Medea: Vengeance Will Be Mine!

In Euripides play, Medea, the outcome of the play can be discerned before the final curtain falls. Medea’s plans to destroy Jason, to work her black magic on Creusa and Creon, and to murder her sons, is continually foreshadowed through dialogue, literary elements, and omens.

From the beginning, Medea’s dialogue and actions do not bode well for Jason. She is out for revenge and wishes death upon her enemies. Her heart is “bitter” and is filled with “black hatred” for Jason because of his betrayal. He casted her off “… like a harlot” and betrayed “…the children she has borne him” in order to marry Creusa, the daughter of Creon, the ruler of Corinth. Medea wants Jason to suffer. She wants him to “…weep blood.” Vengeance is the only thing that can make her grief bearable, and “annihilation” is “pure music.” She is wants “…to annihilate the past”, and obliterate everything Jason is, was, and ever will be. The omen of the young mare tearing at the stallion with its teeth symbolizes Medea’s impending destruction upon Jason. In order to do so, she plots to ravage everything Jason loves, namely Creusa, Creon, and their children.

Medea plots to leave Jason “friendless” and “mateless” She sets her plan into motion after Creon banishes her and her children from Corinth and into exile. Medea begs for Creon’s mercy, but, although he pities her, he must to protect himself and others from her “…dark wisdom.” However Medea does not want his pity, and she foreshadows his fate when she tells him that in the end, they will see “…who’s to be pitied.”

Medea sets her plan into motion by making a “sick peace” with Jason. She insists that they try to coexist, and she flatters Creusa and showers her with gifts to declare a truce. Her oxymoronic use of...

... middle of paper ...

...games are played, no music is heard….” As her thoughts grow more savage and malicious, Medea suddenly seems to come to her senses. She realizes that she cannot hurt her own children. Soon, however, her face changes, and the “love has gone out of it.” She takes the children inside and murders them as they beg for their lives. There is much imagery as Medea meets Jason with the children’s blood on her hands. She metaphorically compares the blood to wine. She languishes over the loss of the “dear…little grapes that were crushed to make it,” but realizes it needed to be done. She cannot “…endure the endless defilement” of her life being mixed with Jason’s. She loathes Jason more than she loves her children, and for that she was willing to sacrifice everything to ruin him. She has left Jason a “boneless”, “crawling”, “helpless, friendless, mateless” and “childless” man.