MEDEA - NOTES

Setting: Corinth
No one really realizes their own role in the suffering
Summary of Medea
● Medea​ is a barbarian princess from ​Colchis
● Her father is ​Aietes​ (the son of Helios)
● Her grandfather is ​Helios
● Her aunt is ​Circe
● Aietes​ is the possessor of the Golden Fleece
● Jason is the heir to the throne of ​Iolcos​, and his uncle ​Pelias​ sends him to bring the
golden fleece to Greece (hoping secretly that Jason will be killed)
● Thus, Jason undertakes the Expedition of the Argonauts
● He and Medea (who falls in love with him) steal the golden fleece from Aietes
● Aietes comes after them
● Medea kills her baby brother, whom was her hostage
● Jason and Medea reach Iolcos, and she kills ​Pelias​ (Jason’s father) and his daughters
● Jason and Medea are expelled from ​Iolcos​ and find refuge in Corinth (king’s court)
● Jason rejects Medea for the King’s daughter
● She realizes that she has nowhere to go
● She kills the King’s daughter and her own two sons
● She runs away from Jason in a chariot pulled by dragons

Opening
● The nurse recounts the chain of events that lead to Medea’s current crisis (in a tone of
denial and lamentation):
○ Jason and his ship (the Argo) sailed to Cochis, in search of the golden fleece.
○ He met Medea and they fell in love
○ Medea uses her magic to help him steal the golden fleece
○ They flee to ​Iolcus​ (Jason’s home)
○ She tricks Jason’s cousins (King Pelias’s daughters) into poisoning the King
○ They accept sanctuary in ​Corinth
○ They have two sons
○ The sons are oblivious to their mother’s pain
○ They eventually become respectable
○ Jason abandoned his wife Medea and their two children
○ He is going to marry ​Glauce,​ daughter of ​Creon​ (king of Corinth)
○ Medea is now very depressed, and she despises even the sight of her own
children
● The tutor enters with the children
● The nurse tells him that she shares her “mistress’s” grief, and the tutor calls Medea an
“old fool”
 ● The nurse and the tutor discuss the rumor that Creon plans to banish Madea and her
children from the city
● The tutor says something to the nurse along the lines of: are you really surprised?
Everyone is selfish
● Off-stage, Medea is crying about wanting to die
● The nurse shelters the children
● Still off-stage, Medea curses her children and Jason, she cries that she wants everyone
to die
● The nurse defends the children, saying that they should not be punished for their father’s
wickedness. She says Medea’s attitude stems from her position of wealth and privilege.
She says that Medea’s only real hope is to channel her rage at an enemy rather than a
friend. The nurse preaches the virtues of a “middle way”
Lines 130-213
● The chorus attempts to talk Medea out of suicide - a husband leaving is normal
● She prays to ​Themis​ and ​Artemis​ to kill Jason and Glauce
● The nurse recognizes that no one less than Zeus oversees oaths
● Nurse performs another soliloquy blaming the “men who invented music” bc music never
really has much power
● Themis must already be watching over her bc she journeyed all the way from Asia to
Greece/Hellas
Lines 214-447
● Medea gives a long speech to the chorus
○ She condemns those who judge silent people
○ Laments the state of women: they become their husband’s possessions, they
endure childbirth, they are kept from participating in aspects of public life
○ She pleads with the chorus: that Jason be made to suffer
○ Chorus agrees that he deserves punishment
● Creon tells her that she and her children are banished
● Madea tells him: I’m a clever woman…so I have haterz. Ignorant people can’t
understand my complexity, and intelligent people are just jealous
● Medea begs him to allow her to stay in Corinth, but he refuses.
● Finally, he grants her one day before she needs to leave
● During that day, she plans to murder: Creon, Glauce, and Jason
○ Finally, she settles on poison
○ She calls on Hekate (mistress of the underworld and magic) to help her
○ She vows to restore honor to her lineage and shame Jason’s (from Sisyphus)
○ Her exile is symbolic of women’s alienation in society (this is interesting bc
usually tragedies speak about generic sufferings of an individual, but never the
sufferings of a group)
○ Says women are naturally prone to evil
● The chorus imagines a world where the roles of women and men are reversed
●
Lines 448-660
 ● Jason is initially upset that Medea is speaking so publicly about her murderous intentions
● He backs off and tries to comfort her
● Medea recoils and insults his “manliness”
● She recounts the time that she helped him pass her father’s tests to win the Golden
Fleece, and how she helped him kill Pelias. She scolds him for rendering their vows
meaningless
● She says she has nowhere else to go
● Jason’s response (limited by his character, but also his place and time):
○ No one helped me other than Aphrodite
○ You were better off after you left your homeland anyways (it was the middle of
nowhere)
○ Me remarrying is the best choice for everyone
● Medea thinks that he is trying to rationalize a decision he knows is wrong
● He offers to help her find another city who would be willing to accept her, and she scoffs
● Chorus talks about the consequences that follow reckless love

