daughter. Medea alternates her role from a lover and partner in crime to an obsessive prideful monster. Me...

    Read More

  • Vengeance In Euripides Medea

    308 Words  | 1 Pages

    Euripides’s dramatic work Medea is a story centered around vengeance. Medea is getting revenge on Jason, the man for whom she abandoned her family and left her home. What is important about this story, however, and what makes it unique from other works we have read, is the strength of the female lead. In most works the woman is either non-central and sought after by a god for her beauty, or is shown in a less than positive light (Pandora depicting women as leaky). Here, Medea is magical, murderous, and above all else powerful. She is without a doubt the protagonist with the story centered around her as if this was her heroic epic. What immediately comes to mind (for whatever reason) given this whole plotline is how very “high school” it all

    Read More

  • The Importance of the Role That the Chorus Plays in Euripedes’ Medea

    1154 Words  | 3 Pages

    This mutual suffering between Medea and the Chorus raises issues such as the treatment of women at the time when this play was written. When Medea married Jason, she married herself to him for life. She was expected to be totally obedient and to accept whatever her husband willed. For her to look upon another man other than her husband would have been totally unacceptable. Whereas Jason marries another woman while he...

    Read More

More about Betrayal In Medea

Open Document