Is Jason Justified In Medea

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In Euripides’ play Medea, the title character is betrayed by Jason, the man that she loves, and so she takes her revenge. Medea does everything in her power to bring his world crashing around him, even if that means murdering their two children. While her actions are extreme and admittedly horrid, she is still justified in her revenge. Medea overturned her entire life, betrayed her family, and killed for Jason, only for him to break his oaths to her and marry someone new. As Medea says, when a woman has been betrayed in such a way, “no mind is more homicidal than hers”, and for good reason (line 266). Prior to the events of the play, Medea was “struck senseless with passion for Jason” to the point where she would do anything for him (line …show more content…

She poisoned the king and his daughter, murdered her sons, and brought her ex-husband’s life crashing to piece, then rides to the safety of Athens on a chariot drawn by dragons (stage direction at line 1317). She has guaranteed her safety in Athens (lines 752-753) and leaves behind the havoc she has wrought in Corinth. Her methods of revenge are extreme, though they are justifiable. Jason took everything from her, effectively manipulating her love for his own gain, for no one would in their right mind destroy their connection to their homeland and family. Medea was manipulated into murdering her brother and betraying her father so that Jason could have his glory. And when that didn’t come, Medea again killed for him, acting out of passion for a man who would dishonor her. After her devotion to him and the births of their children, Jason still left Medea empty for his own gain. He essentially ruined her life, and to balance the scales, she ruined his. At the conclusion of the play, they both must live with what they have done, Jason in recognizing his narcissism and treachery, Medea in her crimes and loss of family. Jason initiated the course of circumstances that led to his own fate and it was Medea who finished it, serving the brand of vengeance most painful to her ex-husband, evening out the scales of

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