Medea is a tragedy written by Euripides, based on the myth of Jason and Medea, particularly Medea’s revenge against Jason for betraying her with another woman. In the character of Medea the reader sees a suffering women driven only by her passion for the revenge she intends to impose on Jason. Medea is unwilling to give her enemies any kind of victory or satisfaction and will stop at nothing to make her enemy’s miserable even at her own dismay. Medea does the unthinkable in the play when she kills King Creon, Jason’s new bride who is the King Creon’s daughter, and her own children. Although Medea has done a terrible thing, she is not the only one who has serious flaws. Jason and King Creon also have flaws that make the play so dramatic.
Medea
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is a very complex character with many flaws that are considered dangerous, she is a loathsome, manipulative, and a very immoral character.
In the play Medea is so hurt by Jason’s actions that her horrible flaws become menacing to everyone around her. She is so engrossed in her hatred for Jason that she ends up letting the detestation cloud her better judgement, and ends up plotting to kill everyone who has done her wrong. Medea is so distraught over the betrayal that she even plans to take the innocent lives of her two children in the process of her revenge. Her nurse expresses her fear of Medea in the few first scenes of the play and leads the readers to be able to foreshadow the events to come. “ Go indoors, children. That will be the best thing. And you, keep them to themselves as much as possible. Don’t bring them near their mother in her angry mood, for I’ve seen her already blazing eyes at them as though she meant mischief and I am sure that she’ll not stop raging until she has struck at someone. May it be an enemy and not a friend she hurts!” (Euripides 4). The nurse is not …show more content…
the only one worried about Medea, the chorus of the Corinth women are also worried about Medea. “ I heard a shriek that is laden with sorrow. Shrilling out her hard grief she cries out upon him who betrayed both her bed and her marriage. Wronging, she calls on the gods, on the justice of Zeus, the oath sworn, which brought her away to the opposite shore of the Greeks through the gloomy salt straits to the gateway of the salty unlimited sea.” ( Euripides 8). The Chorus talks about how they heard Medea crying in pain over the betrayal of her husband. Later on in the play the chorus visites Jason regarding Medea’s hatred for him “ It is a strange form of anger, difficult to cure, when two friends turn upon each other in hatred.” (Euripides 17). King Creon is a fearful, foolish, and discourteous man, he is so afraid of Medea that he sends her and her children into exile.
“ I am afraid of you- why should I dissemble it? Afraid you may injure my daughter mortally. Many things accumulate to support my feelings. You are a clever women, verse in evil arts, and are angry at having lost your husband’s love. I hear that you are threatening, so they tell me, to do something against my daughter and Jason and me, too. I shall take my precautions first. I tell you, I prefer to earn your hatred now than to be soft-hearted and afterward regret it.” (Euripides 10). After expressing his fear of Medea to her, he sent her to exile, and told her to leave now. Medea doesn’t take this well and say’s that she will hold her tongue and will not do any harm to anyone. King Creon doesn’t believe her and tells her she must leave because he is not a foolish man and knows a woman who holds her tongue is much more dangerous than one who does not. Medea asks for time so that she can make arrangements for a place for her and her children to go. “ Allow me to remain here just for this one day, so I may consider where to live in my exile. And look for support for my children, since their father chooses to make no kind of provision for them. Have pity on them! You have children of your own it is natural for you to look kindly on them. For myself i do not mind if i go into exile. It is my children in being trouble that I mind.” (Euripides 12). Creon
