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Zach Voss

Professor Hluch

THTR 225

14 September 2020

Medea

The Greek tragedy written by Euripides takes a new approach to the classic myth of

Jason and Medea, with the murder of their children being at the hands of Medea rather than the

Corinthians, as the myth typically depicts. Though regarded as a classic in the Western canon, it

was placed last at the City Dionysius festival in 431 BCE, theoretically due to this break from the

traditional mold of a tragic protagonist. Medea has the makings of an antagonist, yet the

audience will side with her till the very last scene. The reasoning behind this is based on the role

she plays in the story: as a woman and as an outcast.

The typical Greek tragedy would involve a protagonist who struggles with a flaw,

typically hubris, and seeks to repent for their errors, ultimately becoming different from who

they were in the beginning. Medea never repents for her actions, nor does she struggle with her

pride. Her slow progression throughout the play finds her move from tragic despair to self-

confident as she shows the audience what would happen if a woman set vengeance on that which

caused her unfortunate situations. At the start of the play, she is distraught and hopeless. At this

time in history, men were the only ones who could divorce their wives freely, so there was a set

level of insecurity women would feel regarding their future. This is exactly what happens to

Medea at the start of the play. Right after her husband divorces her, she is then ordered into exile

by the king. Her life is thrown in complete uncertainty. She has no home, nor family (except her

own children, whom she rebukes in the opening of the show). What once was passionate love
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now has become fierce anger. As her life is crumbling right before her eyes, she does not get a

say in any part of it. Only after she is guaranteed sanctuary in Athens does she gradually

develop more confidence in her plan to emotionally devastate Jason. First, she plans the death of

his new wife. Then, in an act to fully destroy Jason, she plans to murder their sons. She decides

to leave him with nothing, the same way he left her with nothing. These qualities seem

unredeemable in a character, yet her given circumstance offers context and validity to her

actions. She never appears to be an evil or irrational person, but as a woman pushed to her

psychological limit in a patriarchal society. She does not want to kill her own children, although

she sees no other option in a male-dominated ancient Greek society. Her female status is not the

only thing that was cause for her mistreatment, as she was also outcast for not being Greek.

Throughout the entire show, Medea is treated like an outsider by those around her. Before

her life in Corinth, Medea lived on Colchis. A sorceress and a princess, she is key in helping

Jason acquire the golden fleece. After this, she fell in love with him and fled to his homeland of

Iolcus. On the way to Iolcus, Medea killed her own brother and threw him overboard to slow

their pursuers down. This is the cause of her exile from her own homeland. Then in Iolcus, she

convinces the kings daughters to murder their father, leading to her exile from Jason’s homeland.

They finally settle down and gain a favorable reputation in Corinth. But that is when Jason

decides to divorce her, making all her efforts futile. She committed unforgivable sins in order to

help Jason. She explains her agony when she cries,

“Is your heart so shameless, Jason, that you now dare to fave your wedded lady? For you

have betrayed me! You have abandoned me! You have left me a stranger in a strange

land! And is your heart so hard, Jason, that you can forget our wedding vows, the sacred
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promises you, as well as I, made before Far-seeing Zeus, Lord of Justice, and before

White-armed Hera, Protector of the Wedding-bond?” (229)

Jason claims that Medea got more than she gave out of saving his life. He goes on to belittle her

homeland by saying she is lucky to live in Greece and not with “barbarians” who follow

government laws rather than brute force (636-639). He states he had moral right to leave Medea

after fulfilling the “primary duty” of having children. He even says that “no Greek woman would

have dared to do this”, implying that she acts out differently from the Greeks. He tries to

dehumanize her by targeting her difference and making her feel abnormal for her

feelings/actions. Even Creon makes comments, as he tells her multiple times that he is afraid of

her and that he has little trust in her (see Johnston 283, 372). He is afraid that she will respond to

the situation in an unpredictable manner, even going on to say she is a clever woman who is

skilled in the evil arts. The Chorus also comments with saying ”In fact, women too have

intelligence … not all of us, I admit; but a certain few you might perhaps find, in a large number

of women – a few not capable of reflection”(Minter, 2015). Medea is faced with not just gender

indifference but also racial injustice. The people of Corinth, men and women, treat Medea

differently for being from a land deemed “lower in class”. This oppression adds to her feeling of

loneliness. She is left with no friend to confide in, no family to seek comfort with, and no place

to call home. When she is left with nothing but anguish, her victory over vengeance becomes

almost satisfying to the viewer. They want what the main character wants, which is success.

Medea is a tragic hero with an utterly unique story. Though her actions are cruel, she

presents a validity with her motives because she is a woman from a foreign land who is pushed

to her emotional limit. Euripides forces her to violate the motherhood bond and unconditional

love she has for her children. Choosing between the love for her children or the loathing of
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Jason, she decides that taking everything away from him is worth the heartbreak she will feel

from losing her sons. She takes a woman’s worst fears and makes it psychologically plausible,

while asking the question “How far are you willing to go for revenge?”. Then to make things

even more interesting, she ends the play riding on a gold chariot carried by dragons, sent to her

from Helios, the sun god. She faces no punishment for the murders but is instead rewarded with

a gift to help her safely escape Corinth. She tells an underdog story of devising a plan that seems

doomed to end in her death but succeeds with her life sparred. Euripides brings this up to discuss

how the gods work in strange and unexpected ways. What is anticipated never comes to fruition.

Instead, by the end, Jason is the one left with nothing, while Medea has a future right in front of

her.
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Work Cited:

Euripides. Medea. Translated by Phillip Vellacott, Penguin Books, 1963.

Euripides. Medea. Translated by Ian Johnston, Malaspina University-College.

Aguada, Ludy P. "Medea: Innocent or Guilty? It's Just Rhetoric."

Swift, Laura. “Medea is as relevant today as it was in Ancient Greece.” July 23, 2014,

https://theconversation.com/medea-is-as-relevant-today-as-it-was-in-ancient-greece,

Accessed September 16, 2020.