Medea Blog Post: Tragedy and Emotions

Medea, an ancient Greek play by Euripides, continues the exploration of tragedy in playwright, highlighted by Aristotle in Poetics. Demonstrating themes of betrayal, love, and sacrifice, these simple ideas do not clearly summarize the purpose or point of the story. The point of the play Medea, is to convey the tragic disregard and unfolding of Greek values (reason, law, and justice) caused by Medea and Jason’s inability to control their emotions. Medea cannot control her rage over the orders by King Creon for her exile and Jason’s betrayal and willingness to throw away their love for another woman, Glauce, Creon’s daughter.  Due to this, Medea does not think or act with reason and kills her own children just to seek revenge. Furthermore, Jason does not exemplify a just and fair ruler. He takes advantage of Medea by trying to justify his disloyal actions with reasonable solutions to her exile. Instead of acknowledging his wrong doings, he becomes increasingly frustrated with Medea, denouncing and disrespecting not only Medea but also all women in Greek society. His anger and inability to act with morals fuels Medea’s tragic actions. This short passage from Medea illustrates the point of the play. (1335-1347)

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: For a wise one, certainly. But you are wholly evil

Medea: The children are dead. I say this to make you suffer.

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.

            This passage supports the point of the play by showing the emotional conflict and moral demise between Medea and Jason. Sorrow, insolence, woman, and heart are all keywords in this short passage that make up the point. Sorrow is what has become between Medea and Jason due to their lack of emotional control. Jason’s insolence and denouncing of a woman created a terrible drive in Medea’s heart. Her heart was hurt and she could not bare the pain.

            Focusing solely on this passage and not the story as a whole, Medea seems to be the only one who has no control of her emotions. It also seems that the deliverance of the sorrow between Medea and Jason is one sided. It was Medea’s inability to think with reason, abide by the laws of the society and know her place as a woman; She denounced her “just” ruler.