Gender inequality has been a topic of debate all throughout history in numerous cultures. As seen throughout Greek and Roman mythological literature this was no different, we often notice the role gender plays and the differences between the two. Men are often seen as heroic, majestic, strong and powerful people, with great leadership and other attributes while women often seen as negative and troublesome symbols. Throughout this paper the focus will be on how women affected a male dominated society specifically looking at Medea in Euripides along with other works of literature as well. A question that is often asked is “were women fairly represented in ancient Greek mythology?”. While there is substantial evidence that sexism existed within …show more content…
Jason had hoped to advance his position by remarrying with Glauce, the daughter of the king of Corinth, Creon. Jason was never looked upon as he should have been, he was a well-respected man while his wife was left alone, no one caring for her or feeling any empathy. Medea then curses her own existence as well as those of her own children. Jason accuses Medea of overreacting to the situation in which itself is appalling. As it should be seen, no matter the sex, anyone abandoning their family due to greed should be highly frowned upon. Medea had not over reacted to anything, the man she loved had left her and their children for the hopes of marrying another women and becoming more powerful. Medea finds Jason to be spineless, and refuses to accept any of Jason’s offers to help. Medea later plots a plan of revenge that includes the murder of her own children, she believed that the pain it would cause her would not outweigh the satisfaction she would receive from causing Jason to suffer. Medea sees out her plot for revenged in which ensues the deaths of Glauce, Creon, and her two children. These deaths leave Jason cursing his lot, realized everything hope he once had had now been annihilated, Medea’s plot for revenge was more than successful as she then fled the scene in a chariot provided by her grandfather the Sun-God. This shocked many as this had shown a side to women that they had never seen before. Disobedient, cunning, and vengeful came to be from Medea, traits often found in men were seen firsthand in a
Courageous, powerful, and reckless, Medea left her home without her father's blessing to accompany Jason to the land of Corinth, after using her magic powers to slay the dragon that guarded the golden fleece. She also killed her own brother to slow Jason's chasers. For a while, Medea and Jason lived in harmony in Corinth where they had two children. Later, Jason left Medea for Kreon's daughter. She became grief-stricken at her loss and filled with rage at Jason's betrayal. This, is explained by her nurse during the prologue in World Literature Volume A (pg697), "she'll not stop raging until she has struck at someone",
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
Medea is outraged that she sacrificed so much to help Jason, only to have him revoke his pledge to her for his own selfish gain. She asks him whether he thinks the gods whose names he swore by have ceased to rule, thereby allowing him to break his promise to her. Medea vows to avenge her suffering by destroying Jason's new family and his children. When Jason curses his wife for her murdering at the end of the play, she says to him, 'What heavenly power lends an ear / To a breaker of oaths, a deceiver?
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
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.
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.
Euripides’ Medea is a play centered around Medea who has been abandoned by her one true love and husband, Jason. Jason leaves Medea to marry the princess of Corinth and finally achieve his dreams of reigning as a King. Creon, King of Corinth, orders Medea and her children to be exiled from the land out of fear of Medea’s evil ways. After pleading to Creon, Creon gives Medea one day to gather her children and find a new home away from Corinth. It is during her last days, Medea plans to murder Jason, the princess, and Creon. Even though Jason claims he is marrying the princess for the best interests of both Medea and their children, Medea still cannot forgive him for his actions of infidelity. For her own satisfaction, Medea changes her plans and decides not to murder Jason, but to have him live to mourn the loss of his own children and his bride. Yes, Medea plans her own children’s deaths. Medea’s mourning for her children will not outweigh the satisfaction she will feel as she watches Jason’s suffering. In my essay, I will focus on why Medea kills her own two sons in revenge against Jason. Medea decides to kill her
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.
Women have always been disempowered due to their gender in modern and ancient times alike. In Corinth they are expected to run the household and conform to social expectations of a dutiful wife. Medea, being an immortal and descendant from the gods has a certain power in intelligence and sly cleverness. Being a foreigner, Medea’s wayward irrational behavior was expected in this play as she was not born in Greece and was seen as an exotic creature. She comes across to the audience as a powerful female character in terms of violence. Some of Medea’s reactions and choices appear to be blown out of proportion as authors generally make characters seem larger than life; this creates a better understanding of the text and the issues which are developed through the characters.
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.
Women were often subjects of intense focus in ancient literary works. In Sarah Pomeroy’s introduction of her text Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, she writes, “Women pervade nearly every genre of classical literature, yet often the bias of the author distorts the information” (x). It is evident in literature that the social roles of women were more restricted than the roles of men. And since the majority of early literature was written by men, misogyny tends to taint much of it. The female characters are usually given negative traits of deception, temptation, selfishness, and seduction. Women were controlled, contained, and exploited. In early literature, women are seen as objects of possession, forces deadly to men, cunning, passive, shameful, and often less honorable than men. Literature reflects the societal beliefs and attitudes of an era and the consistency of these beliefs and attitudes toward women and the roles women play has endured through the centuries in literature. Women begin at a disadvantage according to these societal definitions. In a world run by competing men, women were viewed as property—prizes of contests, booty of battle and the more power men had over these possessions the more prestigious the man. When reading ancient literature one finds that women are often not only prizes, but they were responsible for luring or seducing men into damnation by using their feminine traits.
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...
She committed the murders of her children, because of Jason. Jason’s unfaithful ways caused her to become a mad woman and a murderer. Jason was unjust for sleeping with other women, simply because he was married. Jason disrespected Medea by lying with the princess as quoted in the text. “Jason has betrayed my lady and his own children for a princess bed...” (ll. 18-19). Subsequently, as a married man he should’ve respected Medea more; they both took an oath for their marriage. Therefore, Jason was wrong for breaking that sacred oath. He should not have caused Medea so much pain. He showed how heartless he really was. If Jason would’ve stayed true to Medea, their children wouldn’t have died so young. Jason heartless acts caused Medea to retaliate in unforgettable
She abandons her family and supports her husband through thick and thin; Jason has no logical reason whatsoever to leave her, especially because Medea does produce two heirs for Jason. Medea’s only fault, in the eyes of the patriarchy, is her intelligence. In a patriarchal society women must always be sub-ordinate to the men in their lives; Medea and Jason’s marriage is not balanced in Jason’s favor, which is the real reason he chooses to marry the princess. Although Glause is also a powerful and intelligent woman, she does not posses the gift of magic and is therefore unable to be actively independent like Medea. Medea is justified in wanting revenge on Jason, although the constant suppression of her talents and her abilities along with the abandonment from Jason both play into the finale of the story.
Jason is in line to marry the princess of Corinth, Glauce, in order to elevate his position socially. Although on Jason’s account, he’s doing it for their children stating “I wanted above all to let us live in comfort, not be poor (62)”. This can be disproven by the fact that Jason felt competent to Medea leaving Corinth with their children after her exile demanded by King Creon. Jason stated “But you, Madam, obstinate in folly, have continuously reviled our royalty, and so you are banished. (59)”.