Blog Post #1: Medea

One significant theme in the play Medea is the concept of revenge. In the story, Medea is betrayed by her husband, Jason, in one of the worst ways possible. Overcome with anger and sorrow, she retaliates by murdering his new bride, the father, and even her own children. I think the point of the story is to convey the power of revenge, and how it can drive someone to do essentially anything. The whole plot revolves around her plan to revenge. I think her decision to murder her kids is an excellent signifier of this. Although she loved her kids dearly, she had to murder them in order to complete her vengeance. Her obsession to revenge Jason was clearly greater than her love for her children, causing her to do something no mother should do to their children. 

(Lines 1043-1054)

Medea: Come, children, give

Me your hands, give your mother your hands to kiss them.

Oh the dear hands, and O how dear are these lips to me,

I wish you happiness, but not here in this world.

What is here your father took. Oh how good to hold you!

How delicate the skin, how sweet the breath of children!

Go, go! I am no longer able, no longer

To look upon you. I am overcome by sorrow. 

I know indeed what evil I intend to do,

But stronger than all my afterthoughts is my fury, 

Fury that brings upon mortals the greatest evils. 

In this passage, I think the words "evils" and "fury" really captures the situation at hand. The author could have chosen the words "wrongdoings" or "crime" instead of "evil". However, the actions she took to fulfill her retaliation were truly evil and inhumane. Therefore, i do not think "wrongs doings" or "crime" would have adequately described her actions. Furthermore, the word "evil" used by Medea to describe her actions reveals that she understands how wrong her actions are. This hints at the assumption that she is not insane, just driven by the dire need to revenge, further proving that revenge can cause a person to do absolutely anything necessary. The word "fury" describes one of her emotional states cause by Jason's betrayal. It is also what drives her desire to revenge. She is not "angry" or "upset", she is FURIOUS at Jason for doing what he did to her. She said that "But stronger than all my afterthoughts is my fury." She is so angry toward Jason that she has to take revenge in order to calm her fury. However, revenge took over her, clouded her judgements and morality, and caused her to do harmful things, which destructed her life in the process as well.