This particular painting stood out to me. Other’s always say that art is something you feel and not understand. With this painting, I think that that saying is true. At first glance, everything seems extremely simplistic. However,  the longer you gaze into the painting, you feel the sadness it emits. The realism that Wyeth uses truly portrays the feelings of sadness as well as the emptiness the women must have been feeling. More specifically, “Christina’s World” depicts a women’s battle against polio in 1948. According to Wyeth, the women crippled by polio “restricted her physically but not spiritually.” The determination the women in the painting has reminds me strongly of “Shakuntala.”

As Wyeth stated, the women in the painting suffered from polio but never allowed the disease to affect her way of thinking. Similar to the women in the painting, Shakuntala went through many hardships of her own. Despite the obstacles, she never gave up on anything. The number one hardship she faced was when King Dushyanta didn’t recognize or acknowledge Shakuntala as his bride. Although the King didn’t acknowledge Shakuntala as his bride, she still wasn’t allowed to return to the hermitage. Because of the King forgetting her existence, she had to learn to adjust to a new life and raise a child on her own. Despite everything, she was still able to raise the her son on her own without the help of Dushyanta. It shows how there is always a way to overcome any type of hardships regardless of how hard the obstacle may be.

The tale of “Medea” begins directly after Jason leaves Medea for the Corinth princess. It starts off with the Nurse summarizing what has happened in Medea’s life after she had met Jason. According to the nurse, Medea has lost everything because of her love for Jason only to be betrayed by him (lines 11-19).

From the very beginning of the epic, it seems as if Medea is the victim of the story since she’s the one who lost everything. However, one might even say that the victim is actually Jason rather than Medea. Although a frequently asked question, who exactly is the victim in the epic?

In Medea’s case, she saved Jason life, aided him in the numerous impossible tasks that he had to complete, helped him steal the Golden Fleece, killed his uncle for him, and even killed her own brother because of him (481-494). It seems as if she made the ultimate sacrifice. It makes one wonder if Jason truly loved Medea or just used her to succeed in his tasks.

On the contrary, Jason seems to be in a difficult position as well. He claims that betraying her and marrying the Corinth princess was for the sake of the family (365-374). He states “my motive was for the best; so we’d live well and not be poor” (375-376). However, if he really did it for the family, why didn’t he discuss it with Medea first, before going about the plan? It seems like an excuse that he thought of in hopes to make peace with Medea.

This epic can easily be related to modern day marriages and relationships. A couple face obstacles that they aren’t able to overcome together which leads to disagreements and arguments. When one party has had enough of each other, he/she decides to leave the other. In many cases, both parties are at fault and both have places where they could’ve acted differently. Medea and Jason are no different. They both are fault for what has happened. Jason doesn’t love Medea enough, but Medea herself is too aggressive and violent. Things could’ve went down a different path had they both tried a little more. But like present day, when situations get to a certain point, neither party wants to any anymore.