agrees to this for the children’s sake and give Medea one day. He is foolish to do this because in this time she plans to kill him and his beloved daughter before she goes into exile. Later in the play the messenger gives the news of the death of the princess and king Creon to Medea. “ She is dead, only just now, the royal princess, and Creon dead, too, her father, by your poisons.” (Euripides 36). In the end King Creon’s rudeness could have been the thing to save his life but instead he was foolish and took pity on Medea’s children and granted her the one day. Jason and Medea have a lot in common they are both manipulative characters but Jason is also a greedy man who only cares about himself and his placement in society. Jason is so caught up with himself that he left Medea and his family for another women, for the wealth and rank within the people of Corinth. “Ah, wretch! Ah, lost in my suffering, I wish I wish I might die.” (Euripides 4). He leaves Medea so broken hearted that she feels the need to kill everyone who has done wrong to her along with them she takes the lives of her her own children. Jason is the true blame for the all the death in the play. He tells Medea that he planned to marry royal blood so that they would be better off in Corinth and their family would be linked to royalty. “ Make sure of this: it was not because of a woman I made the royal alliance in which I now live, but, as I said before, I wished to preserve you and breed a royal progeny to be brothers to the children I have now, a sure defense to us.” (Euripides 19). Medea argues with Jason and says that he is lying because if this was true he would have told her of the plan from the beginning, she goes on to say that he truly only cares about himself. She isn’t wrong, Jason most likely never had her in mind when he married the king’s daughter, he only wanted to marry the princess so that he would be better off. Jason was a very foolish man and drove Medea over the edge and into madness, to the point where she felt the only way to get back at him was to make him suffer as she did. “ To make you feel pain.” (Euripides 46). If Jason hadn’t been so selfish and greedy Medea would never have wanted to make him suffer so badly and his children, the king, and his bride wouldn’t be dead and Medea wouldn’t be in exile. In conclusion, although Medea did a terrible thing she was not the only one with flaws. Medea killing King Creon, his daughter, and her two children is definitely not forgivable and not sane, but Jason drove her to her breaking point when he betrayed her. King Creon’s foolish behavior is what got him killed, if he had made Medea leave then he would most likely still be alive. Also if Jason had not been so greedy and not married another woman everyone would still be alive. He would never have betrayed Medea and she would not have been filled with some much pain and hatred to the point of killing.
Euripedes tugs and pulls at our emotions from every angle throughout The Medea. He compels us to feel sympathy for the characters abused by Medea, yet still feel sympathy for Medea as well. These conflicting feelings build a sense of confusion and anxiety about the unfolding plot. In the beginning, the Nurse reveals the recent background events that have caused Medea so much torment: "She herself helped Jason in every way" (13) and now he "has taken a royal wife to his bed" (18). Right away we are angry with Jason for breaking his wedding vows, and we are building up sympathy for Medea as the Nurse describes her acts of suffering. When we first see Medea, she speaks passionately to the women of Corinth and convinces them to side with her. She evokes their sympathy by drawing further attention to her suffering and speaking in terms that bring them all to common ground. Aegeus becomes Medea’s first victim when he, unknowingly, provides the final building block in her plan for revenge against Jason. We sympathize for Aegeus in his ignorance. Medea now has confidence in her plan, so she reveals it to the women of Corinth. She is going to send her children to Jason’s bride with a poisoned dress that will make her die in agony. We are still compelled to sympathize with Medea at this point because she has justified her reasons for seeking revenge. However, the princess is oblivious to Medea’s plot; she will accept the gift for its beauty then meet an unexpected, agonized death. The image of pain and agony elicits our sympathy as well. Medea presents her most perverse speech when she explains how she will kill her own children then flee Corinth. Alone, these acts provoke pure disgust, but Euripides has developed Medea’s character as a coercive force; we still sympathize with her for her plight, yet we also hate her for her decisions. The women of Corinth try to persuade her away from this morbid choice, but their arguments are ineffective. Euripides employs stichomythia in the exchange between the women and Medea to show Medea breaking down boundaries between self and other, which prevent sympathy (811-819). Euripedes focuses on suffering, ignorance, and rhetoric to leave us torn in our sympathy for every character.
