ENG 2800
Prof. Peer
Fadeyeva Alina
First draft

It’s beyond a shadow of a doubt; Ancient Greek tragedy is mostly about memorable characters, who make wrong decisions, and mistakes. Even though characters of Greek drama commit crimes all the time, not all of them are followed by appropriate punishment. Most of these illegal actions can be justified, but there are some that are impossible to be defended. However, when it comes to the crime committed in tragedy “Medea” by Euripides, the situation becomes more controversial and hard to analyze. The first question that comes to mind after reading the play – can Medea’s actions be defended? Also, can the murder of your own children be possibly justified?
At the very beginning of the play, some of the readers may feel compassion towards Medea. The main character of the play tells us about her misfortune. She claims that Jason’s – her husband’s betrayal was something that mattered the most to her – it was something that broke her. Medea doesn’t seem to have any hope in her marriage. Furthermore, she stops to believe in her own capability to live. Medea admits she’s able to commit suicide.
“Aaaah!
May a fire-bolt from heaven come shoot through my skull!
What do I gain by being alive?
Oh, god. How long for the comfort of death.
I hate this life. I wish I could leave it.” (lines 146-150)
She keeps on complaining and accusing her former spouse of unfaithfulness. Even though Medea may seem to us a little too hard on her husband, we still may feel for her. She’s hurt, and her actions can be understood. However, when Medea starts accusing not only her husband but also her children – this is when it becomes unacceptable.
“Aaaah!
The pain that I’ve suffered, I’ve suffered so much,
worth oceans of weeping. O children, accursed,
may you die – with your father! Your mother is hateful.
Go to hell, the whole household! Every last one.” (lines 117-120)
The idea that a mother can blame her own children for her misfortune is unfair and wrongful itself. How can a parent accuse his offspring of anything at all? Perhaps, the situation is more complicated than it seems. There is a chance that Medea’s despair led to craziness, we could assume she is out of her mind because of her grief. The main character is going through a lot; her behavior could simply reflect her inner frustration. However, her accusations don’t end on children.
After chorus being supportive and thoughtful of her, she starts to open up about her feelings and hurt again. Apart from Jason and her kids, Medea also happens to blame all men race, claiming that there is inequality between genders. She claims that all men are wrong.
“Of all the living creatures with a soul
and mind, we women are the most pathetic.
First of all, we have to buy a husband:
spend vast amounts of money, just to get
a master for our body – to add insult
to injury.” (lines 231 – 236)
Medea perhaps is the first female character of ancient Athenian drama who raises a question of gender inequality and sexism. She talks about unfair rights and unequal opportunities that men and women have; she believes women are constantly being treated wrongly. Men are not the last victims of Medea’s accusations. Later on, she keeps on coming up with others to blame. This time she decides that another reason for her misfortunes would be the fact that she is foreign.
“You have your fathers’ homes,
your lives bring joy and profit. You have friends.
…Here I have no mother, no brother, no blood relative to help
unmoor from terrible disaster” – (lines 256-…263)
It is clear – Medea is in envy of her husband because he’s from “here,” and according to her, he has a privilege because of that. As we can observe Medea blames everyone but herself. She is desperately trying to come up with another excuse for her behavior. However, we could still feel sorry for her because she was being betrayed. Even though Jason admits she saved his life and offered her help, we still have a negative impression of him. Our opinion of him may worsen when we hear him talk about women race inappropriately.
“The whole female race should not exist
It’s nothing but a nuisance” – (lines 594-595)
After reading this quote, we may feel hatred towards Jason for the first time throughout the play. His attitude towards all women proves the fact that he’s the one who’s responsible for Medea’s misfortune. He doesn’t seem to repent either. Admittedly, we may picture Jason as a villain of this play, until the moment when Medea decides to kill her children.
“I will kill the children – my children.
No one on this earth can save them.
I’ll ruin Jason’s household, then I’ll leave this land, I’ll flee the slaughter of the children
I love so dearly. I will have the nerve for this unholy deed.
You see, my friends,
I will not let my enemies laugh at me” – (lines 812 -818)
It is evident from Medea’s quotes – her behavior is a sign of some serious psychological trauma. She feels rejected by everyone; she can’t trust anyone. She can’t let the enemies laugh at her – that’s understandable. However, how come it allows her to murder the children. She appears to be a selfish and weak human being, who doesn’t fully realize what she’s doing.
Nevertheless, we don’t seem sorry to her anymore. We may now only wonder what drives Medea the most – selfishness, pride, or jealousy when committing such action. Although Medea has been accusing everyone of her misfortune throughout the whole play, she turns out to be the one who’s guilty. Also, there is no way a murder of your own kids can be justified.