During the first half of the text, I felt sympathy for Medea as for her husband left her alone for another woman. Even with his explanation, I still felt as though Medea was the victim. However, as Medea developed the plan to kill not only Jason’s new wife and her father, the idea that she was willing to kill her own children as well, shows signs of immortality.
“For one short day / forget our children. Afterward, you’ll grieve. / For even if you kill them, they were yours; / you loved them,” (lines 1273-1275). Why was Medea prepared to murder her own children just to get revenge on Jason? One main point she made previously in the text was that child birth is the most painful experience anyone can encounter. Is it possible she tried to recreate the pain of childbirth by taking his children away from him forever?
By killing her children, was the overall outcome of birthing her children more painful for Medea, herself or Jason? She went through the birthing process and now has to grieve over their death. However, the children’s death was unexpected for Jason. Is this a sign of immortality or is Medea just cold hearted and emotionless?
Interesting question about how she might be making Jason feel the pain of childbirth in a way! Curious what you mean by immortality here. Do you mean that she is somehow divine/part god?
That’s a really interesting perspective on Medea recreating the pain of childbirth for Jason by killing the children; I hadn’t considered that! I think maybe this could have been part of her intent on some unconscious level.
What I found very helpful in understanding the reasons for Medea’s actions is initially understanding the writing style of Euripides and the purpose of the plays. During that juncture the plays were used to teach the audience of the lesson and Euripides used very cynical ways to achieve that. This play glorifies the role of the lower class citizens in the society and demonstrates their power. So I saw her deed of killing the children as not only as a very cruel way of torturing her ex-husband but as a way to show her strength and perseverance. She left Jason with literally nothing and it was all done by a hand of a woman.
I actually never viewed it as reciprocating her pain of childbirth to Jason. It’s an interesting point and one that I feel like is very valid. I’ve always viewed it as trying to give Jason a sense of justice for destroying their marriage and making her a single mother, which might be the most direct approach. Thanks for your interpretation!