Medea S Revenge Term paper

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Medea's Revenge

Medea, a play by the Greek playwright Euripides, explores the Greek-

barbarian dichotomy through the character of Medea, a princess from the

"barbarian", or non-Greek, land of Colchis. Throughout the play, it becomes

evident to the reader that Medea is no ordinary woman by Greek standards.

Central to the whole plot is Medea's barbarian origins and how they are related

to her actions. In this paper, I am attempting to answer questions such as how

Medea behaves like a female, how she acts heroically from a male point of view,

why she killed her children, if she could have achieved her goal without killing

them, if the murder was motivated by her barbarian origins, and how she deals

with the pain of killing her children.

As an introduction to the play, the status of women in Greek society

should be briefly discussed. In general, women had very few rights. In the

eyes of men, the main purposes of women in Greek society were to do housework

such as cooking and cleaning, and bear children. They could not vote, own

property, or choose a husband, and had to be represented by men in all legal

proceedings. In some ways, these Greek women were almost like slaves. There is

a definite relationship between this subordination of women and what transpires

in the play. Jason decides that he wants to divorce Medea and marry the

princess of Corinth, casting Medea aside as if they had never been married.

This sort of activity was acceptable by Greek standards, and shows the

subordinate status of the woman, who had no say in any matter like this.

Even though some of Medea's actions were not typical of the average

Greek woman, she still had attitudes and emotions common among women. For

instance, Medea speaks out against women's status in society, proclaiming that

they have no choice of whom to marry, and that a man can rid themselves of a

woman to get another whenever he wants, but a woman always has to "keep [her]

eyes on one alone." (231-247) Though it is improbable that women went around

openly saying things of this nature, it is likely that this attitude was shared

by most or all Greek women. Later in the play, Medea debates with herself over

whether or not to kill her children: "Poor heart, let them go, have pity upon

the children." (1057). This shows Medea's motherly instincts in that she cares

about her children. She struggles to decide if she can accomplish her goal of

revenge against Jason without killing her children because she cares for them

and knows they had no part in what their father did. Unfortunately, Medea's

desire to exact revenge on Jason is greater than her love for her children, and

at the end of the play she kills them. Medea was also a faithful wife to Jason.

She talks about how she helped Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece, then

helped him escape, even killing her own brother. (476-483). The fact that she

was willing to betray her own family to be with Jason shows her loyalty to him.

Therefore, her anger at Jason over him divorcing her is understandable.

On the other hand, Medea shows some heroic qualities that were not

common among Greek women. For example, Medea is willing to kill her own brother

to be with Jason. In classical Greece, women and killing were probably not

commonly linked. When she kills her brother, she shows that she is willing to

do what is necessary to "get the job done", in this case, to be with Jason.

Secondly, she shows the courage to stand up to Jason. She believes that she has

been cheated and betrayed by him. By planning ways to get back at him for

cheating on her, she is standing up for what she believes, which in this case is

that she was wronged by Jason, but in a larger sense, she is speaking out

against the inferior status of women, which effectively allows Jason to discard

Medea at will. Third, she shows that she is clever and resourceful. Rather

than use physical force to accomplish her plans, she uses her mind instead: "it

is best to...make away with them by poison." (384-385) While physical strength

can be considered a heroic quality, cleverness can be as well. She does in fact

poison the princess and the king of Corinth; interestingly, however, she does

not poison them directly. "I will send the children with gifts...to the

bride...and if she wears them upon her skin...she will die." (784-788) This

shows her cleverness because she is trying to keep from being linked to the

crime, though everyone is able to figure out that she was responsible anyway.

In a way, though, she is almost anti-heroic because she is not doing the "dirty

work" herself, which makes her appear somewhat cowardly. Finally, there is the

revenge factor. Many times heroes were out for revenge against someone who did

them or a friend wrong, and in this case Medea is no exception, since she wants

to have revenge against Jason for divorcing her without just cause.

There are two main reasons why Medea decides to kill her children. The

first, and more obvious one, is that she feels that it is a perfect way to

complement the death of the princess in getting revenge on Jason. When she

tells the chorus of the plans to kill the children, they wonder if she has the

heart to kill her children, to which she replies, "[y]es, for this is the best

way to wound my husband." (817). This shows that she believes that by killing

her children, she will basically ruin Jason's life, effectively getting her

revenge. The second reason for Medea killing her children has nothing to do

with revenge. If she left her children with Jason, they would be living in a

You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 25 May, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/43103/medea-s-revenge>

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