Lines 660-868
● King of Athens, ​Aegeus​, converses with Medea
● He greets Medea as an old friend and tells her about a prophet he received at the oracle
at delphi: “not to unstop the wineskin’s neck”
● He is just passing through Corinth on his way to visit Troezen (a man famous for reading
oracles)
● Medea tells him about her circumstances…. He offers her sanctuary in Athens if she
provides him magical fertility drugs
● He makes an oath before the gods
● She excitedly thanks the gods (the nurse is listening to this) and continues plotting
○ She’ll agree with Jason’s arguments
○ She’ll ask that he accept the boys into his family
○ Children will present gifts to Glauce (dress and coronet)
○ Then, Medea will kill her own sons (better that it happens this way than Creon’s
family doing it instead)
● The chorus warns her about the consequences of infanticide\
● The chorus doesn’t believe that she’ll actually be able to go through with it

Executing the plan

● Medea apologizes to Jason (tearfully) for her “overreaction” to the divorce and his
remarry
● Jason starts daydreaming about his children with Medea reuniting with his children that
he will have with Glauce
● The chorus hopes that Medea is being truthful to Jason (for her children’s sake)
● She breaks down crying again bc “she is upset about being forced to leave”
● She implores Jason to ask Glauce to ask her father to allow her children to stay
 ● Medea says that she will send Glauce some gifts to sway her (but emphasizes that
the gifts be taken directly to her)
● The chorus knows that this means death for the children… that Glauce will be unable to
refuse the gifts

Lines 1002-1116
● The tutor returns with the news that the children have been allowed to stay bc Glauce
liked the gifts
● Medea appears to be distressed by the news.. “How cruel, how cruel!!”
● The tutor appears confused
● Medea excuses her reaction by saying that she’s sad about being separated from her
children
● The tutor tells her to be strong
● Medea addresses her children: protests having to leave them, how all of their
experiences have come to nothing. The children are oblivious to what is going on
● Medea tells the chorus that she isn’t sure if she wants to kill the children or just abandon
them… but ends with “anger, the spring of all life’s horror, masters my resolve” and will
proceed with the murder. This is the definitive moment in which she stops questioning
her intentions
● She calls her forthcoming murders a “sacrifice”
● The chorus enters speech about how women are just as capable of abstract thought as
men and about the unnecessary burden that children pose on their parents
Lines 1117-1231
● Messenger comes to warn Medea to leave the city as soon as possible
● She asks why
● He tells her that Glauce and the King have just died, and people are starting to accuse
her of the murders
● Medea asks for the details
● The messenger recounts the events in depth:
○ Glauce accepts the gifts from the children
○ She frolics around the room in her dress and coronet (admiring her own beauty)
○ The crown catches on fire
○ The dress eats away at her skin
○ She is embraced by her father, who intends to absorb the poison to die alongside
her. He briefly attempts to disentangle himself (he is only human) but then cannot
○ The messenger believes that intelligence is not a benefit, fate rules everything

● Medea gives Glauce some gifts, including: a coronet and a dress. While it seems like
these gifts are intended to convince her to ask her father to allow the children to stay,
they are actually poisoned
● Glauce dies
● Her father, Creon, the King of Corinth, chooses to die beside her by absorbing some of
the poison
● The messenger tells Medea about the news, and she seems cool and collected
● She is completely prepared to kill her children
● She kills her children
● She runs off in a dragon-pulled chariot given by her grandfather, Helios
● Jason is left cursing his lot