In the latter half of Euripides’ play Medea, Medea’s scheme makes the decision of taking her revenge a step further. Aegeus gives Medea sanctuary in his home which was the last obstacle to her plans. “If you can come to my house on your own, I’ll let you stay there-it will be your refuge. I will not give you up to anyone” (805, lines 745-747). She then demands him to make an oath for reassurance that he will carry out his end of the bargain. In doing so, it provides Medea a place to go no matter what happens after she takes her revenge. After Aegeus leaves the stage, Medea talks about her plans for revenge. However, the plans for revenge seem to escalate from before. She decides to beg for her children to stay. By doing so, she will be able to have them deliver gifts to Glauce which will kill her, but also decides to kill her own children (806). What amazes me is this part of the play where she makes the decision to kill her own children. Are Medea’s plans for revenge really justified? She seemingly gave up everything (betraying her own family) when she decided to side with Jason only to be betrayed in the end. However, does this really allow her the right to kill her own children in an effort to make Jason suffer?
4 thoughts on “A step too far?”
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It is not at all justified for Medea to kill her own children or even Glauce. Revenge is an ugly emotion and it brings out the worst of people. I feel for Medea’s pain but at the same time it does not make it ok to end the life of someone for you to to revenge and get people to stop laughing at you. That is selfish and she is trying to make people fear her by showing them the extent she will go to. Killing children is never ok especially your own. She is not only putting Jason in misery but she is doing it to herself as well. They were so young and innocent with so much to live for. The Gods would not approve of something like this no matter what and they say so in the play. She thinks that she is putting them in a better place by taking their lives but in reality they would be better living with Jason. Jason is powerful and with the royal family. He is put in a position to succeed and he truly does love them. Even if he used them as a pawn and will continue too while he grows in power it is better than the plans that Medea has for them. I know she feels betrayed and would only forgive Jason if they did not have children together. She gave him children and that is where the deep part of the problem lies. Taking their life is not fair to them and is completely not justified. She is the only one that believes it was an ok thing to do.
In my view, it is understandable that Medea feels as if she has to take revenge on her husband for abandoning her and and her children. It is human nature to want to get back at someone who caused you suffering and pain, especially after you sacrificed everything to bring goodness to their life. In this case, Medea betrayed her own family, killed her own blood brother, and committed many other extreme acts in order to remain loyal to and protect Jason. Thus, it is expected that she wants to hurt him really bad after him having taken advantage of her and then betraying her. Keeping this in mind, I don’t think that the act of killing her children to cause him immense suffering and pain is justifiable. If Medea had really thought about it, she could have come up with a few alternative ways of greatly hurting Jason. Selfishly using her children to hurt Jason was extremely immoral. Throughout the text, even the women of the city of Corinth attempt to stop her from killing her children, but she is too stubborn to listen. What she doesn’t realize is that the kids do not only belong to her. It is quite apparent throughout the text how much pain this is even causing her. Medea is battling with her maternal nature and in the end, allows her selfish reasons ie. evil and irrationality to overcome it. In my view, her extreme irrationality is clouding her judgement and common sense.
It is easy to sympathize with Medea after learning of all that she has gone through. After all, we can see that throughout the course of the marriage, Medea has been completely supportive of Jason’s goals and endeavors. In his times of need, she stood by his side and did everything in her power to facilitate his success as well as protect his safety. Whether that be by killing her own brother and defeating a dragon to steal her own homeland’s golden fleece or plotting the cruel death of Pelias in an attempt to help Jason regain the throne, she did not hesitate. These were acts that she did not feel right in doing; however, she carried through with them in order to help Jason. Despite these sacrifices, Jason still makes the decision to exile both her and their children.
Clearly, he could not have believed these negative actions could be outweighed by the wealth he would gain through the marriage. It would seem that Jason is more driven by the fame and prestige he would receive upon assuming the throne, as well as his newfound love for the princess, rather than the supposed benefits his family would receive as a result. His words are simply a way to not only excuse himself but also an attempt to lessen the wrath of Medea. He knows how powerful she is and what her magic can do, and is trying to convince her that he still loves her and cares for the children, so that he may get away safely while putting her in exile.
In the end, Jason’s betrayal of Medea led to his own undoing. While he tried to paint himself as a martyr, sacrificing the marriage for the sake of a better life for his children, Medea knew better. In reality, the true motivation behind Jason’s actions was to obtain glory among mortals and to have the power and lifestyle he always wanted. Therefore, in this light, Medea’s actions are justified. She definitely has some anger issues though.
Most will agree that it is a step too far. What I personally take from her actions, is her unstoppable hate towards Jason and the ‘passion’ to revenge. She wants to hurt him so badly that she is willing to sacrifice a major part of her – her own flesh children. It is ironic a little since she is hurting ‘his’ kids but they are also hers so she is basically hurting herself by hurting him.
This shows us once again how they are connected wether or not they like it. It might even be a stronger metaphor reflecting the duality between Jason and Medea. Zigzag between love and hate and the result is destruction.
She is faced in a very complicated situation while the only thing left for her to take form him is actually hers. I find it unacceptable to hurt a third person for two peoples disputes. It isn’t fair in any scenario. Especially when it comes to young little innocent kids. Especially when it comes to your own!
Very Interesting development though. Totally unexpected. The escalation went quickly and without stops.