Topic: What is difficult to understand about Medea is not her desire for revenge, but her means of achieving it. Discuss.
In Euripides’ Greek tragedy, Medea, the seductive appeal of revenge is part of the play’s enduring popularity. The titular protagonist, Medea, is a radical anti-heroine who inspires both admiration and fear throughout her quest for vengeance against her former husband, Jason. At the beginning of the play we learn of Jason’s infidelity and callous abandonment of Medea and his two sons in pursuit of a “royal bed”. Audiences are encouraged to feel sympathetic and considerate towards Medea and, like the Chorus states, we are positioned to agree “To punish Jason will be just”, especially when considering the enormity of the sacrifices Medea made for Jason. Due to this flagrant emotional abuse and betrayal that she suffers, we are able to understand her desire for revenge, a desire which is further intensified by the indignity she experiences through her status as a woman and an outsider in patriarchal Corinthian society. The people of Corinth labelled Medea as a “barbarian” and completely disregarded her royal blood and power. Consequently, we are also able to comprehend her yearning for revenge on account of this mistreatment. However, her bloody and vengeful rebellion shocks and unsettles audiences even to this day. Her decision to murder her own two sons, in an attempt to deal Jason “the deepest blow”, is truly horrific and such an unfathomable act of violence simply cannot be condoned.
Medea’s desire for revenge is primarily understandable due to the neglect she endures at the hands of Jason. Medea is a woman of extreme behaviour and extreme emotion. For her passionate love for Jason, she sacrificed all, committing unspeakable acts on his behalf. His betrayal transformed her passion into rage and her violent and intemperate heart, formerly devoted to Jason, was now set on revenge. Jason “scorned and shamed” Medea when the pair reached Corinth, with their two children, by deserting them in order to marry Glauce “for alliance with the king of Corinth”, Creon. By marrying Glauce, Jason intended to gain a higher social and political status, along with more material wealth, emphasising his egocentricity. He claimed that the decision to divorce Medea “was wise, not swayed by passion”, but Medea was dismissive of these claims and stated that his treachery was “unprovoked” and it is clear that Jason exercised cold and calculated ambition. The injustice of this betrayal is accentuated by the fact that Medea was clearly infatuated with Jason, demonstrated when she declares “Jason was my whole life; he knows that well”, and that she made so many sacrifices for him. Medea was a faithful wife and was willing to murder her own brother and deceive her father and homeland in order to aid Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece. Without her assistance he would never have been hailed as a “hero” and it is clear that he has no appreciation for what Medea has done for him or for the “great oaths” they made to the gods together. Jason further infuriates Medea through his feigned sincerity and phlegmatic personality which prevents him from appreciating her volatile state. Upon confronting Medea, Jason adopts the moral high ground, which Medea recognises as “glib high-mindedness”, and professes “you no doubt hate me; but I could never bear ill-will to you”. He proceeds by superciliously attempting to rationalise his treatment of Medea by contending that “in return for saving me you got far more than you gave”, arguing that he saved her from “barbarous land to become a resident of Hellas” where her “gifts are widely recognised”. Jason continues his arrogant and disingenuous reasoning when he tries to justify leaving Medea for Glauce, claiming that “I wanted to ensure first – and the most important – that we should live well and not be poor” and give his sons “brothers of royal blood”. In order to protect his dignity, he downplays Medea’s role in securing the Golden Fleece, as exemplified by his remark, “I hold that credit for my successful voyage was solely due to Aphrodite, no one else divine or human”, and extenuates Medea’s anguish by suggesting that she merely suffers from “sex-jealousy”. It is easily understood why the insensitive nature of Jason’s actions and his ultimate ignorance cause Medea to harbour such rage and we can understand her desire to exact revenge on him.