*Although Medea is arguably the most intelligent character in Euripides’s piece, shown in her dialogue with Creon, she has become ridiculed, and viewed as barbarous and less desirable following her separation from Jason. She is no longer a wife to a Greek man. She is simply an outsider, and a burden on a prosperous
In Euripides Medea, Medea is the morally ambiguous character. In part, Medea can be seen as good because she wanted to live with Jason and her two children in Corinth as a family and enjoy a happy life. So it is understandable that Medea becomes devastated and an emotional wreck after Jason leaves her for the princess. He claimed by marrying the princess, he could bring the children up in a well-being and make more royal children. Medea became a distressed. Hateful, and a bitter woman at Jason. Medea mentioned, “we women are the most unfortunate creatures.” Medea acknowledges that the women don’t have much choice in the marriage and if they want a good life, they need a man to control them. And that woman would be much better off if they had
Even though Medea’s crime are despicable, Jason is also a despisable character. When he encounters Medea for the first time in the play, he says, “Even if [Medea] hates me / I could never think badly of [Medea]” (Euripides 462-463). It is easy for Jason to say these kind words because he is not the one being abandoned for another spouse. He also undermines Medea again after she recites how she helped him in on the Ship Argo. Instead of giving her any credit or appreciation, Jason confesses, “since you make such a mountain of it, I think that Kypris, god of love, was the savior” (Euripides 525-526). It is not enough to leave Medea for another woman while allowing her and her children to be exiled, but Jason also felt the need to discredit her contribution to his
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.
In Euripides' play the title role and focus of the play is the foreign witch Medea. Treated differently through the play by different people and at different times, she adapts and changes her character, finally triumphing over her hated husband Jason. She can feasibly be seen as a mortal woman, Aristotle's tragic hero figure and even as an exulted goddess.
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 Greek tragedy Medea is a tale of a woman scorn and the wrath that follows. The story is one of outright deceit, crippling revenge and questionable justice. It is typical of Greek tragedies in its simplicity, but atypical in the way it justifies horrific revenge. Medea is one of Euripides' most enduring plays. It and only a handful of others have survived the several thousand years since their conception.
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.
The problem set at the beginning of the play is that Jason has decided to marry another wife, Glauce. Medea is angered and will not let Jason off without punishment. The loss of Jason is not only a matter of passion; Medea has been completely humiliated by Jason's decision to take a new bride. Her pride shows again when she refuses Jason's aid. Though her situation is difficult, she would rather destroy all than accept help from one who has wronged her so horribly. Living as a barbarian among Greeks has made her more defensive, more full of hurt pride. To punish Jason, Medea had her children deliver poisoned gifts to the new bride, to kill her children, Glauce, and Creon. . Medea is not without feeling, nor is she a sociopath. She comprehends the difference between right and wrong, but chooses to follow the dictates of rage.
When she goes to Jason for the first time at the palace, she expresses extreme anger and wishes bad for the future of Jason and her to be wife. Upon Jason’s contribution of money and a safe place to stay, Medea instantly refuses any of his help. This attitude of Medea opposes the current day behavior of any helpless woman- self suffice. Medea uses Creon’s order of exile and an extra day for her own advantage. Now when she approaches Jason again, but now to convince him that she feels remorse over her attitude and justifies his thought of women being emotional and obsessive. She later glories her accomplishment in terms of manipulation, a heroic feature, when she says, “he’s not so clever after all”. After a while to get permission for the children to remain in the city with their father, Medea sends some gifts for the princess by her children. Her extreme desire of revenge is accomplished through her poisoned gifts that take the lives of the princess and Creon into its wrath. Revenge is surely a motive force associated with men as heroic figures which Medea takes upon
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.
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.
When Medea Jason discovers Jason’s plans to marry Creon’s daughter she was hurt deeply. But when Creon tells her that she was being exiled we see her hurt turn into vengeance. Because Medea was a manipulative person she was only needed one day to plan and execute her plan to destroy Jason.
Medea's plan was set into motion. She has nothing to loose. She is even angrier because she betrayed her own father and her people for him. She even bears the burden of having Pelias killed by his daughters for Jason. She decides to take revenge out on Jason's bride and poisons her. She also doesn't want Jason to take the children from her. She decides to kill them, but agonizes over this decision before killing them. Some critics view this as a pathetic attempt at motherhood. I know there is a certain bond between mother and child. She just wants to hurt Jason as much as she has been hurt. "She first secures a place of refuge, and seems almost on the point of bespeaking a new connection. Medea abandoned by the entire world, was still sufficient for herself." (blackmask).