Blog Post: Medea

Medea was a story of love, betrayal,anger, rage, and revenge. The point of the story was to criticize the extra miles people go to seek revenge. Medea was on a mission to revenge Jason, her husband and the father of her children, who decided to leave her for the King of Corinth's daughter. Her anger drove her into killing Jason's bride, the King of Corinth, and her own children. She killed her own children so that they will not suffer for her atrocities and also in order to hurt Jason. The point of the story was made (after the murder) to make the readers debate if letting ones emotions, in this case, anger, guide their decision, is the most rational thing to do  . Therefore, seeking revenge in such an outrageous manner was the point of the story.  The story, in lines 1335-1350, expresses how  'loathsome'  Medea's acts were.
Jason: You feel the pain yourself. You share in my sorrow.
Medea: Yes, and my grief is gain when you cannot mock it.
Jason: O children, what a wicked mother she was to you!
Medea: They died from a disease they caught from their father.
Jason: I tell you it was not my hand that destroyed them.
Medea: But it was your insolence, and your virgin wedding
Jason: And just for the sake of that you chose to kill them.
Medea: Is love so small a pain, do you think, for a woman?
Jason: The children, I think, will bring down curses on you.
Medea: The gods know who was the author of this sorrow
Jason: Yes, the gods know indeed, they know your loathsome heart.

In the passage above,Jason confronts Medea for killing their children. Medea was being reproached for the things she did. The author used the word "loathsome" to describe Medea's heart. Loathsome which means hateful, was used to express the depth of Medea's anger that lead her into killing her children. I believe the translator used "loathsome" to describe Medea because it is seldom used in most translations, so such a word will emphasize the magnitude of her actions. Also, a phrase, "wholly evil" was used in line 1343. I think wholly which is an adverb was also used to emphasize how evil Medea's actions were.
So, the story is a question of if what Medea did to revenge was right or wrong. In lines 454-507, she outlines the good deeds she had done for Jason, and how he had chosen to pay her with evil. Jason's response makes the reader question if Medea was actually wrong for murdering the people later. Therefore, this makes the point of the story debatable. However, I think the point of the story is still to criticize the extra miles people go to seek revenge. This is because, after committing murder, she became more guilty than Jason whom she was trying to revenge.