As well as this, Medea’s yearning for revenge is understandable given her aristocratic background - she is a princess and the granddaughter of the sun god - and her history of committing violence. The fact that she doesn’t subscribe to Greek expectations of women and is considered to be a “barbarian” by the people of Corinth would have also fuelled her anger and contributed to her quest for vengeance. In her first soliloquy, Medea rails against the unjust and unequal plight of women in Greek society. Addressing the chorus, “Women of Corinth”, Medea seeks to generalise her quandary and speak on behalf of all women of Corinth who suffer the harsh and uncompromising actions of men and the misogynist values engrained within Corinthian society. She expresses that “we women are the most wretched” and detests the fact that women are expected to be obedient, suppliant and submissive whilst it is acceptable for the men to grow “tired of the company at home” and go out and “find a cure for tediousness”. She continues to passionately outline the injustices faced by women and illuminates that when, for an extravagant sum, “we have bought a husband, we must then accept him as the possessor of our body” and how “divorce is not respectable” for women and that they are forced “to look to one man only”. This is juxtaposed with the freedom and privileged lives led by the men in this patriarchal society and the prejudice faced by Medea as a result of her gender is exhibited through Jason’s misogynistic remarks. Jason embodies a typical male chauvinist of the period when he declares that “if women didn’t exist, human life would be rid of all its miseries” and ponders “if only children could be got some other way, without the female sex”. In addition, Medea’s outsider status results in her being subjected to further discrimination and undoubtedly contributes to her desire for revenge. Despite being a powerful woman in her homeland, Medea has a great deal of power stripped of her in Corinth where she is regarded as a “foreign woman” from a “barbarous land”. The lack of power that she wields, as well as her isolation, becomes apparent when Medea admits “I am alone…I have no mother, brother, nor any of my own blood to turn to in this extremity” and her disenfranchisement is advanced through the Nurse who explains “now she learns through pain what blessings they enjoy who are not uprooted from their native land”. Meade’s desire for revenge is also apprehensible given her royal blood, which would make her more inclined to be offended by betrayal and disrespect. This notion is implicit in the Nurse’s comment “the mind of a queen is a thing to fear. A queen is used to giving commands, not obeying them; and once roused is hard to appease”. This comment also alludes to Medea’s capacity to commit heinous acts, even against her own family, to ensure that she is never shamed by the “laughter of her enemies” which often fuels her revenge. We are made aware of the fact that she murdered her own brother and manufactured the killing of Pelias and we are positioned to view her as wild and dangerous through animal imagery such as “wild bull” and a “lioness guarding her cubs”, cajoling us to understand her need for revenge. It is evident that there is a definite relationship between Medea’s proud ancestry and violent past, as well as the subordination of women, and what transpires in the play.
Despite initially sympathising with Medea, understanding her anger, and condemning Jason for his arrogant indifference, we cannot condone the brutal murders of Glauce, Creon and her two sons. Medea is willing to sacrifice everything to make her revenge perfect and her dreadful killings at the conclusion of the play are very difficult for both ancient and modern audiences to understand. Whilst the earlier scenes of the play are much more relatable, in the sense that they explore a women’s reaction to infidelity, the final scenes delve into human activity that is beyond the standard moral realm. We witness Medea’s manipulative nature when she supresses her belligerent urges and masquerades her despair in order to fool both Creon and Jason. She exercises a false façade of meekness, regret and flattery in order to persuade Creon to allow her to stay one more day in Corinth, enabling her to put her ghastly plan into action. After successfully manipulating Creon she exclaims “Do you think I would have fawned so on this man, except to gain my purpose, carry out my schemes… what a fool!” and her sadistic underbelly is illuminated. Medea is also able to beguile Jason into trusting her and deceives him into letting the children take poisoned gifts to Glauce. It is quite clear that Medea equates revenge to “victory and “glory” and she treats it as merely a ruthless game which needs to be won, stopping at nothing to crush Jason. Her children are nothing but pawns in her cruel scheme. The audience’s sympathy soon begins to dissipate and this shift is reciprocated by the chorus of the play who reproach her pursuit of such reprehensible deeds and beseech her to “not slaughter [her] children”; however, their pleas fall upon deaf ears. Additionally, the fact that Medea takes considerable satisfaction in hearing of the gruesome nature of the deaths of Glauce and Creon [you’ll give me double the pleasure if their death was horrible] also results in the audience’s sympathy towards Medea fading along with the fact that she carries out her deeds rationally. This is evidenced when she claims “I understand the horror of what I’m about to do”. She chooses her acts with reasoned arguments and determinedly overrules her own strong maternal feelings, suggesting that she is fully aware of the consequences implicit in her revenge. Concerning the enactment of the revenge itself, audiences are likely to gasp at the grim and distressing nature of Medea’s actions and many would find it truly unfathomable that anyone would murder their own children to get back at their partner despite any circumstances. Although it is undeniable that Jason betrayed Medea and deserved to be punished for his wrongdoings, Medea’s means of achieving revenge seem grossly disproportionate to Jason’s betrayal and killing four people cannot be justified.
Considering the betrayal Medea suffers at the hands of Jason and the prejudice imposed upon her due to her gender and status as a foreigner, her desire for revenge is understandable. However, Medea’s means of achieving this vengeance provokes repulsion and disgust from the audience who are ultimately unlikely to be able to justify her extreme actions. Although her reasons for exacting revenge are understandable, the moral boundaries Medea crosses are reason enough to dissipate all sympathy once previously felt towards the granddaughter of the sun god.
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